16ga.com ~ View topic

Joined: 10 Dec 2008 Posts: 102 Location: Nebraska

One of my Grandsons visited his Great Grandmother this weekend and told her he had passed "hunter safety" and would like to hunt with his dad now. She took the time to give him her late husband's guns to get them out of her house. A Winchester Model 12 in 16 gauge and a Winchester Model 62 .22 rifle.
My son said he wasn't sure but thought the 16 gauge was maybe a 1923 model which probably makes it a 2 9/16" chamber. I don't reload for a shotgun anymore.
What would the cost be to lengthen the chamber and make it shoot 2 3/4" shells?
Are short 16 gauge shells available yet and where?
I haven't seen the guns yet but they said they would bring them home on Labor Day. My Son said the shotgun looked good except that Great Grandpa Gilbert, like most farmers of that time installed his own recoil pad and it didn't quite fit.
Would like to be prepared with some figures to make it shoot modern shells if it needs it.
Thanks a Million,
Rex

Hello
The current Black Remington Game Loads should do just fine, they are
a bit shorter than Winchester and Federal ammo

Or you can get 2 1/2 ammo here

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

Or you can modify the gun, but why do that after all these years??

Mike

Joined: 10 Dec 2008 Posts: 102 Location: Nebraska

Thank you, Sir. 13 year old Grand Son will grin ear to ear.
Rex

Joined: 28 Mar 2006 Posts: 247 Location: Wickenburg, AZ

Lucky kid, two really nice keeper guns from great granddad will be treasures he hopefully will keep and pass down to his kids when the time comes. I regularly shoot my short chamber 16ga with Gamebore shells. They make a 65mm load that work well. On occasion I have shot 2 3/4" loads but some eject better than others so you'll have to experiment. Just google 2 9/16" or 65mm shotgun ammo, there are several companies that make them. The local Cabelas here even carries some from time to time.

Joined: 10 Dec 2008 Posts: 102 Location: Nebraska

Thank you. I'm anxious to see them myself and judge condition.
Rex

Member Joined: 09 Jan 2013 Posts: 2169 Location: Florida

Rex ,

skeetex and walt have given you great advise and I personally would not want to alter the guns original chamber size , but converting to 2 3/4 will enable the gun to function correctly with any factory ammo, that is more readily available . Most retail store do not carry 2 1/2' ammo for the 16ga .

The problem that I have run into using the Remington game loads ( RGL) in my short chambered guns is , not all of them are the same length after being fired .Some of them worked fine , while others I problems with ejection . The #8 loads where fine having a total length of 2 5/8 after firing and the #7 1/2 loads didn't work having a total of 2 11/16 to 2 3/4 after firing. That has been my experience any way.

If you stick with RST , Polywad, or Gamebore or reload your own 2 1/2 loads you won't have any problems .

Joined: 10 Dec 2008 Posts: 102 Location: Nebraska

Thanks, you guys are a great help.

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

Kent makes short hulled shotshells too. I have ordered them from BPI and I have bought them at Cabelas too.
B&P also makes a short round.
I think Polywad does too?

Lot of options out there before you start "messing" around with the gun.

Joined: 07 Mar 2010 Posts: 483 Location: South Eastern PA

Lengthening the chamber is not going to help in regards to ejecting spent shells. That's where the hangup usually is.

Get short shells from RST or try the shorter Remingtons that were mentioned above.

As far as pressure is concerned, Sherman Bell has written many articles about it and tested longer shells in many different guns. It is not a big deal.

1st off , romac is right - ejection is the issue . Rems will do fine ..... we've discussed this b4 about short chambers . Winchester knew this 70 yrs ago and coulda done a recall if they thought it was needed . They knew the 1893 pump wouldn't fly with smokeless and traded people for 97's , so it wasn't like they were clueless etc . Times have changed with plastic components from then , but no recall since 64 when plastic really took off !

Joined: 12 Sep 2010 Posts: 1973 Location: Maine

The prior threads on this topic, i.e., dealing with a short-chambered Model 12, have pointed out that the bigger problem using 2 3/4 shells in those guns is in ejection. I recall there have been photos posted of the "fix" that makes ejecting 2 3/4 shells easier - it involved milling out the front of the ejection port on the side of the receiver. One can tell pretty easily which Model 12s have or have not been modified from their original 2 9/16 to take 2 3/4 shells.

If it were me, I'd leave it alone and get short shells. RST will ship to your door and their prices are not much different from what you'd pay at retail for hunting loads. And RGLs, the black hulls, are both short enough to function well and competitive on price with 12 and 20 - usually about a dollar difference at local-to-me stores.

Member Joined: 07 Jan 2013 Posts: 398 Location: Virginia

Here is a discussion we had on the subject of short chambers on the older Model 12s: http://www.16ga.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13916&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

If you go to the second page you can see my 1919 Model 12 that was converted to 2 3/4" shells. Note the slight 'dip' at the bottom front of the ejector port. I had this done back in the mid-90s, today with the good selection of 2.5" 16ga shells I don't think I would alter the gun.