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On another forum, a guy said that he loads 1 3/8 oz. of #4 or #5 shot with a BP-metal multi-wad and uses Blue Dot powder. No hull or primer was mentioned. If memory serves me, the late Don Zuts had such a load. I'm not advocating an 1 3/8 oz. load for 16 gauge, just curious.

Ouch!

That one's gonna hurt, both ways.

Joined: 20 Mar 2009 Posts: 428

You won't see me shooting it Exclamation

I used to shoot 1 3/8 oz duck loads in a Beretta gas autoloader. 7 1/2 lbs.

If I killed the duck, I didn't notice the recoil. If I had to take a second shot, it took a long time to get back on the bird due to the effort of climbing back up off the floor of the blind.

Tom

Bigger is always better!

That's why I like a 3-1/2 inch 12 gauge for doves! Shocked

Member Joined: 28 Oct 2005 Posts: 665 Location: Louisiana

Zuts did indeed publish the recipe for a 1 3/8 oz. load using a Federal hull and testing at 7200psi or therabouts in Handloader magazine in an article titled "The 16 Stretches Out". I have posted the data for the loading on two occasions. It is unpleasant to shoot.
The 16 gauge gun is, in my opinion, not well suited for such loads.

I used to shoot a 1 3/8 load of copper 5's at ducks when I was young and did not care about the beatings.

I do not believe that more shoot will really help you as much as some think. Even 1 1/4 is a bit much for the bore on a sixteen.

Today I still kill ducks at about the same ranges (under 30 yd) with 1 1/8 of bismuth. I know there are those exceptional shots that kill at great ranges, but most of us mortals would do well to save those attempts for clay and kill humanely where the odds and our skills are with us.

If you really need more shot it would be better to shot a larger bore (12 or 10) and deliver a shorter denser shoot string more efficiently

The diameter and bore expansion ratio of any gauge is finite. At some point, tha amount of shot that can be reasonably shoved up the barrel and out the muzzle is reached. I-1/4 ounce of shot is about all she wrote for the 16. Beyond that simply requires more bore to get any reasonable amount of work out of the shot charge.

Sure, it is possible to load more shot into the shell with some special techniques, but it won't be any more effective. In fact, it will be less effective. 1-1/8 to 1-1/4 ounce loads are slight overloads. They are within the effective limits of the gauge, and allow us to use the #5 and #4 pellets to good advantage but are not the most efficient. In combination with one piece plastic wads, the 3/4 through 1 ounce loads are. The plastic short cup actually reduces the bore's working diameter and the resulting bore expansion ratio a tad, so the lighter 3/4 and 7/8 ounce loads are probably the most efficient now.

Joined: 20 Mar 2009 Posts: 428

I'm not sure how much you gain when trying to shoot 1-3/8 ounce loads in the 16. I think the amount of felt recoil will throw you off of the target just enough that you would most likely end up with the same amount or less bb's on the target than with say a standard 1 ounce or 1-1/8 ounce load.

Member Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 1975

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Be very careful shooting those heavy recoil loads. I have a Friend last year who was shooting Trap alot, he is also 65 years young so he thought.
Suffered a very painful detached Retina of his shooting Eye from all the recoil. His Doc told him no more Shotgun.

Member Joined: 08 Jun 2009 Posts: 107 Location: Idaho

That's a great load...in an 8# 12 ga. I really like 1 1/8 oz loads of #6 and #7 for pheasants and chukars respectively, but that's it for the 16.

Late season pheasant hunting is the domain of the 12. My full choke Model 12 12 gauge is deadly at scary ranges with 1 1/4 oz of #5 at 1200 fps.

Joined: 12 Oct 2008 Posts: 50 Location: New Jersey

The 1 1/4 oz. is the max. I would go in the 16 ga. And I'd use these only in my M12 or Japanese Sweet-Sixteen. It's still a brute and I think the 1 1/8 oz. load is plenty medicine with #6's and #5's for pheasant.