reloading

[PETE GROVE]

greetings-just joined today,have a vh16 and a vhe12,what are safe pressures to try and stay within? thanks

[Rich Anderson]

Thats hard to say as we don't know the condition of your guns barrels. If they are sound (have them measured by a "competant" gunsmith) I would use the RST low pressure ammunition. Remember the wood on your guns is also aged and there is no reason to put high velocity/pressure loads through it.

[Larry Frey]

Hi Pete,
Welcome to the PGCA. Rich is correct, if you don't have the tools or experience to judge the condition of your barrels it would be a good idea to have it done by someone qualified. As for pressure with your reloads I can only tell you what I do. I reload only 12 gauge at this time and have two loads, one for my wife that's a 1 oz load at 6500 psi and 1150fps and mine which is a 7/8 oz load at 7000 psi and 1300 fps. These are our target loads and both of our guns have fluid steel barrels and weight around eight pounds. I'm sure you will get other opinions that I hope will be helpful.

[PETE GROVE]

thanks for the replies and the welcome -ya rich is right ,i was just courios what guys were loading in them.i`m 90% a hunter, just need a decent field load thats lower in pressure,but thats not a problem i have several

[John Hancock]

I have been shooting damascus bbl guns for many years with SR7625, look at the Hodgdon loading sight. I won't quote the powder weights here but will tell you that I use Rem STS hulls and Rem componants at 1100 fps and you can see that the pressures are low. Been useing this load for years and years with no problems and good preformance. Suppose it doesn't make any difference but I use chilled shot rather than "hard" shot as it seems to me that the softer shot ought to be a little easier on the choke forcing cones. Regards, John Hancock

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Sounds like you are a reloader, and it is pretty easy to find low pressure loads. Go to the 16ga forum and look for posts by spr310 , or do a search for their low pressures loads and you will find more low pressure 16 ga loads with all components listed than you can imagine. PB is a very popular powder for low pressure loads, as is Green Dot. I generally load 7/8 oz-1oz in 16's. Iam using REd Dot in 7/8 0z 12 ga. nice light load.

[PETE GROVE]

sounds good i`ll look at that,have any idea what the nitro shotshells pressures were in 1925? thanks for the help!

[John Farrell]

spr310 has recently moved all of his load charts from the 16 gauge site to Gunworld. I think it may have to do with a policy of the 16 gauge webmaster to keep political threads off the 16 gauge site as not conducive to harmony and peace on the site.

Quite a few members of the 16 gauge society posted support for the webmaster's action. Myself included. But try the site anyway, you will find others offering low pressure loads for the 16. The information you see on this site is an indication of the support from PGCA members you will get.

[John Farrell]

Correction - spr310 moved his spreadsheets to the Shotgun World website. Look for his signon name Oldhunter1 and you will find the 16 gauge spreadsheets. Note that in his 16 gauge spreadsheets you can find data sets by hull type, powder, primer and wads.

[Dave Miles]

Correction - spr310 moved his spreadsheets to the Shotgun World website. Look for his signon name Oldhunter1 and you will find the 16 gauge spreadsheets. Note that in his 16 gauge spreadsheets you can find data sets by hull type, powder, primer and wads.

Probably 99% of that data is NOT spr310's.
He copied it from someone else and post it all over the place like it's his. :nono: