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I bought a new Rizzini 16 gauge and shot it for the first time this weekend at the clay's course. I shot some factory RGL's the gun shot fine but most of the hits were chippy a few smashed targets but for the most part chippy. When I finished the round I shot 10 of my 3/4 skeet loads to make sure the trigger would set. Those 10 targets just evaporated hardly a piece left. this is just observation and unscientific but there was a huge difference in preformance. My gut tells me its probably shot string length but I didn't put either load on paper. I mean it was night and day on the same targets I shot 6 factory loads at minutes before.

Said that since the 80's

I shoot very few factory loads I am leaning toward the quality components in the reloads being the difference. I like the 3/4 oz target loads but also like my 7/8 and 1oz handloads. I really notice the difference on longer targets. The shot quality and payload effect the shot string just not sure which one influences it more.

*Last edited by 16gaugeguy on Wed Feb 08, 2012 3:37 pm; edited 1 time in total*

I discovered this phenomenon for myself with relatively fast 24 gram/7/8 ounce 12 ga trap loads well over a decade ago. The higher velocity does not seem to degrade pattern density either. The pattern cores seem to hold together further out better than any standard 1-1/8 ounce load. Put a dense core on target and the clay bird evaporates every time.

Lighter loads help lessen the accumulative effects of recoil as well. I personally do not get worn down by shooter's fatigue like I used to when I shot long strings of registered birds using standard 1-1/8 ounce trap loads. I can stay in the gun and on target longer and better. My average scores went up. Shot my first registered 100 straight with these light loads. It's a ballistic win, win IMO.

Doesn't seem to matter what gauge I use either. 3/4 ounce 16 or 20 ga loads act pretty much the same. So do 5/8 ounce 28 ga loads. They all simply crush targets out further than conventional wisdom says any sub load has a right to. As far as I'm concerned, it is why FITA average scores went up instead of down as expected once 24 gram, 12 ga loads were made manditory. Who knew back then. We do now. Enjoy.

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3178 Location: NCWa

I haven't shot guns enough to be competitive; but comparing performance of different loads for me, I've found that a little less shot and a little more velocity yield better results. This is the case whether it is 20, 16 or 12. When shooting trap, bottom barrel of an OU 12 with a 7/8 oz load, the target is covered by the gun when I fire and the only way I know that I hit it is that there is no sign of the target after the followthrough. This generally doesn't happen if I shoot "regular" 1 oz or "handicap" 1 1/8 oz loads in the 12. So my "go to" load for Sporting Clays is a M21 16ga with 3/4oz shot at somewhere around 1300 fps. I've heard that there are similar results of lighter/faster loads on live birds, but my results are so small as to be statistically insignificant.