104 Year Old Parker 16 Gauge SxS
 

I occasional shoot skeet with my Parker.

The problem is I can no longer find 16 gauge, 2&1/2" shells.

I was getting them from Polywad in Georgia, but they are not responding or shipping shells for quite a while.

Any info as to where I can get shells would be appreciated.

Thank you.

the only other one I know of is RST

Agreed - RST is the way to go

http://www.rstshells.com/store/m/3-16-Gauge.aspx

RST is the best

unless things have changed, Kent, and Estate also had 2 1/2"

I use 2 3/4” in all mine even the 130 year old hammer 16 .

RST Shells
 

Thanks all of you guys for replying.

I thought Polywad was the only low pressure shell manufacturer.

Don't know what's happened to Polywad.

Thanks again, Happy guy who can again shot the Parker Brothers Shotgun!!!

The Remington Dove and Quail loads are actually 21/2" shells.The box is marked 23/4" but if you measure the shell the unfired length is 21/4" and the fired length is 21/2".They are fairly low pressure loads and work fine in short chambered 16s.You can buy them at your local gun store or Walmart.Our Walmart sells them for $7.79 per box.

Thanks John for that info! I buy those for my M21 but never would have thought to check length to use in older 16 ga. Hope you are doing well and found a good dove hunt somewhere. We had a good one in AZ, mostly mourning doves but I got one white wing that stayed around a bit too long, it’s buddies left to go south a few days before opening day after a cool front came through.

I was shown that by another PGCA member Scott Gentry.The 20 gauge dove and quail loads are the same measurements.

Last box of Polywad I shot had a dud. Primer pushed the wad and shot cup 1/2 up the right barrel. I pulled the front trigger, bird didn’t drop so I fired the second barrel. Didn’t notice the charge didn’t go off. Fortunately I didn’t flush another bird that day. Found the stuck wad and cup when I cleaned the gun the next day.

I had the same issue with polywads several years ago. More than one in the box. They wanted the flat back and replaced it. No troubles with the replacement shells.

They did handle the situation well when I called and they sent me a replacement flat as well.

It was stressed to me that it wasn't the length so much in these older guns, but punishing that 100 year old wood.

I shot the Remington dove and quail loads in a DH damascus gun with 25/8" chambers for several years.Recoil was not bad and no damage to the gun.

I would consider RST 3/4 oz loads. Very light recoil and effective.

Thanks for all replays
 

But I have one more question and that is what type of 16 gauge RST shells are good for skeet?

If you have saved your old 2 1/2 inch Polywads, or if you purchase some RST's and save the empties, learning to reload those hulls would save you a ton of money. As for what's good for Skeet...I use 7/8 oz. of #9 shot. RST carries that load.

As I only shoot casual, or “fun”, skeet, I use RST Ultra Lite, 2 ½ -inch; 3/4-ounce; 1100 velocity 16-gauge loads in the 0-frame and 1-frame VH guns I have.

So, in a session of 4 rounds, or 100 targets, neither the gun nor my old, once-injured, shoulder is subject to undue impact.

For deep woods bird hunting I move up to RST 7/8-ounce loads at 1125.

Reloading is its own hobby and may make economic sense, but I just don’t do it anymore.

The service from RST has been good, and if anything is amiss or is misunderstood, it gets straightened out to my satisfaction with personal telephonic or email communications.

You can pick up on eBay a mec 600 and convert a 12 to a 16 fairly easily and add a 1/4 inch spacer to reload RST 2 1/2 hulls. There are several low pressure recipes suited for this application and if I remember correctly there is a thread that discussed loading at length.

Good luck.

And there were a ton of loading recipies on the 16 Gauge Society web page too.





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yes you can - just did that last weekend -

Plus one on the RST 3/4 oz Ultra Lite loads. They are a joy to shoot.