Home Forums Reloading 16 Gauge Society 1 oz vs 1-1/8 oz of shot

Regarding 16 gauge, where does each of these shine? What application will you choose 1 oz and what application will you choose 1-1/8 oz?

I use 1 1/8 on pheasants. Doves, quail and clays, I use 1 ounce. Doesn’t make me right, but that’s what I use.

Similar to the above post I use 1 1/8 on pheasants, 1 oz on quail and dove, but 7/8 on skeet. Most of my pheasant hunting is on heavily pressured public ground so shots tend to be longer.

I use 1 oz. of #6 on squirrel and rabbit.

So far, I've not found a job that 1 oz. won't handle. The extra 1/8 oz. of shot and 200 fps may or may not make a noticeable difference. If it DOES make a difference, it'd likely be a small one. From what I've observed...........the most important thing is where the gun is pointed when it goes off.

Posted this pic somewhere before. But one morning, last fall, I called in a flock of 13 longbeards on the side of a steep hill. Something queered them and they flushed. I swung on the head of a double bearded 4 year old tom coming up out of the tops of the trees.......crossing at about 30 yards. An ounce of #6's at a modest 1165 fps folded him like a dove.

I don't chose shot weight by application per se, but upon shot size.

1 oz for lead size 6 or smaller, 1 1/8 oz for lead size 5. It wasn't asked but 1 1/4 if using #4 lead.

Very sound formula. Yep.

1 oz for me for all hunting except waterfowl and there 7/8 oz of ITX or Bismuth. 1 oz of lead seems to be adequate for most everything. 1 oz of NP BB's is my coyote hunting load in my drillings. All of my 16's are right on either side of their 100th birthday so I try and keep the loads on the mild side and they don't seem to give up anything to heavy loads, center the pattern and they die.

1 ounce is regarded as a square load for the 16 gauge so it is said to pattern better than other payloads. In my experience, this is true. I'm shooting 1 ounce out of various 16's on everything from woodcock to pheasant. I just started loading up some various 7/8 oz loads for trap, if any work out I'm sure they would work just fine on quail and woodcock.

I don't like using the hi-brass 1-1/8 ouncers in my old guns. They typically kick a bit harder.

Shot a lot more sharptails and roosters with full throttle 1 1/8 oz at 1295fps loads than I have with 1 oz loads. I have a field grade LC Smith that has 2 9/16" chambers so I cut the hulls back for it and load an ounce load for it. 1 ounce of 7.5 at 1200 makes a good dove load but for grouse and hun's I shoot 6's. I think of 1 ounce as a std 20 ga load on upland. Now I am sure I will offend everyone here when I tell you of the 20 box case of 16ga Remington Shur Shot loads with a 1 1/8 ounce loads of 4's I bought for $60 a few years back. Yeah I am using them in the field also on roosters they are not fast but don't blow the hell out of the birds either, I like eating mine..mb

My 16 has short chambers so I shoot the RST 2 1/2in shells. 1 ounce, or even 7/8 doesn’t give up much of anything at the ranges I shoot. The 2 3/4in bomb with 1 1/8 at 1285 is too much for me in a light gun. I’ll get out a 12 if heavy firepower is needed.

I have shot a lot of stuff with 16ga over the years. I haven't used a 12 in the field since the late 90's and I go bird hunting more than most people do. The best loads I ever used were Federal Classic Field loads from the early 90's with 1oz of hard shot at lower velocity. I bought two cases from a Walmart clearance sale at 2 bucks a box. No question that the purple hulls made them even better.

If there is a problem with 1oz loads in the 16 is not that they're 1oz. It's that they have cheap shot in them. I typically buy 1oz loads a case at a time, and keep a stack on hand just in case.

I'll be entirely honest. I've used both 1 and 1-1/8 oz.

It'll depend more on the gun and the shell than anything. Contrary to popular belief, you really need to pattern your gun with a specific shell to see how it's going to do. There really is no generic answer.

I have a couple of 16's and while I haven't used the old noble pump very much (yet because I haven't owned it very long), I can certainly tell you that my old single shot stevens likes 1-1/8" 6 shot loaded around 1300 fps. That's where it shines. It shoots as good as you could expect any shotgun to do and I have had great success with it ranging from turkey and grouse and squirrel and rabbit and ...

But, when you start switching things (wads/brand of shells, velocity, shot size), it can all change very quickly.

So, while I know that my answer probably didn't answer anything, the truth will stand when the world is on fire. You just have to shoot them to see how they're going to do in any particular gun. Having two identical guns sitting side by side are very likely going to shoot differently. That's just how shotguns are.

Whatever shot size, I prefer the 1 oz load*. I'm not adverse to the 1 1/8 oz load or 1 1/4 ounce load.
Regardless of game; turkeys, ducks, pheasants or smaller birds plus rabbits and squirrels, I use #8 shot.

"Pattern density kills, not shot size!"
I wanna put out a wall of lead that is near impenetrable.

Deer and hogs get a dose of #1 buck or slugs.

"Gauge" is determined by the number of lead balls, the same diameter of the bore that is required to weigh one pound.
Ergo, the "one ounce" load in a 16 gauge gun is THE ultimate load! 😉

Whatever shot size, I prefer the 1 oz load*. I'm not adverse to the 1 1/8 oz load or 1 1/4 ounce load.
Regardless of game; turkeys, ducks, pheasants or smaller birds plus rabbits and squirrels, I use #8 shot.

"Pattern density kills, not shot size!"
I wanna put out a wall of lead that is near impenetrable.

Deer and hogs get a dose of #1 buck or slugs.

"Gauge" is determined by the number of lead balls, the same diameter of the bore that is required to weigh one pound.
Ergo, the "one ounce" load in a 16 gauge gun is THE ultimate load! 😉

I hunt wild chuckar on steep mountains with many rock outcroppings and slides, and other places for cripples to run down into...marmot and badger holes.

I use 1 1/8oz 6 shot at 1,300 fps. I want the birds nailed to the ground. I also like 5s and 7s. I'll never know why American manufacturers settled on 7 1/2 shot, when 7 shot is far better for later season quail that have fully feathered.

Apparently some folks enjoy chewin' on bird shot.

Couldn’t say it better. If I can get it, it would be 1 ounce of good shot at around 1200-1250FPS. The manufacturers usually give us what we think we need, so 1300+ isn’t uncommon, even if isn’t the best option. 5’s preferred for Pheasants. If a new shotgun, I may pattern for POI, or most likely will shoot some clays. If it is crushing going away clays from a gun down mount, it is ready to go hunting. Once POI is good, I’ll take any good shell and misses are on me.

Patterns on paper are for POI. With good shells I’ve never seen one that looked bad enough to think it would matter. And if the fit is close, POI changes insignificantly with different shells.

For the uplands, after seeing what 3/4 in a 28 will do, 1 ounce in a 12 world be fine also. Success mostly rests on how well you point or place shot, rather than how much you throw out.

If one uses it, TSS shot had changed the game on shot size, FPS and how much you need.

Our typical shots are 35-50 yards on tough hard to kill birds, not ruffed grouse and shooting preserve chuckar and pheasants. It's prudent to have more and bigger in the air.

If you've ever had to look for a crippled chuckar that fell 100-200 yards down a mountain you would see wisdom in more and harder hitting shot.
I don't like the added recoil and higher ammo prices, but I use what works best for what and where I hunt.

An oz of hard 6 or 5 has been working out of my 20ga’s for the last decade on wild birds here.
Got into the 16 this year again and, surprise, an oz of 6 or 5 has been working this season as well. Though I do use the golden pheasant 1 1/8oz shells too, they are expensive and the recoil makes them no fun in a light double.
I will say I prefer 5’s in either load, complete pass through makes eating more pleasant.