16 GAUGE HULLS-WHICH ONES TO GET?

[Buzzard II]

Howdy,
I have a 16 gauge 1897 Winchester and I'm looking for a Stevens 311A in 16 gauge.  Can anyone let me know which hulls to look for to reload?  I plan on shooting both real black powder and smokeless.  Mostly CAS shooting.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  16 gauge isn't real popular around here, so I would buy new ammo or once fired hulls.  Also any load data would be a real help too!  Thanks to all!  Bob  blintner28@optonline.net   or just add your 2 cents here!

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

16ga.com

This is THE forum for sixteen gauge shooters.

[pony express]

I would suggest trying a variety(if you can find a variety in 16) of shells and see which ones work best for you. I used to use a 16ga 311 for my CAS shooting, I found that Federal made really nice hulls, but they wouldn't shuck out of the chambers easily. The black remingtons would fall out easy, though. Problem with the black Remington hulls is, the head is not brass, but brass colored steel, and can rust after loading with BP. Best to de-prime right away after BP so the primers don't rust in place. I didn't get many loads out of them before they burned beyond being able to reload.

For the Stevens, you might also think about brass hulls, but I have no experience with those.

Note: I haven't used my 16 for CAS for about 10 years, so the options may have changed.

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[rickk]

If all else fails, BPI sells new primed hulls for 12-13 per hundred, and unlike primers there is no hazmat charge for primed hulls.  Sometimes they run sales and beat that price as well.

The hulls have never been crimped, so they will take a roll crimp nicely.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I have some hulls from BPI, and find a few miscellaneous cases in the burn barrel at the range. I use Magtechs for blackpowder using 14 gauge wads.

Magtechs CAN be used for smokeless, but;
1. plastic wads are too small to work well.
2. large pistol primers used with magtechs don't have enough brisance for smokeless. (Early shotshells used rifle style primers until it was learned that the new-fangled powders need a bigger spark to work well.)

[Colt Fanning]

Howdy,
If you use the sp16 wad (the easiest to get around here) you should use the Remington hulls. 
The sp16 wad and 1 1/8 of shot will be too short for Winchester hulls and a spacer (28ga. nitro card) will be needed to get a good crimp.
This comment applies only to smokeless loads.  I have never loaded 16 Ga. with black powder.
Regards
Colt
 

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I started with the SP16, but they are designed for heavy loads in thicker cases.  I have BPI blue cases, likely Cheddite, and they require a wider plastic wad.  I now have a bunch of Downrange DR16 wads which fit better and are designed for 3/4 to 1 oz. shot loads.  Lighter loads are where you should be with the 16.  If you want a 12 gauge shot load, put it in a 12 gauge hull.

Here is where I got the DR16s; 

http://www.precisionreloading.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=RELOAD_SHOT

Go to 16ga.com and look for the "spreadsheets" with pages & pages of 16 gauge loads.

[Buzzard II]

Thanks to all for the info.  I've come into a few hundred once fired hulls from various shooters, mostly Fiocchi and Winchester, some Remington.  I'm ordering some Magtech brass hulls and will get started reloading soon.  Thanks again to  everyone!
Bob