16ga.com ~ View topic - Sweet 16 and non-toxic loads?

Joined: 17 Jun 2004 Posts: 10 Location: Portland OR

This has to be all old topic but couldn't find it. Can you shoot steel in a good old sweet 16...mod choke? Need duck and upland loads for Fed land hunt. Tell me its OK so I don't have to buy Bizmuth or Kent.

Joined: 31 Mar 2006 Posts: 35

I have my grandfathers 16 ga. auto 5 in a full choke and everything I read is that they do not recommend steal shot for them. Bismuth is so exspensive. I am not into breaking laws...........but.....most states if you are caught shooting lead for waterfowl it is a civil fine that is a lot cheaper then buying boxes of bismuth.......

Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 145 Location: minnesota

swt16:
for remington i know for a fact that fixed mod is the tightest choke you can use steel shot in. i have also heard and read form other ammo and arms makers that this seems to be a blanket rule for most shotguns....including browning.
why not spend the money and buy kent t/m? it performs much better than steel and you don't have to worry about what choke your older guns are.
i cant wait until this stuff is available to the hand loader.

Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Posts: 989 Location: Las Vegas

NO NO NO! Definately do not shoot steel in your Sweet 16. Browning only recommends steel shot be shot through their Auto 5's that have invector choke tubes.

Matt

Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 787 Location: Indiana

You shouldn't shoot steel in the grand old A-5, especially if it's in good shape. I agree Bismuth is expensive and a lot of folks here swear by Kent Tungsten-matrix which I' ve not used. But I have used Bismuth 1 1/8 oz. of #4's in 16 ga. and that has proven to be a fine load for ducks. I don't use it on pheasants but that sure could be done; costly though. If you buy the Bismuth in boxes of 25 (Gander Mountain seems to carry those once in awhile) it costs around $34.00, or, to get technical, $1.36 per shot. Not cheap. I'm not sure about the price of T-M, but it can't be much cheaper either. And---if you order it in, don't forget to count the shipping charges. But steel is a crippler if ever there was one----and duck season only comes along once a year. I try not to miss.

Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 145 Location: minnesota

i retract and apologize for mis-information......i must have had a-5 with chokes in my head as was pointed out......my brother uses one.
i still agree that bismuth and t/m are the way to go in sub-bores. in anything less than 12 ga, steel loads seem to me to be woefully lacking.

Load your own. I load a buffered one-ounce Bismuth load for about a dollar per shell -- although that price will come down when I finish my current supply of shot, because I found a place locally that'll sell me 7 pounds of Bismuth for $70.00. That will bring my loaded cost to about 80 cents per shell.

Joined: 01 Jul 2006 Posts: 26 Location: Finland

I understand that Browning does not recommend steel shot in sweet sixteens, but some people say moderately loaded steel loads can be safely used in japanese built ones. I'm referring to several discussions about the subject on the shotgun world forum.