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I was at the Wisconsin Trappers Convention over the weekend. It's basically just a big flea market, mainly consisting of trapping supplies.

But, I kept my eyes open for 16 gauge shotgun shells.

I found some great deals: Federal 1-1/8 ounce #4 and #6 for $6/box. A box of Western SuperX 1-1/8 ounce #6 for $5.

I also got a partial box of Remington Express Magnum (??) #2's.

Would it be a decent late-season pheasant load (bottom barrel)? Anybody use #2 lead in the 16 gauge?

Joined: 20 Mar 2009 Posts: 428

Seems like it would be an overkill to me. #4's or 5's would be plenty of umph for late season birds. But, having never shot #2's, I guess I should keep my mouth shut. Laughing

H&H: Back in the good old days Crying or Very sad

I used #2 for brant and canada's. Worked good. I still have a partical box Shocked

. They also make a good coyote load. Great find on the others.

I was thinking the #2's might make a good turkey load, but I'm not sure we can legally use #2's for turkey in WI.

Joined: 23 Jan 2008 Posts: 224

How about using them as a crow load...not many pellets, but certainly more reach.

I got some 2 shot cheap a couple years ago - I use it for my camp / dispatch anything quickly load and it does that well . I keep enough for a mag full . 16 ga , 23'' barrel swaged full and the short 1 ozs fit 7 shots in the gun . I think it'll handle the bear that visits on occasion if it was needed , but is more for annoying raccoons , porkies ,fishers and coyotes and right now ! Used to also use the load you have back in the old fox hunting days and worked well .

Deer hunter, I don't think I'd use 2's on a bear. A bear is a pretty tough animal and 2's would only wound him. I've seen geese fly away after being hit with 1 7/8 oz of 2's, back when it was legal and they are a lot easier to kill than a bear. All you're going to do is make him really, really mad.

Joined: 28 Aug 2009 Posts: 31

Interesting that, if you shoot foxes from an aircraft, you actually have to "lead" them from behind because of the plane speed.

In Australia, BB shot is the most recommended shot size for 12 gauge fox hunters with # 2 shot is a close second. But with the 16 gauge having a somewhat lighter charge, 1,1/8oz, the smaller #2 shot is preferred. It seems you can get away with #4, such as the copper-coated, 1,1/4oz 16-gauge "Wing-Shok" stuff that Federal makes, particularly for thinner summer pelt animals. But when they thicken up come winter, #2 is considered better.

I've purchased some reloading shot labelled #2 lead that, when I counted out an once, turned out to be US#1. I made up some of these in low LUP 1,1/4oz loads for a Drilling and also loaded some No.1 buck in a buffered load, (Hornady supply the buck sizes). But it'd certainly be handy if Federal were to load some factory #2's in 16 ga.

Joined: 28 Aug 2009 Posts: 31

I'm glad you described that as it's an interesting bit of history well worth passing on. "Pop" Poplowski wrote something about it in, I think, The Varmint Hunter's Bible, but left much of your detail out.

I'm writing from the other end of the world, in New Zealand, where a friend of mine has to control Canada geese from a helicopter. Not enough of them are sporthunted and to give farmers relief from grass damage, so a certain number have to be culled. Graeme says semi-autos aren't too popular with pilots because the spent shells go upwards and damage the rotors. So he uses an over-under but it's recoil is a bit stiff in his older age. I suggested he use a bottom eject pump-gun like a Browning BPS.

He hasn't crashed yet, (touch-wood) but on one occasion he'd been standing on the strutt to shoot, then they landed and he discovered he'd forgotten to attach the safety harness snap !

The good news is, sporting harvest continues to increase as hunters get more adaptive, (lay-out blinds and etc), so such culls aren't required as much.

Hunter, #2's aren't too big for pheasants. Way back when we didn't have to use steel shot for ducks and geese, I used to load a pet load for geese. It was a 12 ga load of 1 1/4 oz Winchester 2's or BB, 4756 powder, RP 12 wad in the old RXP green hull and add a little Grex buffer. It was a slow load at a little over 1200 fps but the components must have been just right. It would put a high percentage of shot into a 30 inch circle at 60 yards. One year we drove out to Kansas for pheasants. We hunted public land north of Salina. There were some big lakes up there and a lot of public land. Well, you know how pheasants are the second week of season on public land. The only birds that would sit for the dogs were the hens. The cocks got up way ahead of us. The first day was poor. When we got back to the R V, I noticed I had accidently brought a couple boxes of those #2's. I thought why not. The next day I limited out early in the morning and we walked the rest of the day trying to get the limit for the rest of the guys. On the 3rd day, they were "barrowing" the #2's I had brought and we all did fine. I would say pattern the shells at a long distance to see if they throw a tight enough pattern. If so, use them. Some would say that 2's cause too much damage to the meat. My opinion is that you can't eat anything you don't knock dead to the ground.