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| < 16ga. Ammunition & Reloading ~ Winchester Game Loads |
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 Posted:
Mon Feb 24, 2014 2:35 pm
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Joined: 08 Nov 2007
Posts: 133
Location: Indianapolis, IN
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I just spotted and bought some Winchester game loads in 16ga, the first I've seen around central Indiana. After I got home, I noticed they have brass plated steel heads instead of the aluminum ones that have caused ejection problems in my son's 20ga 870. Is this the way they are currently produced? If this is old stock and the new ones are aluminum, I will go buy the rest of them.
Thanks,
Phil |
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| Posted:
Mon Feb 24, 2014 2:39 pm
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Member
Joined: 09 Jan 2013
Posts: 2169
Location: Florida
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| Never seen any 16ga with aluminum heads. Pretty much all currently produce 16ga ammo has steel heads. |
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| Posted:
Mon Feb 24, 2014 3:35 pm
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Member
Joined: 08 Nov 2007
Posts: 133
Location: Indianapolis, IN
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Mon Feb 24, 2014 5:41 pm
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Joined: 26 Apr 2010
Posts: 3177
Location: NCWa
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| I've only seen those silver colored caps on the Winchester Universal shotshells, which as far as I know only come in 20 & 12 ga sizes. Anymore the only 16 ga Winchester shells that I've seen were marketed as Super X high & Low Base- which stick to the magnet case heads. |
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| Posted:
Mon Feb 24, 2014 7:21 pm
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Joined: 27 Jun 2012
Posts: 1114
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| I bought several cases of Winchester 16 ga Game Loads #8 shot with it annotated on the box exterior that they were made in Australia. If this is what you have, these are Cheddite hulls and reload very nicely. They work like a charm on bobwhite hunting. If they are the Cheddite hull Game Loads I'd buy all I could get my hands on. |
_________________
An elderly gentleman, his faithful dogs, and a 16 ga SXS. All is right with the world. |
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| Posted:
Tue Feb 25, 2014 11:45 am
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Member
Joined: 08 Nov 2007
Posts: 133
Location: Indianapolis, IN
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| Riflemeister wrote: |
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I bought several cases of Winchester 16 ga Game Loads #8 shot with it annotated on the box exterior that they were made in Australia. If this is what you have, these are Cheddite hulls and reload very nicely. They work like a charm on bobwhite hunting. If they are the Cheddite hull Game Loads I'd buy all I could get my hands on.
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Those are the ones. Thanks!
Phil |
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| Posted:
Tue Feb 25, 2014 12:12 pm
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Member
Joined: 04 Mar 2008
Posts: 1943
Location: Lowcountry Ga.
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| I sure miss brass heads on shells. These steel heads can cause problems (usually curable) in old repeaters that used to could just about shoot anything with a brass head. |
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| Posted:
Sat Mar 01, 2014 3:37 pm
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Joined: 12 Mar 2005
Posts: 6535
Location: massachusetts
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| Gil S wrote: |
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I sure miss brass heads on shells. These steel heads can cause problems (usually curable) in old repeaters that used to could just about shoot anything with a brass head.
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There haven't been any 16 ga. premium grade target loads w/ brass heads manufactured in many years now. I doubt we will ever see a return to brass heads on factory hunting ammo, even premium ammo. So it is a matter of adapting or doing without.
Luckily, I've not had any issues w/ factory loads in this respect if the chamber dimensions aren't at or below minimum specs. My past problems have all been related to reloads made with steel heads. Steel heads can be a problem, because even mild steel is far less malleable than brass. Steel also lacks the lubricity brass offers.
Steel heads are tough to impossible to resize with a non-adjustable solid steel sizing ring. The steel heads tend to stick in the ring unless some type of resizing lube is used. Lube is messy and must be removed before the hulls can be further processed (lube can be a real problem if it's used on hulls being loaded on a progressive unit w/o a collet type resizer). Further, most non-adjustable sizing rings don't squeeze the steel heads down enough to allow for the inevitable spring back. So the results are often oversized for chambers on the smaller side of acceptable specs.
The best solution I've found is to use an adjustable collet type resizer which allows me to dispense with the case lube and to resize the heads enough to allow for the steel to spring back a bit (which it will). Trial and error will help to find the correct setting for the collet. Problem solved.  |
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| Posted:
Wed Mar 05, 2014 10:32 am
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Member
Joined: 29 Jan 2010
Posts: 687
Location: McPherson, KS
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| If WW and others would utilize short or "low brass" steel heads, the problems with resizing would be reduced substantially. In my opinion, the use of "high brass" heads is an anachronism left over from the black powder days. |
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Illegimati Non Carborundum Est |
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| Posted:
Sun Mar 23, 2014 7:42 am
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Joined: 01 Mar 2014
Posts: 14
Location: Caseville, MI
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Thanks for the post. Just left my local Meijer with the last 10 boxes on the shelf. I saw the Made in Australia and cleared the shelf... six boxes of #8 and 4 of #6. I think the 6's will work great on preserve phez. They were marked $5.99 the same as the 20 gauge! I hope they restock the shelf this week and I'll get some more.
I'm hoping they restock with some 7.5's too. |
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| Posted:
Sun Mar 23, 2014 1:33 pm
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Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 380
Location: Northeast Ohio
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You're on your way!
Now you need to find a MEC 16 ga. Sizemaster (preferred), or a 600 Jr. and you can load those Cheddites light for practice and heavier for hunting in any shot size you want. If you don't want to reload, the chances to buy more of them for the price you paid may not come up too often. Could be the supply could improve and availability steady, but I'd not bet on it.
You might get five or six reloads each out of the empties you make...just something to think about. |
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