16ga.com ~ View topic

Joined: 11 Feb 2012 Posts: 68 Location: Olympia WA

I am trying to gather some good info on some good loads for all the kinds of hunting I do through out the year. I shoot a variety of 16 gauges so I will list those as well so if you think a load would fit a certain gun better let me know. I reload but I would say I am still very much a beginner. I have a MEC progressive loader. I load about 150 round a week on it. Mostly for sporting clays. I have not found my favorite loads for each gun and frankly dont know where to start. If your not comfortable giving me the exact recipe then just telling the size of shot, pressure and velocity would be great. If I knew how to search the forum better I could probably find most of this. Any help or advice is welcomed. Like I said I am a newbie that is at the point of being able to adjust my Mec to turn out nice consistent loads.

Guns
Remington 31L with a Mod choke Chukar and Hun Gun
Remington 31 with a full choke Turkey, Doves
Padrone over under with a variety of chokes.

Game I hunt.
Rough Grouse
Blue grouse
Chukar
Quail
Huns
Doves
Pheasant
Turkey
Rabbit
Deer

Good for all but pheasant and turkey.
The following recipes are for 16 GA

7/8oz shot, 16.6 grains Green dot, Win primer, Card wad with fiber filler.
7/8oz shot, 16.5 grains Unique, Win primer, Card wad with Fiber filler.
Both loads are rated at 1190fps, 2 1/2drams. Equiv.

I have not shot or patterned the 7/8 0z. green Dot load.

*3/4 or 7/8 oz shot, 18.3 grains Unique, Win primer, card wad, fiber filler.
1230fps, rated at 2 3/4 Dram. Equiv.
Load them all at about 40 lbs. pressure on the wads.

EVERYTHING you need is here

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/reloading16gauge/

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Mike

Joined: 28 Aug 2014 Posts: 924 Location: Eastern Tennessee

I am not sure this what you want and like you I am still very much learning. After reviewing hours I've gone from bigger is better to learning that's not always best:

Here is my current comfort level:

Dove - 7/8 oz #7.5 mag lead using dr16 in ched hulls with PB at 1200-1225 fps.
Quail - same as dove.
Grouse - same as dove.
Rabbit - 1 oz #6 mag lead using cb10016 in various hulls with herco at 1200-1225 fps.
Pheasant - 1 1/8 oz #5 mag lead using sp16 in fed hulls with 800x at 1300 fps.
Turkey - same as pheasant.
Public hunting - 7/8 oz #4 or #6 plated steel using vp80 in ched or fio hulls with steel at 1550 fps.

If I used 16ga for duck I would also use the same public load above just in different shot size. This list is not all I shot but what I consider idea without component limits.

Joined: 11 Feb 2012 Posts: 68 Location: Olympia WA

Your right Charley heavy is not always better. I shoot 7/8oz loads for sporting clays a lot.

For dove am I looking for a faster tighter load or just the opposite.

For Rough Grouse I currently shoot 1 1/4oz spreader load with 9 shot in my first shot and 1 oz 7 1/2 shot in the second. I need to pattern these to see what I am getting.

For chukar I am shooting 7 shot 1oz and 1oz #6 copper plated for follow up shots.

Turkey I have read fast #6 loads are what it is about. You can get pretty fast if your shooting 5/8 and 3/4oz up to 1700. How fast should I be looking for. Should I tape the wad.

Joined: 28 Aug 2014 Posts: 924 Location: Eastern Tennessee

Mike - skeettx suggested I try that to tighten my pattern when choking was not an option. In my situation that is using the 311a. In my testing the concentration was nice and tight. I don't count holes but there was noticably less shot outside concentration area. I have not tried in on a full choke for turkey choke results.

I was first loading a lot more #6 than #5 but wanted better penatration then what I was seeing. Still not settle on turkey size myself.

Joined: 11 Feb 2012 Posts: 68 Location: Olympia WA

311 is what started my love for 16 gauge. Then it was a model 90 and I keep moving on to other guns. Funny being 16 ga either drives the cost up or down. Sometimes great deals happen and other times your shaking your head on how much someone paid for that gun. My 31L was kinda like that. I would have paid anything for that gun with the mod choke and I found it on gun broker for cheap. But I hunted that gun for a year until it popped up in my price range. It was fun hunting for that gun. And the Padrone went for 10 cents on the dollar but I had to sell my model 90 to get my boss's approval. I loved that Model 90 but the podrone is really nice. Next on the list is a sweet sixteen. I got the "but its a automatic" in my pocket for that one.

I love the fact that the 16ga limited ammo forces me to tinker with different loads and has pushed me into a new hobby of reloading. My son and I enjoy the time at the bench. The primer and powder shortages has forced me to venture outside of my know loads and now I love loading and all of it challenges. I have a lot to learn and enjoy learning about it.

How did you tighten up your pattern without changing your choke.

Joined: 28 Aug 2014 Posts: 924 Location: Eastern Tennessee

Tightening without a choke is what the tape around the base of your wad is for. Some claim it can add an entire choke level to your weapon so a cylinder/cylinder cut off 311a like I have can become a clyinder/improved cylinder (assuming you keep the tapped shells to one chamber). You could also play around with how much you cut the wad if your buying un-slitted wads like the VP80. It should have a similar impact. I try reserving my VP80 wads for public steel shot hunting.

I have not counted the holes to confirmed that myself, but in my own visual review the tape does seem to work!

I just don't know if it holds true to make a full choke an extra full choke, say for turkey. Never tried it for that purpose since my Model 12 has a poly and my BPS has a Trulock Precision Hunter turkey choke (by the way LG-Outdoors has a great price on these). In other words I can already 'adjust' to a extra full in my Model 12 and even tighter in my BPS.

My gleaning around here also suggest that there may be some difficultly in finding a good pattern past extra full so a full choke gun with a tapped wad might be as good as your going to get in most cases. I was planning to test the difference between extra full and turkey choke with both #5 and #6 before my April trip to the Loess Hills.

Since I'm not a sport shooter (at least not yet) I stick to purchasing magnum lead, many claim that it also tightens the pattern over chilled lead until you get to size #4 or larger. Something seems to happen at that size of lead and all the sudden the preference for hunting changes to chilled. That's just what I have heard from here and other places.