7/8 ounce 16-gauge loads
 

Anyone have a good 7/8 ounce load for the old W/W compression formed 16-gauge hulls?

I've been making my 7/8 ounce 16-gauge loads with the DR16 wad in the purple Federal hulls with American Select.

For decades I've loaded one ounce in the W/W CF 16-gauge hulls with the WAA16, and later CB0100-16, with WSF. The load with the * in the Winchester Ball Powder Loading Guide.

I see in the years since last time I did any loading, something new has been added --

http://www.claybusterwads.com/index....8-16-load-data

However, they don't give any load data for the long out of production W/W CF hulls.

have you checked Hogdons site? also have you called claybuster?

For my 7/8 oz load I use Cheddite 2 1/2” hull/15.3 gr. Greendot/ BPI SG16 wad. Nice low pressure load.

Eric, have you, by chance, had that load tested? I'm getting a press set up for my 2 1/2" 16 gauges and will soon (I hope) be loading my own and am looking for low pressure hunting and clays loads for 16 ga. 2 1/2".

No I haven't had it tested. I got the Load from the 16 ga group on Yahoo. If the load has been tested it will say or who the load came from. My load I use is from FN16ga. He posts on the 16 ga. Society site. I trust His data. His load is 15.5 gr Greendot 3/4 oz with SG16 wad for 1177 FPS and 7400 PSI. Cheddite hull and primer.

So I use his 3/4 oz load too but bumped it up to 7/8oz and dropped to 15.3. That just happens to be what my bushing drops. I use this load in my 16 ga Fox.

For what ever reason I load both 3/4 oz and 7/8 oz. about equally. Very mild loads in my light Sterlingworth and crushes clays. I’m sure it would be good on game with the appropriate shot size for the game you hunt.

Dave;

Try this link. It should give you a good start so I hope it opens for you. If you have a supply of 20/28 powder I can vouch for the DR16 load with 3/4oz. Let me know if it works for you.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#la...ts?projector=1

Case: 16 ga. Winchester
Primer: Winchester 209
Powder: 15.8 gr. International Clays Wad: DR16
Shot: 7/8 oz. lead
1,150 fps @ 6,200 psi

I use this load for everything.

Thanks for sharing that Harry, that's about EXACTLY where I want to be. I had some conversation with RST and they said their 2 1/2 Max-lite 12 ga. was about 6200 psi, well within my "sweet spot". My goal is to stay under 7.5K with all my 2 1/2" guns. No reason to beat up century old walnut OR a shooter who long ago saw the half century mark, don't consider doves and quail dangerous game. I happen to have a big ol' jug of international I use in the 12 gauges. I don't recognize the DR16 wad, whose is it? Source?

dr is downrange wads, the 16 wad is ideal for 3/4 and ok for 7/8. they can be purchased thru grafs, precision, and recobs. a little more expensive than claybuster but they load well in rst-cheddite 2&1/2 hulls. i use the BP 16 for 7/8. Skeet Shooting magazine published a listing of loads using both wads with the now defunct pb and 7625 along with Universal and International. those are now on the hogdons site. I had loads tested by precision using 20/28. dr-16, 3/4 from 12-20 grains in rst 2&1/2 hulls. i settled on 20 g 20-28, pressure was in the 5-6 range, 1100 or so fps with a mec 600, short kit. nice crimps and i got 3-5 loadings before the hulls turned black and crimps shredded. worked for me. nice recoil. i thought the International loads kicked more, but that could be in my mind. i had lots of 20/28 from 20 gauge skeet.

good shooting,
John

CB0078-16 Claybuster Wad list the same data as the Down Range wad for 7/8oz loads. Another Claybuster load with the same wad and WW hull: Win. 209 PB 17.4 1150 5900

Are you talking the current Winchester hulls manufactured by Cheddite? (It has a separate plastic base-wad.)

That's a nice load.

I use the Winchester Super X hulls. They must be 5 or 6 years old.

OK thanks, they are made by Cheddite. Decent hulls, but not interchangeable with the old compression-formed Winchesters.

True, but it is still a very pleasant load to shoot.

True! I'm shooting a very similar load shared to me by Mark Garret.

2 1/2" Cheddite hulls
(I bought 500 primed hulls from Graf's, but reload w/Win 209's or Cheddite primers)
15.5 Green Dot
SG-16 wad
7/8 oz. lead

Your load is one I'm going try out. Even tho Green Dot and International are very similar, I've always slightly preferred International Clays and I have a pile of the Herter's/Cheddite hulls to load at some point. My current 16 ga. double is modern with 2 3/4" chambers, but it's a kicker, so I want to stay in that 1150 fps area.

Just to be clear, when you're talking winchester hulls are you still referring to the old compression formed variety. I hope so cause I have a bunch of them.

Maybe I don't understand but do we know which hull was used in the testing of this load?

Case: 16 ga. Winchester
Primer: Winchester 209
Powder: 15.8 gr. International Clays Wad: DR16
Shot: 7/8 oz. lead
1,150 fps @ 6,200 psi

I'm fairly positive it was the WW Super-X Hull as that's what I have and have been using them for five or six years.

Thank you. I have a bunch of WW Super X and the components on hand.

That load is with the current Winchester straight walled hull ( same as cheddite) not the old Win compression formed hull.

Is the Super X Winchester a straight walled hull for this load?

Is the Super X the same as a Chedite hull?

Yes the same should have the separate plastic base wad .

Honestly , at that pressure , I don't think it would matter which hull you put in. Unless you want low pressure , then I would stick with the straight walled hulls.

Good luck finding the DR 16 wad, there was a fire or something at the factory, and seem to be out of stock from my sources, but they are working on it. I am out of them

I use RST Cheddite Hulls with SG-17 wads, 7/8 load and 19.0 grains of Universal powder. Velosity should be about 1125 with PSI of about 7,000. I've found this load with # 7 shoot to be very effective on Pheasant and Sharptail over pointing dogs.

SG-16 Wads
Poor typing on my part

7/8 oz shot is great in several gauges

16 ga. doves and ducks
 

Now that I've had a chance to do more than just shoot a few at the chrony, I'd like to share what's working well for me. I pirated one of these from Harry Collins (Thanks, Harry) and the other is nearly identical, just keeps the Bird Sheriff away from my duck blind. Have used 2 different wads, The Claybuster seems to give me slightly better 6 pt. crimps.
Cheddite or RST hulls - 2 1/2"
#209 Cheddite or #616 Fioche primer
15.7 gr. International
Sporting 16 wad
7/8 oz. #7 lead
Avg. 1133 FPS
I substitute a CB0100-16 wad and 7/8 oz. Bismuth #5 for ducks. Both give a soft recoil and fill my bag. I HAVE NOT HAD EITHER TESTED!!!

Based on the loads in that range that I've had tested you should be plenty safe and at something under 9K psi. Nice loads!

Edit to say they are most likely <8K psi and maybe under 7K. I shouldn't speculate tho. The load I was comparing to (in my head) used the smaller Remington hull which generates somewhat higher pressure than the more spacious Cheddite hulls.

Carry on!