16 gauge load

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

Hi Harold,
Nice to hear from you. I know what you mean regarding the scarcity of 16 gauge Red Dot loads. The ONLY recipe I have found is the one mentioned in the old Alliant manual. I don't need any filler in the WAA16 shotcup because I have trimmed the cases to 2 3/8 inches ( I've edited my previous post ), but I do need to trim the petals back a little. If I could find one of the vintage Red Dot loads that Dave posted a photo of I would love to take it apart and weigh the powder charge, but that might not tell me much since I'm sure those loads use filler wads, not shot cups. I'm happy with the (estimated ) velocity and pressure of the 12 grain load since recoil is pleasant the burn is very clean, but I'm just curious how close my estimates are to the actual numbers. I'll be at the vintagers shoot at Ernie's in September. Hope to see you there.

[Researcher]

Here is the 16-gauge page from the 1985 Hercules Reloader's Guide --

1985 Hercules 16-ga Loads07192019.jpg

One can see the Red Dot loads given are towards the SAAMI max for 16-gauge --

SAAMI Specs.jpg

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

Perfect!!!!
The info on that 1985 guide would indicate even lower pressure, and slightly higher velocity, with a 7/8 oz. load than I had estimated.

[Harold Pickens]

Austin, your thread got me thinking, cause I have a bag of the Claybuster WAA 16 clone wads that were taking up space--have never tried them. I found a nice low pressure/velocity load with Cheddite 2 3/4" hulls, 19.9 gr Universal, Waa 16 wad, and cheddite primer, 1 oz load at 1165 fps and 7100 psi.
Now, I really like loading 2 1/2", so I dropped down a bushing to 19.2 gr Univ,
used 7/8 oz load, with the WAA16 wad. It crimps great, and no need to trim the wad. I only loaded up about half a box, but havent tried them yet. I suspect should work fine.
Advantage is that the Claybuster wads are only half the price of the Gulandi'
SG 16, B&P Z16, and DR 16 wads I use, and Universal is very easy to find.
Let you know what I think after I shoot a few. Anybody else use this?

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

Harold,
I've never used Universal with WAA16 wads and Cheddite hulls due to a concern about the powder migrating past the base of the wad. I had this issue with some PB loads that I've been using in the past ( although they were bouncing around in the back of the Jeep for awhile before using them ). I still have some PB, but I thought I'd try some Red Dot loads to see if the same thing happened. I have used Green Dot also, but the burn was a little dirty, possibly, due to a slightly oversize bore in the gun they were loaded for. Is Universal about the same grain size as PB?