16ga.com ~ View topic - No toxic 2-1/2" buy or reload?

Joined: 07 Jul 2011 Posts: 61 Location: Ohio, Illinois

Hey all, so I’m thinking of getting a LC smith in 16 ga and it’s a 2-1/2" chamber. I have a feeling that I will be moving to Oregon this spring and they only allow non-toxic shot. Do most of you reload your own or buy? Can you even buy nontoxic in that size?

*Last edited by skeettx on Sun Jan 29, 2012 12:54 pm; edited 2 times in total*

http://www.rstshells.com/rst_classic_shotshells_shotshells.htm

Look at the very bottom, $3.00 per cartridge

Good news look here, but LEAD shot

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/RST-16ga-2-1_2-1oz-lead-25_bx/productinfo/RST16L/

#6 shot is IN STOCK

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/RST-16ga-2-1_2-7_8oz-lead-25_bx/productinfo/RST16PL/

Mike

Joined: 28 Feb 2011 Posts: 385 Location: northeast

Lol .... I saw that too... OUCH...
Good thing I don't hunt waterfowl too much.
A buddy of mine reloads , and he said with the price of tungsten and other eco friendly shot , he couldn't reload a box for less than $50.
Steel it is ....

BTW... RST gets my nod of approval. Order shipped fast and wasn't too awful expensive..

Joined: 28 Mar 2008 Posts: 1460 Location: Eagle, Nebraska

I do buy once in awhile, but most often reload Nice Shot.
Have tinkered with ITX but quit when I started using Nice shot.
Guessing steel really not an option in a gun with 2.5" chambers.

Joined: 07 Jul 2011 Posts: 61 Location: Ohio, Illinois

Im asking bc In oregan the public land that ill be hunting is non toxic sounds like ill be having toreload my own

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3178 Location: NCWa

The hunting that I do on WA state land mostly requires No-Tox. I have one shotgun suitable for steel/hevi-shot, and the rest are in the same boat as your LC. Very few (as in None) of the stores around here stock 16ga No-Tox shells & I'm too frugal to pay for factory loads. Once or twice I've found an end of season sale on 12ga No-Tox Classic where they were priced at about what I could get Nice shot; so I'd part them out for the shot. Otherwise I buy either Nice shot or Bismuth and handload. As noted, SPR 310 has a full line of loading spread sheets.

Joined: 07 Jul 2011 Posts: 61 Location: Ohio, Illinois

Americanmeet, how much does it cost to load up a box of using non tox that you can use in your LC?

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3178 Location: NCWa

tequila-
I don't have an LC, but all but one shotgun has older fixed choke thin barrels- so steel is out for them. PRI sells Nice shot @$60/Kg, which worksout to about $1.70 per ounce. Adding in the powder, primer, wad & the wearing out of the hull, it comes up pretty close to $2 a shot. About the cheapest I've found loaded No-Tox shotshells suitable for old barrels is about $3/shot. The other alternative is Bismuth, available from PRI for $157/3Kg, about $1.49/ounce- about $.20 less than Nice, about $1.75/shot. So the cost to fill a 25 shell box would be about $50 for Nice, About $44 for Bismuth. So it isn't totally over the top, but I have never noticed a problem (with nature, not the law) with lead shotshells & they can be reloaded for about $.40 each, $10/box even with the present price of lead.

Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2350 Location: West MI

What and how are you hunting in OR?

Reloading allows the most bang for the buck especially for shotgun gauges that aren't supported as well as others. Dialing in/patterning @ $3-4 a pop is a tough pill to swallow.

http://neweraammunition.com/index.php?page=non-toxic

http://www.sportingammo.com/

I think steel has it's place in many hunts but a 16ga 2 1/2" shell really ties your hands in getting a decent pellet count of pellets large enough to be truly effective. Keep in mind if you look into reloading; roll-crimping allows most 2 3/4" loads to fit in a 2 1/2".

MEC has a gonkulator to help realize the cost bene's of reloading.

http://www.mecreloaders.com/CostComparison.html

a VERY ROUGH rule of Thumb I use is; reloading shells costs ~1/2 what REASONABLY (read not Gander MTN) priced shells cost off the shelf... basically as with any DIY stuff; whats your time worth and do you take pride in hand/home-made stuff.

Keep the reloading questions coming there is a ton of forthright wisdom and knowledge hangin around this sight. Good luck, Mike

BTW; for any MI/Meijers shoppers I saw both #8 & #6 1oz 16ga Win loads on the shelf over the weekend.

I hunt in WA and OR exclusively and am in the same boat, although there are still some BLM lands I can use lead. Last year I had a box and a half of Kent 2.5" paper fiber wad TM 1 1/16#5 12ga loads that I used in my 2.5" 12ga Lefever, and I cannibalized the shot in eight of them to use in reloads for my 16 hammer gun also. I somehow managed to go 10 for 10 on pheasants with the Lefever and 2 for 4 with the hammer gun, and I got four or five ducks with the remainder, and I still have six shells left over. So, even at $65 per box, it's almost worth it from a cost per bird standpoint (17 birds cost me $45). That's really not that bad in the grand scheme of things. I guess.

I try to justify the high cost by saying to myself I just won't buy [as many] guns, and it's a fairly small price to pay for not having to use a gun I don't like just so I can shoot steel, which I hate with a great unbridled loathing. I'll reload some #6 and #5 nice shot this year though so I can get it down to $45/box. Ouch. You definitely have to make your shots count. The price of fun just keeps going up and up doesn't it?

Oh, and the delicious pheasant I had last night does help ease the pain! Very Happy

Member Joined: 25 Oct 2010 Posts: 199 Location: NJ

I reload low pressure formulas for my 16's and 12's and have been very satisfied with the results. ITX and Nice shot appear to hit a lot harder than steel, important when we're gunning for sea ducks. The last two days of the season I outgunned my buddy with his 3.5 inch 12 ga. cannon; I was using LP 12 ga. spreader loads in a pretty rickety Knickerbocker.

The 2.5 inch 16's do well on pheasants and chukars, too, but preserve birds aren't as much challenge, of course (we went 16 for 16 a couple of weeks ago). Even the 16 2 3/4's hit hard enough for Old Squaws as well and brought down a couple with #6 shot no less. All ITX and Nice, of course.

I like being able to load shot sizes for specific hunts, like 4's and 5's for sea ducks, 6's and 7's for preserve shooting for example. Hard to find those in LP 16's in particular, and also in soft shooting 12's for the LC's and a very nice Wilkes a friend basically gave me long ago.

I've just sent spr310 some tested 16 loads with both Nice and ITX, a couple of them 2.5's, with reasonably low pressure, ca. 7,500, which was lower than I expected given the reports that these loads are a bit higher pressure with non-toxic shot. Even 6 pt. crimps as well since I haven't tried roll crimps except for practice so far. Also have some 12 ga. non-toxic's I've had tested if anyone is interested; just send me an Ugartechea in return...:>)

Yes, expensive relative to lead, but lead's toxic particularly to the ducks we chase here in NJ, so why spread it around anymore? A sign of the future is that our preserves ask us to use non-toxic too but don't require it yet. We can't use lead for the coastal zone but can inland. And, now I can shoot those old doubles with spreader loads that don't bruise my cheek or shoulder and drop the birds like they've been hit with a hammer.

Try it, you'll like it.