doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 16 bore shotguns

I am a B&P fan by and large, I just wish they would offer some of their 12 ga. loads (SubSound, Comp Ones) for the subgauges. Their only 16 ga. load appears a bit hot for my tastes:

F2 Classic 16ga. 2 5/8 inch 1 1/16oz 1280 FPS (200 rds per case)

I have yet to shoot it, though - Gnomon, how have you found the recoil on those loads?

RST loads some really nice 16 gauge loads.

This is my CH Parker 16 Gauge made in 1898:

If you can find the Win Super-X loads at the big box store in 16's, that's the ticket. Only comes in 6 or 8, 1oz, but is very soft shooting.

We usually go to Yuma every year for the dove opener and the first stop we make is WalMart to see if they have any 16's on the shelf. They stock some light 16's, but they are always sold out after opening day.

If your local Cabala's store doesn't have them in stock they will order them in for you. In February they were running a special on Estate (Federal) light (one ounce) loads and with Cabela's $20.00 off purchases over $150.00 I paid in the neighborhood of $5.00 a box when I bought three flats. As I remember the 1 ounce Federals are loaded to 1165 fps so recoil is not nearly what the Remington Game Load and B&P run and best of all the hulls load up just great for everything from 7/8th ounce to 1 1/8th ounce.

My favorite load for quail and targets is the Federal or Cheddite (Winchester Super X) hull trimmed to 2 9/16th inches, 17.9 grains of Unique with a Gualandi 1621 wad and 7/8th ounce of shot with or without a Spred R insert and finished with a roll crimp. For Prairie or Mountain Grouse and early season Pheasants I up the power charge to 19.5 grains and use 1 ounce of shot with the Gualandi 1618 (old Active G28) wad.

My favorite gauge for hunting. I grew up with one and I think it is the perfect cartridge . But, we are surrounded by 12's and 20's. I still have my boyhood 16 ga gun and a couple of others to keep it company.

My 16 is my go to upland gun. I used to shoot the B&P load but they are a bit hot. I started shooting the 1 ounce RST loads for everything and I'll never go back, great performers and a whole lot less recoil. Order online and you'll have them in no time.

I'm a big fan of the 16-bore. All the payload of a 12-bore game gun; and light but strong on a scaled frame.

In the UK we have a good selection of excellent ammunition. I use 26g Eley Grand Prix No.6 and have always been pleased with it.

Back before EBay banned all empty shotgun shell sales you could pickup some types of 16 hulls very reasonable. Not the compression formed AA which I have seen go for 25-30 cents each. But Remington Game loads, Federal purple hulls and even the odd lot of paper hulls. I had a seller in NY who sold Remington Game loads all the time. My best buy was mixed lot of 4,000 hulls which had about two hundred AA's in the mix. Shame EBay stopped the sales.

One thing I learned about 16's is to buy what ever hulls or wads you come across because some has a good load for them. The 16 ga. site has about a hundred low pressure loads so if you come across a hull or wad buy it. You find a use for it later.

Tut,

Beautiful looking CH. Gotta love those old Parkers.

Cheers,

JDG

I find ammo on the internet for the 16 is a lot easier then at the gunshop. When I buy I buy a ton of it.
My 16 gauge Nitro Special with my first South Dakota pheasant. Its a sweet gun at a little over 6 lbs.