I hear you, now I need to find ammo

[Andy]

Friend of mine was piercing RST shells with a very old Belgian guild type gun. He had the same problem but it was his firing pin in one barrel that was custom made by a (lousy) gunsmith. Never heard of any RST shell problems from anyone but I'm sure they exist. To the OP I think BP now makes low pressure shells for classic guns but not sure about 16g.

[Bill Zachow]

I hear all guys and you may be right, but would not you think that Morris would have been willing to discuss the problem and point a paying customer towards a solution rather the,n telling me it is not their problem and walk away. Simple customer service would have been reasonable. By the way, I shot some of the same shells in one of my 16 gauge model 12s. Guess what, they all pierced. I stand by my original thought. Those shells are crap.

[Stan Hoover]

Originally Posted by Bill Zachow

I hear all guys and you may be right, but would not you think that Morris would have been willing to discuss the problem and point a paying customer towards a solution rather the,n telling me it is not their problem and walk away. Simple customer service would have been reasonable. By the way, I shot some of the same shells in one of my 16 gauge model 12s. Guess what, they all pierced. I stand by my original thought. Those shells are crap.

Bill,
The RST ammo is about as good as we’re going to find for our old classic firearms. I by no means shoot it exclusively, but when I run short on time with reloading, RST is my first choice. I’ve been amazed at how some of their soft loads break clays and bring pheasants to hand.

I’ve had primers pierce also with their ammo, this was while using hammer guns, Parker and Ithaca. When I reload using Win 209’s, my problem normally disappears. RST uses Cheddite hulls and these are already primed with Cheddite primers.

I suppose I should correct the firing pins on a few of my hammer guns, but not really that big a deal to me.

Please send me a pm so I can send you my address for shipping purposes on the remainder of that flat of 16’s

[David C Porter]

I don't know if this applies, but I thought I had a pierced primer problem with Herters. I would usually Chuck them, but later on took some home to examine. What I found was the plating on the primers was flacking off where the firing pin strikes & they were not pierced as I thought they were.

[J. A. EARLY]

Originally Posted by Bill Zachow

I stopped buying shells from RST when they sent me a flat of 16 gauge shells for my O frame 16 gauge hammer Parker. The shells had the lousy, overly thin primers that pierced on every shot. After 4 shots I quit using them as I did not want to damage anything from the blowback.

I was worried about the damage in a hammer gun from pierced primers also but I was made aware that no blowback can get to the wood as it could in a hammerless gun. The firing pins are contained in the action with no way to reach the wood on these guns. With glasses on, I would shoot them with no worry.

[Cold Spring]

I've also had pierced Cheddite primers in reloads fired in Model 12 pump guns and also when shooting factory 16-gauge Remington Game Load shells with black hulls. I don't know whose primers are used in the Rem Game Loads but they don't look like standard Remington 209's, and they're not Cheddites. No real problem in the Model 12's; I just shortened/rounded the firing pin tip on the lathe for about .050" protrusion from the breech bolt face. Just goes to show how primers have changed in metallurgy since these vintage guns were made.