[lop]

Hi Guys,
I'm not sure if I've posted this, but a quick search did not come up with anything. I've got Grampa's Winchester model 12 shot gun. It is a 16 gage, and he bought it new in '35. The bore is smooth and has no choke at all. I had a smith bless it about 8 years ago when I inherited it. I've run lots of bird shot, and a few buck shots thru it.

It runs like a champ. Many of you have also shot it. It is a nice gun. Several years back, Wally world stopped selling 16 gage bird shot. All the gun shops bumped up the price 2 bucks a box that week. Since then the price is 10.99 for 25 rounds of bird shot.

But buck shot is not so expensive. It is unavailable. I've not seen any in years.

My local has some slugs for a buck a pop.

These are non-saboted rounds. Just some simple blobs of lead.

Simple question.

Is it safe, is it secret?

You know I value your opinions. I also value this gun. Many of my pieces are odd or off the beaten path, but this gun was used to feed my mother during the depression, it was the only gun my grandfather held onto all his life. Some might set a price on it, but none of you could entice me to part with it.

A 'good deal' on ammo that might harm the gun is useless to me. If I can buy slugs that will not harm a functional gun, than I'll be all over that.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Lop

 

[jonnin]

It should be safe but be sure to remember to remove your choke if any. As long as the slugs in question are not advertised to be some sort of high pressure or extra potent variety (I don't know of any such in 16 ga anyway) then it should be fine. You may want to give the barrel an extra cleaning before-hand just because.

 

[CJP32]

With a gun that has that much sentimental value I would really want to baby it. Why not just stick with birdshot or is that unavailable? I'm sure the slugs would be fine, I can't imagine they load them at unsafe pressure.

 

[WPhilB47]

Hi Guys,
I'm not sure if I've posted this, but a quick search did not come up with anything. I've got Grampa's Winchester model 12 shot gun. It is a 16 gage, and he bought it new in '35. The bore is smooth and has no choke at all. I had a smith bless it about 8 years ago when I inherited it. I've run lots of bird shot, and a few buck shots thru it.

It runs like a champ. Many of you have also shot it. It is a nice gun. Several years back, Wally world stopped selling 16 gage bird shot. All the gun shops bumped up the price 2 bucks a box that week. Since then the price is 10.99 for 25 rounds of bird shot.

But buck shot is not so expensive. It is unavailable. I've not seen any in years.

My local has some slugs for a buck a pop.

These are non-saboted rounds. Just some simple blobs of lead.

Simple question.

Is it safe, is it secret?

You know I value your opinions. I also value this gun. Many of my pieces are odd or off the beaten path, but this gun was used to feed my mother during the depression, it was the only gun my grandfather held onto all his life. Some might set a price on it, but none of you could entice me to part with it.

A 'good deal' on ammo that might harm the gun is useless to me. If I can buy slugs that will not harm a functional gun, than I'll be all over that.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Lop

Look up the manufacturer's specs for those slugs. See if they have pictures of the slug only. If they advertise it as a "rifled slug", it will have spiral fins for its full length. Those spiral fins give it some small amount of rotation in flight and also deform to seal against the bore and swage down if they pass through any choke in the barrel. You said earlier that your old 16 didn't have any choke, but unless it has been cut, it has some. Most rifled slugs are advertised as being safe to use even in a full choke. I would not personally hesitate to use them in anything less that that, and I prefer to shoot them in improved cylinders over no choke at all.

 

[JAB]

LOP, you are in the Dawsonville, Ga. area, right? It appears that the Walmart locations in your area do still sell #6 field loads but they aren't exactly 'cheap'. I checked Walmart.com hoping maybe you could order some 16 gauge ammo site to store in case there was a decent selection 'in their system' just not in the stores, meaning you could pick it up in store with no shipping charges, but no, such luck. Apparently, at least according to the Walmart website there are three stores within your area which currently have Federal Hi Power 16 gauge High Brass #6 shot shells in stock. Unfortunately, they are $16.37 per box of 25. Anyhow, in case you are interested, below is the link to the search using the Dawsonville zip code. When the page comes up if you click on the word 'Dawsonville' (in sort of bolded, blue type) near the upper right, beside the price, it should bring up a list of the three stores in the area which supposedly have those shells. It says that there are "only 5 left at Dawsonville." As I said, it looks like the price is higher than the price for bird shot at your locals but just in case:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Federal-Hi-Power-16-Gauge-6/19611938

Oh, and isn't it mostly older shotguns with Damascus barrels that are really a big concern when firing modern ammo? I would think that, as long as the barrel is solid metal and not smaller than the listed bore size, non-sabot, soft lead slugs would work just fine. At the same time, if it were me and given the sentimental value of the shotgun plus the fact that I know it isn't your only gun, I might fire one or two just to see how they handled and then go back to the bird shot just to be on the safe side. In my case, though, even with bird shot I probably wouldn't shoot it enough that the cost of the shells would matter that much. Heck, a box of 25 would probably last me a year or two in such a gun as I wouldn't be shooting it very much - but that is just me.

 

[lklawson]

Sounds like a good excuse to buy a shotgun shell reloading station.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[mouse52]

Not any expert by any means but always had real good luck and accuracy with brennekke slugs in non rifle barrel, dad used in his 16 ga ithica 37 but not as old as your 12, his is 16 ga also. Mike

 

[Nod]

When we were kids we used to use what we called a "cut shot". We only did this on single shot, no choke shotguns, but it worked like a slug. We'd take a Super X shell (bb count didn't matter) and cut it at the bottom of the X, on the brass end. The cut would be right between the 2 paper plugs of the shell. One piece would be just the BB's and the other piece was just the gun powder. When you shot it, the whole front piece would go in one big chunk. Didn't do it too often and probably lucky we didn't blow the barrel off, but it would get you a deer. This was back in the 50's when times were tough and we ate a lot of venison year round.

 

[HitManX]

Sounds like a good excuse to buy a shotgun shell reloading station.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

YES! This is exactly what I did so I can run my 16s more. I scored a NIB Lee unit off Amazon for $26 or so delivered. :drool:

Cheddite hulls seem to be the ones to run with 16s and 209 CCI primers. I have a nice sheet comparing primer differences in shotguns. Interesting stuff. I use Ballistic Products for wads and whatnot.

Federal seemed to be the only company manufacturing slugs for the 16 last I looked. Hulls are purple as I recall.