Home Forums Reloading 16 Gauge Society Anyone check recent Federal 16 ga loads?

I was in the process of wanting to try to do some handloads and needed some straight wall hulls so I was trying to just uncrimp some factory shells so I didn't have to waste the components, but when I did, I was rather surprised at what was hiding underneath.

I'll be the first to admit, I have shot a lot of federal 16's growing up. But these were bought, probably late 2015? I'm not sure how the old shells were made. I never thought to take one apart back then. But I am curious if someone who may have bought a box of the newer production could mind checking to see if these are still how they're being produced now or not please.

These were still in the sealed box and kept in a dry cool area, so finding the powder in a big clump, which you can see around the 7 o'clock, was sort of unsettling.

And just by looking at it, I swear that looks like titegroup powder too. I even weighed the charge so I could see what they were doing at the factory.



That's not the only thing inside of there that seemed to be substandard. Turns out, the wad is a 2 piece wad to boot. The shot cup is just perched on top of a riser/extension that looks like it was melted to the right height to get a decent crimp by a 3rd grader.

I have reloaded shot shells for 45+ years now and have had to take many of them apart.
More often than not under pressure from the wad and the crimp the powder will be "clumped". No reason for concern.
This wad design is used in nearly all gauges of Federals "promotional" [ read that cheap] shot shell loads like the Top Gun, Field and target, etc...
This wad is designed to be used with all different shot loads by the amount of pressure used to shorten the wad post for the required room needed to crimp the shell.
The post is left taller for light loads and it is shortened for heavy loads.
There are articles in magazines and on line about this wad in Federal shotshells.
Gone are the days of the old Federal Pushion-Cushion wad in Federal shotshells except for the premium target loads.

Thank you for your response sir. I appreciate it a lot.

Another gentleman had also mentioned the same thing to me later about the compression. So, that is somewhat of a relief that some of my shells weren't getting exposed to too much moisture.

I have not seen any pictures or articles about the federal wads. While I understand how they work, I can't really say that I've very impressed with how they did that, because I'm not.