16ga.com ~ View topic - Britgun Sweet 16 no longer on the market.....

Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Posts: 989 Location: Las Vegas

Yes they can, however you run the risk of cracking the rear of the forearm. When I was younger (much) and lead was still legal for waterfowl I reloaded and shot a bunch of heavy loads and, of course, cracked the back of the forearm. Had it fixed and bought myself a Mag 12 A5!

Matt

Guest

I'll jump in here if you don't mind. It is my understanding, as a rule of thumb, you want to run it at the heavy setting if it will cycle your loads. If you're shooting "heavy" loads on the light setting you are needlessly beating up the gun and probably getting more felt recoil out of it.

My 16 gauge Rem 11 will cycle eveything on down to 1 oz 2.5 DE (1165 fps) loads on the heavy setting, so I keep it there. Recoil is nil, and my Rem 11 weighs 7lbs 2 oz, fairly light for an 11.

My first Sweet Sixteen behaved the same and even cycled about 75% of my 7/8 oz powderpuff loads while on the heavy setting. I have no doubt it would have been 100% on the light setting, but I didn't try it. I save those 7/8 oz loads for my 1620.

I've got a skeet barreled Sweet Sixteen coming in next week that is in the same condition as yours, Duncan. I'm looking forward to putting it though its paces!

Guest

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Thanks, if I'm gonna keep this thinG, I guess I better learn how it works, I'll keep it on heavy for awhile and see how she functions, appreciate your input very much....how old is your skeet gun? Sounds nice, I'd prefer a more open choke, can you get other barrels for these? Are they interchangeable? I'd like a nice skeet or IC in 26"...if I found one, would it fit??

thanks,

Duncan[/quote]

I think it's a 1954 gun. 53 or 54. It has a 27" barrel. This one actually found me. I had bought a Merkel 47 (12 gauge) from a dealer here in WI, and the gun just wasn't working out for me as it was stocked too low and it couldn't be bent far enough to suit me. So we're trying to figure out a fair buyback, which was muddy because I has traded a couple guns for the Merkel. He then says, "I've got a minty skeet choked Sweet Sixteen if that would interest you." Shocked

Finding open barrels can be a challenge. They should interchange as long as they are 2 3/4" guns. I'll check some web sites I know of and report back. Hopefully, Matt and Jeff M will jump in here and give you some good insights.

Member Joined: 25 Jul 2006 Posts: 781

Sweet Sixteen barrels will interchange as long as they are 2 3/4" barrels.

65mm chambered barrels will not work even if they have been modified for 2 3/4" shells.

Jeff

I think 1929 was the cutoff date. Any barrell chambered for 2 3/4" shells will be marked 16 gauge 2 3/4". Befor that, if they were chambered for 2 9/16" all they had was 16 gauge stamped on the barrell.

I shoot bismuth, I would not shoot steel. I was told by a couple of gunsmiths not to shoot steel in the older browning barrells as they are thinner then the new ones.

They are interchangeble as long as both are marked the same 16 gauge 2 3/4". On the sweet sixteen barrells there are holes in the barrell ring. The standard doesn'e have these holes.

Member Joined: 25 Jul 2006 Posts: 781

The change to 2 3/4" chambered barrels on 16 ga Auto-5's came with the resumption of production after WW2 (1947). Some short chambered guns were made after that for European markets etc, but not for the US.

There are several ways to tell if a gun was originally made for 65mm or for 2 3/4"

1) the best way is to look at the proof marks, the ga. and chamber length is marked in the proof, it will have the numbers, (usually but not always in a mark shaped like a horse shoe, sometimes they are more like a fraction) the numbers will be:

16 70

or

16 65

Barrels proof marked "70" have 70mm chambers which is 2 3/4"
Barrels proof marked "65" have 65mm chambers which is 2 9/16"

2) later barrels have 2 3/4" marked among the text right on the barrel itself

3) The serial number on the gun tells you if it is post WW2, if there is a letter prefix, either X, S, R etc in the serial number the gun should have 2 3/4" chambers.

4) All Japanese production 16ga Auto-5's have 2 3/4" chambers

EXCEPTION

Some short chambered 16ga Auto-5's were modified to accomodate 2 3/4" shells, you can shoot the longer shells out of them BUT their barrels and receivers are not interchangable with guns that were manufactured for 2 3/4" shells.

whew!

Jeff

This is when all manufacturers were required to chamber the sixteen gauge to 2 3/4" that were sold in the U.S. Shotgun Standards
Around 1930 standards were finally set worldwide on chamber dimensions for all shotgun gauges, up to this point chamber dimensions varied greatly between countries and manufacturers so care should be taken when firing any shotgun manufactured prior to 1930. Many of these shotguns will have short chambers and when fired using todays more powerful ammunition extreme pressures will be exerted on the chamber area do to the fact that the shotshell crimp will actually be opening into the forcing cone area and not before it.
Since 1926 SAAMI (Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute) has been the principle organization in the United States actively engaged in the development and promulgation of product standards for firearms and ammunition.