16ga.com Forum Index
Author Message
<  16ga. Ammunition & Reloading  ~  New to 16 ga reloading
Brewster11
PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 4:07 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 08 Feb 2009
Posts: 1301
Location: Western WA

DMC

While many here use all manner of wads and hulls with happy results, be advised that various 16 ga wads and hulls have vastly different dimensions, and some basic guidelines generally apply.

There are basically 2 types of 16 ga hulls: Tapered wall hulls (e.g. Win AA compression formed), and straight wall hulls (Rem, Fed, Chedd, Fio, etc). Tapered wall hulls require a very specific type of wad designed for the narrow confines near the base, such as the original AA wads and AA copies like Claybuster. These should never be used in straight wall hulls.

Among the straight wall hulls, the interior diameters are also much different. The Rem has a very small diameter while the "Euro" hulls, (Ched, Fio) are much wider. Rem wads are unsuitable for Euro hulls as they may not seal reliably. Fed hulls are similar to Euro dimensions but slightly smaller. Many Win hulls are actually Cheddite. You must carefully identify the hull type you are reloading and then match the wad to the hull. Unfortunately the handbooks published by powder manufacturers are VERY UNHELPFUL in this regard, if not downright misleading.

The general rule of thumb is Euro Wads (SG16, Z16, Ched) for Euro hulls and American wads for American hulls BY MANUFACTURER. Euro hulls also have the advantage of having significantly more capacity than American hulls. This is a very important consideration for 16 ga reloaders, as opposed to 12 hulls where capacity is plentiful.

There is also a misconception about bloopers. The main reason for bloopers according to the late Ed Matunas is not powder migration, but blowby whereby high pressure gases escape past the wad seal. This is often caused when wads intended for tapered wall hulls are used in straight wall hulls. But bloopers are also VERY common in tapered wall hulls if the shells have been in storage and the wad skirts harden to the smaller tapered dimensions and do not obturate to the full barrel hull diameter.

Bloopers are not only a gross inconvenience, they are EXTREMELY DANGEROUS if the wad remains lodged in the barrel. The ramrods found in shotgun ranges are primarily there to remove lodged wads, not for cleaning. That's why they are called blooper sticks.

Ed Matunas was a fierce critic of straight wall hulls ("Reifenhauser") because of past tendency for the base wad to separate from the hull and become lodged in the barrel. This problem has since been effectively solved and most reloaders today prefer straight wall hulls because of inherent problems with tapered wall hulls and their wads.

Probably more information than you need but I put it out there for your reference.

Good Luck,
B.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
All times are GMT - 7 Hours

View next topic
View previous topic
Page 3 of 3
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3
16ga.com Forum Index  ~  16ga. Ammunition & Reloading

Post new topic   Reply to topic


 
Jump to:  

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum




Powered by phpBB and NoseBleed v1.09