16ga.com ~ View topic

Guest

Good work, Mike! The loads are good baselines at the top end with which to work "down" with milder primers, or powder/shot reductions. It's better to know where the ceiling is than the floor. I've been intrigued with E3 for my 12 gauge 7/8 oz loads, especially for cold weather performance Great to see it applied to the 16.

I think this web site is slowly making a difference for the 16 gauge. Around the net a lot of 16 gauge load questions come up and the overall knowledge base out there has increased amongst the natives. Lots of referrals to 16ga.com.

Hello Mike :

If you only worked up the 4 loads shown and came out with those results .

Then you hit upon some very very consistant loads right out of the box and right on the ceiling to boot , good research indeed .

I am glad you done some work in the 1 OZ loadings , I done some inital test with the DR16 while in Hastings with the 1OZ but decided that enough 1OZ wads were on the market at the time .

But what we found was it made a wonderful 1 OZ load in the larger volume case , funny I was thinking of working some 1 OZ up and sending them of for testing to publish on the site and just haven't done it , glad to see you have done this for me as always you continue to prove your vast worth and value to this fourm .

My Sincerest thanks once again .

Regards , Nick

Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Posts: 596 Location: 17603

Mike,
Thanks for sharing! I tried Clay Dot in the 16ga, but wasn't happy, great in the light 12ga loads. Your E3 results look very interesting. I too am a fan of Green Dot in light 16ga loads. And I particularly appreciate the fact that you deliberately went for the top of the pressure range. Good work!
Cheers,
R*2

Excellent work Mike. Your well thought out and clearly defined experimenting amounts to good science. I'm pleased to see that once again, Green Dot (or its near twin, International Clays) has come through for us 16 gauge reloaders.

I arrived at 16 grains of GD for my own 3/4 and 7/8 16 ga loads a while back through the use of my old tagboard Powley Load Calculator. Your findings tend to confirm that Homer Powley knew his stuff. His load calculating system has remained a very useful tool for many years. Mine has saved me a lot of time and expense and has helped me remain in safe territory many times when I've manipulated known data to come up with new loads. I believe Powley's system is now available online. I strongly advise anyone to refer to it when experimenting with reloads.

Both the Powley system and long established reloading data indicates Unique (or Universal Clays) is probably a top choice for moderate velocity 16 ga 1 ounce loads. Have you tried either of these two powders for that purpose? How about you Nick? I think 20 to 22 grains of Unique would be just about perfect under the DR16 in any of the Cheddite type straight walled cases using almost any of the standard strength 209 primers. The Federal 209A or another magnum strength primer may help the laods burn a bit cleaner, but I'd drop the powder charges by a 1/2 grain or more across the board first.

Thanks again Mike. Enjoy your new loads. Now go on out there, shoot some up, and have a ball. You've earned your fun IMO. Very Happy

Member Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 1338

Joined: 31 Mar 2005 Posts: 22 Location: Quebec

Mr Campbell,

Thanks for sharing your data with the members on this board. I for one appreciate your kind generosity ! And if I didn't say it before that goes for Mark (RRDC37) also .

Regards,

Nash

Thanks Mike - you hit my targets right on the nose . The rgl and fed loads are right exactly like I've been using . I've shot a few with the cut down AA type wads in the short feds with 15grs G.D. and mixed them in where I can't tell which load id in and couldn't tell on fireing till I have the empty in hand . NICE JOB !

Member Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 1338

Mike Campbell wrote, "Given a tiny sample of 6 shells, and that the difference is really too small to hang your hat on, isn't it interesting that the single highest avg velocity was recorded with the R209 which is sometimes referred to as the "coolest" of all primers."

Perhaps what we are seeing here is the effect of excellently formed, firm crimps vs. primer bump. Some magnum primers have more explosive force when they are fired. Standard strength primers have less force but sufficient flame temperature and duration to adequately ingite the propellent. Firm crimps resist the force or primer bump so the shot/powder column is not prematurely moved forward before it is adequately ignited. Weak crimps don't. So more forceful primers can exaserbate the problem of poor ignition caused by weak crimps.

My thanks to Mike for giving us the opportunity to see another good example of why well formed, firm crimps are so important to good load performance.