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<  16ga. Ammunition & Reloading  ~  Pheasant Load for a vintage English SXS
CitoriFeather16
PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:08 pm  Reply with quote
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Time to start working up a good pheasant load for the coming season. The gun is a William Powell & Son 16 ga.(of course) SXS. This gun was manufactured in 1882, rebarreled by WP&Son in 1940 and rechambered to 2 3/4" and re-proofed post 1990. Proof marks show "900 BAR" "1 oz.".

I am assuming that I will be limited to 1 oz. loads but would be interested to know if I might be able to use a low pressure 1 1/8 oz. load. I am a member of the Low Pressure reloading group and have access to their impressive data base.

I would be interested in recommendations regarding velocity of loads. The gun weighs a shade under 6 lbs. and is choked skeet and IM. Birds would be a mix of pen raised game club birds and (hopefully) some wild western birds.

Thanks in advance for the advice1

Matt
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Larry Brown
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:15 am  Reply with quote
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Matt, you shouldn't need more than an ounce for preserve pheasants. As far as pressure goes, you could work up some reloads that will fall within the appropriate parameters for that gun. However, I would strongly recommend against doing so. As shot charge weight increases, so does recoil--which is bad news for the wood on a vintage gun. At under 6#, 1 1/8 oz will also make an impression on the shooter! Remember, British 12ga game guns weighed, on average, about half a pound more than your 16, and although they're typically 1 1/8 oz proof, the Brits tend to go with 1 1/16 oz loads much of the time.
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CitoriFeather16
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:13 am  Reply with quote
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Thanks Larry, that's about what I was thinking. What are your thoughts on velocity for the 1 oz. load?

Matt
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Larry Brown
PostPosted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 6:09 am  Reply with quote
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Matt, some people are believers in the very high velocity stuff, particularly for pheasants. I'm not. Another 100 fps or so MAY help you hit the birds because your lead will be reduced (and most people miss behind). But they won't give you much additional down range energy. Personally, I really like the velocity of the old Super Pigeon loads, which was 1220 fps. I've been killing pheasants since the 50's, and while I've tried higher velocity loads than that, I haven't found them helpful--and because I seldom shoot a gun that weighs over 6 3/4#, I appreciate the reduced recoil of the slower loads. And particularly with a vintage gun, you're well advised to stick with the more moderate velocities.
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carpe dm
PostPosted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 9:54 am  Reply with quote
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Larry Brown wrote:
Personally, I really like the velocity of the old Super Pigeon loads, which was 1220 fps. I appreciate the reduced recoil of the slower loads. And particularly with a vintage gun, you're well advised to stick with the more moderate velocities.
1 oz load anywhere near this level should be good; dead is dead! Wink

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