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| < 16ga. Ammunition & Reloading ~ Availability of 2-1/2" Shells |
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 Posted:
Fri Mar 18, 2022 4:19 pm
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Member
Joined: 15 Apr 2007
Posts: 9464
Location: Amarillo, Texas
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I have lots of time to cut hulls and reload,
73 and retired !!
Mike |
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USAF RET 1971-95 |
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| Posted:
Fri Mar 18, 2022 6:01 pm
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Joined: 07 Jun 2020
Posts: 228
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| Fortycaliberglock wrote: |
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I’ll be shooting standard 2 1/2 dram, 2 3/4 shells in my 2 1/2 guns for the foreseeable future. Maybe I’ll have the chambers lengthened at some point, but not likely as I don’t find it necessary. With Polywad and RST out, there’s no sustainable supply of 2 1/2 shells any longer. I think 2 1/2 shells are going the way of the pinfire. Unless you have lots of time to cut hulls and reload, it sounds like it’s time to move on.
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S&B and Fiochi are often labeled 70mm (2 3/4) yet tend to be shorter around 2 5/8 or so. Once you set up your press for a particular hull I tend to use only that hull in it. I.e. Winchester Cheddite in my PW progressive, 2 1/2 cheddite in my Texan, Federal in the MEC.
In the end the easiest solution to shorter hull reloading is roll crimping.
Then of course if you want to dump a lot of money into hulls, the Rocky Mountain Cartridge all brass is the Cadillac solution. |
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| Posted:
Sat Mar 19, 2022 9:53 am
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Joined: 08 Feb 2009
Posts: 1310
Location: Western WA
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| Quote: |
| I think 2 1/2 shells are going the way of the pinfire.
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The thought has crossed my mind that the same could be said for 16 ga in general. After observing the ammo supply trends here, it appears that reloading might become a necessity for all 16ga folks, not just us 2 1/2” shooters.
B. |
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| Posted:
Sat Mar 19, 2022 8:41 pm
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Member
Joined: 06 Apr 2007
Posts: 3373
Location: The Great Northwet
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| Brewster11 wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I think 2 1/2 shells are going the way of the pinfire.
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The thought has crossed my mind that the same could be said for 16 ga in general. After observing the ammo supply trends here, it appears that reloading might become a necessity for all 16ga folks, not just us 2 1/2” shooters.
B.
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This is one of the main reasons I recently bought a modern 16. Even though I reload often, components are insanely expensive, and I have a couple flats of 2.75" ammo I can't shoot in my hammer guns. Good to have more than one option.  |
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Gun art: www.marklarsongunart.com
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The man's prayer from the Red Green Show: "I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to. I guess." |
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| Posted:
Sun Mar 20, 2022 8:57 am
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Joined: 12 Sep 2010
Posts: 1973
Location: Maine
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Or you coulda bought back when your local gun store was begging for people to come in and buy something, anything, because all the gun owners were so smug that there'd always be abundant supplies and gun control was never coming to pass.
As it is, if we have to go back to reloading, we're basically back where we were a decade or so ago, when 16 ga shells were scarce and those that were loaded had little to no variety. We solved that problem before and we can solve it again. |
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“A man’s rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.”
Frederick Douglass, November 15, 1867, speech in Williamsport, Pa. |
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