16ga.com ~ View topic

Joined: 13 Oct 2015 Posts: 151 Location: SE Ks

Wife got a new kitchen range, I got cardboard for patterning!
Gun is a Dickinson 16ga. with screw in chokes. This one shows .011 constriction with the IC tube, .018 with the mod., .027 IM, and .034 full. Loads were 1 1/8 5s with 800x and Longshot, wads were SG16 and Z16. No holes were counted, just eyeballed, but it was obvious there were too many blank areas in the patterns.
I had checked these loads at 30 yards and had decent spreads, around 25" circle for most of the shot with ok dispersion.
Checked this afternoon at 40 yards and nothing seemed to work, finally put in the full choke and got a usable pattern at 40. Man I really like 5s for wild pheasant but this gun sure doesn't.
Checked some 6's I'd loaded with the same recipe and the IC at 35 looked great, tried the IM at 40 with the last piece of cardboard and got a pretty good pattern.
Heading out west in the morning for a day trip, got the IC/full combo in the gun and will have 6s in the right pocket and 5s in the left. Hope I get some birds to hold tomorrow.

Joined: 08 Feb 2009 Posts: 1308 Location: Western WA

Good work, now you know what you are carrying. Fives are great to phez but decent patterns are a necessity. Good luck tomorrow.

Brewster

Member Joined: 27 Jun 2012 Posts: 1113

Looks like you've really done your homework, now if the birds cooperate, you should have a great hunt.

I also shoot a 16 ga Dickinson and found the chokes appear to be one step tighter than what they are marked. In mine, the CYL choke is a perfect IC and so on up the line. Several of my buddies also shoot Dickinsons and have found the same thing in the other gauges.

Guest

Your choke measurements are pretty close to what I found. My 16 gauge Dickinson's chokes measure as such: .005, .012, .019, .027, and .035.

I patterned my 7/8 oz target reloads with the .005 & .012 and found the patterns to be dense enough to leave those chokes in place. They seemed pretty tight! I might have swapped the .012 for the .019 for pheasants, but based on those early patterns that .012 tube seemed pretty dense at 35 yards. I suppose I need to buck up and pattern my hunting loads in that gun. Ugh!

Joined: 19 Apr 2008 Posts: 477

You're off to a good start. When you have time, I suggest some load testing. I have a very nice European SXS that is my favorite pheasant gun. I started testing various loads and was surprised at the different patterns I got from various recipes. I eventually found a combination that gave me just what I wanted. With some work at the reloading bench and some testing, I'm willing to bet you can come up with loads exactly like you want.

Sneem, what you described is what I have experienced. My best patterns for my 16 Ga. is with card and fiber wads and nickel plated shot.

Joined: 09 Sep 2006 Posts: 863 Location: NoDak

Hi all, my 16ga Dickinson's bore is .661 and the tubes mic out at:

Cyl: .000
IC: .007
Mod: .017
IM: .027
Full: .034

Just a FYI

Best!

Greg

Joined: 13 Oct 2015 Posts: 151 Location: SE Ks

Thanks for the info guys, I'll work on load combos over the winter. Just now on the way home, 4 hours one way to get to decent pheasant country. 3 of us ended up with 5 birds, should of been 8 but suspect shooting did us in. Probably get kicked off the board but after the first couple birds flushe at 40 yards plus, I switched to my old pheasant magnet, Beretta 391 12 ga with 1 3/8 oz 5s. Just like you suspected every bird I shot at after that was well under 30 yards. Can't win for losing

Joined: 13 Oct 2015 Posts: 151 Location: SE Ks

On the subject of testing different loads, is there combinations that tend to pattern tighter than others? Working mainly with Cheddite cases. I've got SP16, SG16 and Z16 wads, 800X, Unique, Universal, and a tiny bit of Longshot left. The bore measures .6675 so I was hoping it would work with 5s. Trying to stay with 1 1/8 oz 5 loads since most of our pheasant hunting is on heavily pressured public access spots, after the first couple weekends shots over points tend to get few and far between.
I saw a post where all nickle plated shot isn't made with hard shot. You guys want to recommend a source?

Guest

I've found the Z16 wads pattern tight. The nickel-plated shot I've bought from Precision Reloading has been the hardest I've found.

Ole- I think your specs for various chokes are correct for a 12 gauge, but too tight for a 16 gauge. I have a page from a Brownell's publication (2001) that gives the following dimensions for 16 gauge chokes:

Nominal bore diameter .667
Full .028
IM .020
Mod .015
Skt 2 .010
IC .007
Skeet 1 .004
Cyl .000

Choke constrictions for smaller gauges are correspondingly less.

Joined: 13 Oct 2015 Posts: 151 Location: SE Ks

varies some depending on who published the chart, but Dickinson seems to be tighter across the board. A couple others posted above that theirs are similar to mine. I would have no problem just screwing in the more open chokes, but none of them seem to pattern tightly with 1 1/8 oz- 5s.
Thought maybe it just didn't like the 5s I have on hand so I cut open some old copper plated Win magnum 4s to salvage the shot. Loaded them up and it didn't do well with them either. Beginning to look like I'll have to stick with 6s for my heavy loads.

Guest

.008 is kinda tight for a skeet choke I'd say. But then, I shoot skeet with whatever I have, IM and F in one gun. Makes nice soot balls.

My Briley chokes in a BC Miroku are not very accurate on the low end either. A Beretta I have has chokes that measure quite a bit different than the labels...from the factory.

Joined: 09 Sep 2006 Posts: 863 Location: NoDak