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Member Joined: 10 Oct 2007 Posts: 1

I recently acquired a Sauer side-by-side in 16 ga. The chambers measure 2". I found this surprising! Proofs marks and design features, plus serial #, tell me this gun was made around 1900, or a little after. Were 2" shells in 16 ga. frequent at the time? If so, was this a Middle European habit or was it widely practiced? My search of current 16 ga. shell producers shows only 12 ga loads in 2" shells. Does anyone know of 2" producers in 16 ga? Otherwise I may have to extend the chambers to 2 1/2" -- chamber and barrel thickness will allow this re-chambering but it would be nice to avoid it.

gary lease

Member Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 1545 Location: Michigan

I know of no one who produces 2" 16 gauge shells.
I've never heard of a 16 gauge with 2" chambers, but I suppose anything is possible. I have trimmed hulls as short as about 2-1/4" for loading 5/8 oz. loads. If you are going to try and hand load some 2" shells, I think you'll have to go with a fiber type wad. I don't think you'll get a modern plastic wad to fit in a 2" hull. Maybe with a roll crimp, but it will take a bunch of trial and error loadings. Good Luck

Member Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 317

Gary:

I had a 2 1/2" 16 from Germany that had such step cones and chamber that I could not seat a 2 1/2" shell easily. I had the cones relieved and now all is well. Just a thought.

I know of no one loading factory 2" 16 ga. shells. I suspect you are looking at handloading. No problem if you are using fiber wads, overshot cards and roll crimps. In which case you'll want to keep those steep cones and short chambers for a good gas seal around the fiber wads.

I would use the Federal hull to maximize case capacity. Best of luck.

Russ