16 GA Reloading

The early 2 9/16" shot shells were roll crimped....which is a real PITA but tools are still available. Plan on using a drill to turn it instead of a hand crank.
Federals made their Paper Target shell in 16 ga. at one time and I loaded a bunch for a customer by trimming them 3/16" with an arrow saw and 'reconditioning them with a dip in melted paraffin then running a heated steel pin in the case to 'iron' the wax in and solidify the end where it used to be star crimped. I copied a commercial roll crimp tool and ran it in the drill press.
Plastic hulls are considerably more difficult to roll crimp but it can be done. You might have to cut the pillars off plastic wads to make them short enough in some cases.

Thank you.

This company has some in stock. They aren't cheap, but probably safer and easier than trying to load your own with components and load data being next to impossible to find.

Good luck and all the best.

16 Gauge - LIMITED DUE TO COMPONENT ISSUE (rstshells.com)

I wonder if this joint might have some stuff for you.


Brass hulls and a model 12 is not something I've ever heard tried before.

Cheezywan said:

I wonder if this joint might have some stuff for you.

MagTech 16ga 2-1/2 empty brass shotshells for reloading

Magtech Brass Shotshell hulls are ideal for traditional black powder loads. Mix 10 boxes of any guage to receive case pricing. When choosing wads for brass cases, choose one gauge larger for proper fit: For example, use 11-gauge cards in a 12-gauge brass case. Magtech brass shells use large...

www.ballisticproducts.com

Brass hulls and a model 12 is not something I've ever heard tried before.

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Pretty common in the Cowboy Community, but probably shot out of Coach Guns mainly.

Seems to me a model 12 would be mighty comforting if I was traveling "coach".

JWSmith1959 said:

This company has some in stock. They aren't cheap, but probably safer and easier than trying to load your own with components and load data being next to impossible to find.

Good luck and all the best.

16 Gauge - LIMITED DUE TO COMPONENT ISSUE (rstshells.com)

Click to expand...

Thanks, I did order a few boxes from them, I'll keep looking.

M.E.C. makes a short kit, for reloading 2-9/16 or 2-1/2 shells. It's just a plate, that raises the shell for the last two stations. Works great. I've loaded 1000's of short 12, 16, and 20 gauge shells for the old SxS's.

Thank you.

I've been cutting back 2 3/4 in., plastic hulls for years, for use in my drillings. BPI roll crimper in a drill press makes roll crimps easy and they will pass for factory crimps. A wee bit of some kind of lube makes the process much easier and neater. I have a couple boxes of Mag-Tech brass hulls and they work well also however, I find them a bit more of a pain to load than plastic hulls on a Lee Load-All.....but I prefer them and load them with BP. I don't know how they would work in a pump gun.

Thank you.

I have a European 12GA that requires 65mm shells. The best ..I found is
cut them to length and then use the 2 3/4 in press settings. They load
with a hole in the top. Use an over shot card to cover the hole. My
experience with roll crimps is they are a pain and can only be reloaded
once. With 2 1/2 it is too hard to find data. The only thing to watch is
with a shorter shell the wad guide might catch. Because of that I would
not use a hydraulic or electric press so that you can catch it if there
is a problem. I prefer my 600JR for that reason.

I have a 1929 16 ga A5 it shot the old ammo. I took it to Browning repairs and the machined the action so it can handle the 2 3/4 inch length shells and it works great now.

Thank you to everybody. Rather not change anything on it, I'll figure out reloading for it.

Dennis56 said:

I have a European 12GA that requires 65mm shells. The best ..I found is
cut them to length and then use the 2 3/4 in press settings. They load
with a hole in the top. Use an over shot card to cover the hole. My
experience with roll crimps is they are a pain and can only be reloaded
once. With 2 1/2 it is too hard to find data. The only thing to watch is
with a shorter shell the wad guide might catch. Because of that I would
not use a hydraulic or electric press so that you can catch it if there
is a problem. I prefer my 600JR for that reason.

Click to expand...

Thank you.

Love 16ga. I have two, single shot Savage and double Fulton Hunter. I saw the 16ga going away in the 60's and I still have a few bags of wads and my Mec Jr. Use them small game and turkey hunting still.

I reload standard 16ga on a MEC progressive. I recommend making a jig to trim back the standard length empties to the shorter length. Then use the afore mentioned shot wad over the shot before you crimp. You could also check with MEC (or whatever brand loader you buy) and see if they have custom dies for the shorter shell.

Looking in to that, thank you.

Another thought is for the crimp stations you could make a riser out of wood or plastic to place under the shell and then you could crimp without a overshot card.