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Joined: 10 Aug 2010 Posts: 23 Location: Tennessee

I have loaded 16 ga for doves for quite a few years with a variety of powders including Unique, 473, 540 and WSF. Most loads have been around 1220 fps with 1 oz of shot. I have used these in both a Model 12 and a 1940’s era LC Smith field grade with 2 3/4” chambers. Ii’d like to start loading a little lighter shell (1,165 fps) for Sporting Clays and also be able to use it for doves in the LC Smith.

Currently I have WSF, Unique, Clays and 700x powders and Winchester and Cheddite 209 primers. My hulls are the old style Winchester compression formed but I also have a supply of Federal hulls. I have both WAA16 and SP16 wads.

I would like to hear some members thoughts about reloading these powders and if one seems to work better than the other for my purpose. I’d also like to know about any 7/8 oz loads that might work with these components.

*Last edited by 16gaDavis on Wed Mar 06, 2024 10:29 am; edited 1 time in total*

look for Rem wads . Our big auction house here has 6 bags of them with zero bids . They are made for Taper cases . Dr's , roo hard to find . G-wads - too big of diameter and really hard to load . Check out Mark's thread on 7/8 and use the 700X loads and drop back a grain or 2 for your cases . Just get some 28ga fiber wads to fill the wad for the correct shot height for crimping .

Joined: 09 Feb 2015 Posts: 824

Member Joined: 09 Jan 2013 Posts: 2170 Location: Florida

WW CF 1 oz. Unique 19.0 Win 209 WAA16 1165 9,200 Alliant 1998

Joined: 10 Aug 2010 Posts: 23 Location: Tennessee

I saw that Unique load in one of my manuals. Have you loaded that?- I guess what I’d really like to know is opinions on WSF vs Unique. Is there an advantage to one over the other?

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Joined: 04 Mar 2019 Posts: 1844 Location: Central ND

I like Unique better than WSF, mostly because it doesn't dribble out of the bottom of the charge bar and it is bulky enough to give good wad column heights with the wads we have available. There is also more good data for Unique than WSF.

Performance wise, I don't see any difference.

Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2350 Location: West MI

If you can't find or don't have any WAA16 wads, ClayBuster CB0100-16 & CB0078-16 wads are clones of the WAA wads and work in the Win Comp & smaller ID RGL hulls.

Member Joined: 09 Jan 2013 Posts: 2170 Location: Florida

Yes, I have used that load. I like it.

Have shot that load for years for desert quail and doves but with 19.5 gr of Unique. Chronos 1200 fps and pressure is right at 10K psi. Found the load in a manual but don't remember which one.

Joined: 10 Aug 2010 Posts: 23 Location: Tennessee

Thanks for your feedback. I loaded up several boxes of the 19.0 gun Unique load and plan to shoot Tuesday. Unique metered great and stack height withe the WAA16 was perfect.