I've shot a bunch of patterns with various 16's, none of which have been square--even when using 1oz loads.

Stan, if you're paying more than $10/box for RST 2 1/2" 12's, before shipping, they must be charging you a premium. $100/flat on my price sheet. And you avoid the shipping charge if you show up at any of the shoots they attend. Just call ahead of time and pick up there.

But for some bizarre reason, people keep missing the fact that you don't need to buy factory 2 1/2" shells for most 2 1/2" chambered guns. How many times do we have to relearn what Sherman Bell established in one of his early "finding out for myself" articles in DGJ--and which, for that matter, Major Burrard and Gough Thomas both pointed out decades earlier? Assuming pressures appropriate to the gun in question, we can shoot 2 3/4" hulls in short-chambered guns. Even works for 16's and 20's, as well as for 12's. (Shot a couple rounds of skeet with a 2 1/2" Elsie 20ga last evening, 3/4 oz reloads in unmodified STS/AA hulls.) I can produce nice, low pressure 12ga reloads in standard American factory hulls cheaper than you can buy 16's, even when you find them on sale at Wally World.

And 2-Piper, it's news to me that the square load abstains. I always figured it was so much BS that it had to be drunk. smile

Last edited by L. Brown; 07/04/12 09:00 AM.