Universal loads. Whether #5, 6 or 7 1/2 what have you 16 gauge shooters found to be a good load from fur to feathers?

Was thinking about 2 weights, something like a 7/8 dove load to something in the 1 1/16 or 1 1/8 Oz. load for pheasants or rabbits. Wonder if a 1 1/16 oz. load would be best just change shot size.

I use the 1 oz load with 7 1/2's for dove in my 16's also shot more than a few sharptails with 1 oz of 6's in the 16. When I step up to 1 1/8 oz I use 6's and 5's for pheasant in the express loading of 1295 fps in my Browning A-5's. My LCSmith field grade and ithaca 37R are lighter guns and 1 oz seem plenty effective. Mb

Best factory load I've ever used is the B&P F2. Their #5 is actually US #5.5. Swats phez out there. Think payload is 1 1/16 or 1 1/32 oz. Whatever.

For a second load, more obtainium and good for short/medium ranges (grouse/WC), like the Rem RGL.

For targets I load 3/4 oz and 7/8 oz using Red Dot and Green Dot, respectively.

For my Dickinson SxS I've settled on 7/8 oz for clays, 1 oz for dove and quail, but step up to 1 1/8 of 5's at 1230-1250 for wild public access pheasant. I use International for the 7/8, Universal/Unique for 1 oz, and 800x for the heavy.

RGL=Remington Game Load?

The Federal 1oz game load works well for me. I’ve used them for dove, quail, and pheasants. Mostly 7 1/2s with a box of 6s occasionally. I buy them as I find them at Walmart for $6.88 a box.

Yes.

Looks like factory Federal and Remington for now.

Start accumulating some loading supplies and eventually get started reloading.

I did find some #5 1/2 nickle plated shot, should make a good pheasant/rabbit load, turkeys too.

Already have some 7 1/2 shot for little birds and targets.

One ounce of Lead shot and 3/4 oz of ITX for waterfowl and upland on Lead-Free sights

1oz NP BB's 2 1/2" hull


Same load different drilling


Same load


Called coyotes from 32-44 yards and all shot with the 16ga shotgun barrels of the drillings. These are my goto rigs for calling in close cover.

I wore out a 16ga pump shotgun(High Standard) in the 1960's shooting 1 oz of 7 1/2's, shooting bar league trap five nights a week.

I've mostly use one ounce loads at about 1250 fps for my 16 ga. shooting. It has worked well. I find there is little need for the high velocity 1-1/8 oz loads, and the recoil is a detriment, and patterns suffer if pushing things to extremes. A 16 ga. does not pattern well with shot bigger than 4's in my experience. The 7/8 oz loads are nice for targets, but i just don't bother. I now load one good load and just vary shot size as needed for the game. For pheasant, sharptail, and ptarmigan, an ounce of 6's do the trick. For huns, ruffed and spruce grouse and woodcock, 7-1/2's. The small bird load works ok for clay targets too, but I sometimes load 8's then. If hunting rabbits or shooting farm pests I might use some bigger shot, but I don't bother normally. An ounce of 6's at moderate speed is a very nice match for the bore, the game, and the ranges I hunt.

Erich, nice coyote photos. I like a stiff load of 1-1/4 oz of buffered, hard lead BB's at 1300 fps in my drilling for close range coyotes, but it's such an unusual application that I didn't think of it at first. It does add versatility though.

Castnblast that is the load I use in my 12ga combo guns for coyotes. Combos and drillings make great coyote hunting rigs.

Bob Brister in his book describes a 1oz load in the 16 as a square load meaning its as wide as its tall , advantage is a short shot string. You can see this if you shoot at a spot in a pond, you may have to let someone else shoot and you observe the shot string from different loads..

When I had one shotgun, it was a 16 with a polychoke. One ounce of #8 for quail and dove, 1 1/8 oz #6 for pheasant and rabbit. I should have stayed with it and saved a lot of money.

What castnblast, erich, and gunscrew said.

Nothing wrong with saving a little lead making 7/8oz practice loads. But for most 16ga hunting with lead shot, imo, 1oz loads, 1150-1200fps, shot size per application/preference, is a point both effective and efficient. You can make ‘em 1 1/8oz, sure, if you desire. Ymmv, but this stuff has been studied, sorted and well-commented on for 50yrs or better, and aside from non-toxic shot combined with heavy payloads striving for an extra few pellets at distance for some waterfowl via souped up 12ga loads (in an effort to mimic the now scarce 10ga) - there’s not much new under the sun to re-invent.

I like one ounce myself. Ounce and an eighth is ok but I don't feel the need for it. I don't shoot at anything bigger than wild SD pheasants.

16 gauge 1 oz load has always been the perfect load.
Any more and you may as well grab a 12

1 oz is pretty much my goto load for the 12, 16, and 20ga shotguns for hunting. Only my coyote loads in the 12ga are 1 1/4oz of NP BBs.

16 gauge and 1 ounce loads are the PBJ of small game/upland game loads. They worked great for ducks too until the non-toxic mandate. The 16 was the only gauge I used right up to the non-toxic crap.

The last duck I killed with lead was a wood duck shot using a 16 gauge and #5 shot. He's mounted in my reloading room. I bought the ammo at the IGA.

I use doubles, and I usually use a 1 ounce load in the first tube and a 1 1/8 ounce in the second. If the bird flushes a bit wild I like having the bit denser pattern the 1 1/8 ounce throws as a first shot option.

For somewhat closer quail hunting in early season when they hold closer I load up with 7/8 oz and 1 1/16 oz.

I probably use 80% 1 ounce loads overall. It's the 16 gauge standard for a good reason.

1 oz of #6 does a good job on squirrels and rabbits for me.

Looking like a 1 Oz. load and adjust shot size according to game hunted.

I have used the 1oz NP BB like erich said, only in 23/4 on a couple coyotes and never needed a followup

Somebody wanna tell me what NP is?

Nickel plated

👍

I don’t reload shot shells and hunt wild pheasants in SD and Iowa. I’ve maybe seen only a couple of boxes of 16’s in my source stores that weren’t 1 1/8oz at 1295 to 1310 FPS ( Rem, Win, or Fiocchi, etc). 12 ga loads are almost invariably 1 1/4 oz or 1 3/8 oz and 20’s 1 oz or 1 1/4 oz in the 3”.

These are the standard and default loads here for pheasant hunters. Those 16 loads seem to give up nothing to the 12’s, except recoil.

I load 1 1/8 oz of magnum #6 for pheasants, at about 1200 fps. Very efficient and effective load; also a great chukar load, though my real preference for them is an ounce of #7s.

d

A short shot string is primarily the result of using hard shot that doesn't get deformed on setback, while traveling down the barrel and combined with a good wad...Good wads have made the square load principle a thing of the past...And no credible ballistic expert would make conclusions based on visual appearance of shooting at water. What effect would a couple degree variance in shotgun position have on results.....and the visual practically disappears in fractions of a second.

Some also believe you can see shot string difference, by shooting at water with a slow vs fast swing...another fallacy.


This fellow...who knows his way around shotguns, mentions Bob Brister and his book..

https://www.fieldandstream.com/10-tips-for-patterning-your-shotgun-for-hunting-season/

A corollary to load weight is the old saw that for an ounce of shot, one needed 6 lbs of gun weight; therefore for the typical load of 1 1/8 oz of the 16, the gun need be no more than 6 lbs, 2 oz. Of course, those in the clay sports would prob find recoil too much with hundreds of shots a day.

But, for me that is right on for the uplands. Very few guns meet this quasi standard as we all know.

Another....Extreme FPS loadings are mostly good for recoil and little else....

https://www.shotgunlife.com/shotguns/tom-roster/does-speed-kill.html