It seems that 16 gauge shotshell reloading wads are like chicken teeth to get here in Australia.
I went through the exercise of finding them from an American supplier on the net & clicked A carton of 5000 of them into my cart to get a price + post.
Turns out that to get those wads here was a total of $440 American. Exchange rate that & it is then $562.66 Australian.
Wad component of that is $122 American.
Free delivery to lower 48 at home.
We do have Cabela's & Midway as online Australian suppliers & I emailed them for quotes, on which I am waiting for a reply.
O.M

They're also more expensive in the States. But not that much more expensive.

I'm sorry stuff from here is so expensive for you to purchase. I like your Winchester 1oz 16ga shells. I pay $9.17 per box of 25. The ones packed in Browning black & yellow boxes are abut $3 to $4 more per box.

Email polywad

Midway au. got back to me. No wads available.
Cabela's au. Import restrictions prevent them from being able to help me.

Thanks 67 I will try your recommendation.
O.M

I just use felt wads. I get them direct from Eley Bros. England. (I live in England so very easy). Maybe they would post a bag full on at the right price. Better than chucking bits of plastic all over the countryside. Lagopus.....

If you can't find felt wads Down Under or if prohibitively expensive, you could make them yourself. www.ebay.au search for "felt" and "industrial felt". A nitro card might protect them from melting (if non-wool and polyester based)
There are hollow punches available on ebay.au that can cut them out. I've tried felt wads and they sure do lead the barrel which for me is difficult to remove. Gil

I’ve never did this so I maybe talking thru my hat but might it not be possible to make up wads with a felt base inside a paper tube? Obviously more fragile than plastic but should cure the leading problem. Paper tube can be made with a little glue and a wooden dowel. You might even start a business.

Home rolled Mylar shot wrapper over your own custom punched felt and cardboard wads will at least keep you shooting, if a tad tedious to make.

Strangely, Winchester loads 16 gauge shells in... Australia.

Tie Me Kangraoo Down, Sport.

Sport, my kangaroo is getting tied down on this at the moment.
Waiting on a reply from Brownell's Australia.
They have, in stock, Remington 1 1/8 Oz wads in plastic for taper wall cases; That is compression formed cases.
They think there may be old stock for straight wall cases & are checking on that for me & will email back that info.

As you mention Shotgunjones, Winchester do make 16 gauge loads here but for some reason their web site does not offer 16 g wads.
Strange that.

Lagopus, GLS & nialmac, I thank you for that advise on alternatives. I have been thinking along those lines my self & the tediousness of the process has held me back for a bit while I exhaust all other avenues.
I do want to keep the lead off the barrel walls for a couple or three reasons, one is leading & the other is pellet distortion.
The gun is choked modified & modified & I don't really want to open up patterns any more.

The cases that I have are a motley looking mob & I will be separating them by make & colour for differing shot sizes.
All are modern straight wall ribbed cases & lead shot.

Winchester Au. Super X high brass. 2 3/4". Red.
Federal USA. Game Shok high brass. 2 3/4". Purple.
Eley GB. VIP high brass. 70mm. Blue.
CRC. Italy. RC16 low brass. 67mm. Green.

In the past I have loaded straight wall 12g cases with Win AAA wads made for compression formed AAA taper cases & nothing untoward happened.
Question. If I can only get the Remington wads for taper cases, can anyone foresee a problem using them in the straight wall cases that I have ?
O.M

There are a couple threads on the 16 gauge society site about this.

Interestingly, it appears that the SP16 was designed for a straight wall hull, just one with a smaller ID than is common now.

The bigger the powder flake, the less chance for powder migration.

I don't load 16, but I wouldn't be hesitant to try what you have planned and see how it goes.

I suppose that I could invert the wad over a mandrill, somehow, & give the cup a bit of a tap to spread the sealing lips outward a bit. Or use a sized over powder card.
That is if there is a concern after a few measurements.

If it is so close that no powder migration happens then pressure upon firing should take care of the rest of the sealing issues.
O.M

I doubt you will have any issues using the taper wall Remington wads in a straight walled case w/the proviso that they seal/expand well enough at the forcing cone that you don't experience bloopers. I've had the experience were some wads did not, but it involved long or opened forcing cones or overly large diameter bores. If your bores, chambers and forcing cones are unmodified I doubt it would be an issue. Just saying.

If you are worried about powder migration, just apply some pressure to the wad when its being loaded/seated and be sure you have a tight crimp. As mentioned earlier, the powder granule size can make a difference, but flake powders lend themselves to staying put w/a bit of wad pressure and a tight crimp. At least that's been my experience. Plastic wads may require no pressure, but it does not mean you can't apply some anyway.

I'd try that first before going to any added bother.

If you really wanted to go to the trouble you could make a hand held forming tool like an old time soldering iron with the head being a cylindrical piece of copper and the end having a conical taper on it so that it would expand the skirt a few thousandths of an inch. Heat it in a pan of boiling water as you will not need a lot of heat to form an expanded diameter on the wad's skirt.

Original Ljutic Mono-Wads were simply plugs cut from some type of fibre board. You can fabricate a wad cutter by taking a piece of tubing that has the correct inside dia. for your desired wad diameter and simply grinding a chamfer on its outer side, so that you form a cutting edge on one end. With a block of wood for backing and a mallet for driving it, you are in business. Stick its cutting end in some paraffin wax for lubricant and it goes better and after a while you are almost producing waxed wads. They are also easier to push out of the wad cutter. Use a wooden down for that. Just some thoughts; perhaps something of use to you. The punches that one can buy are known by the name of arch punches.

You could also make an "oversized" overpowder wad with a piece of heavy paper cut slightly larger than the interior diameter and seated before the plastic wad if you're worried about powder migration. It would be thin enough and light enough that it wouldn't change pressures or require other changes to the reloading data.

In a land now gone, in a time before time, there was a BBS to which most members of this subscribed and in which most members participated. Unfortunately, it was killed by it's rulers. Before it's demise, a poster named Lenord wrote of using twenty gauge wads in sixteen gauges with printed load data from common sources. Results were successful. Try the sixteen gauge society. I'll bet they have the results. It worked for me until I inherited about ten thousand proper wads.

Success at last. Brownell's Au have supplied me seven bags of wads, 1,750 wads.
They said Gamaliel is the brand & they are for straight wall cases.
No more of that stock & they are old stock.
Charged me $140 posted.
Love it.
Now I can get that Lee Load-all, 2 that my good wife bought me, into action.
O.M

Far easier than having to "MacGyver" the wads. Good luck. Gil

Good work. Now enjoy the delights that the 16 has to offer. Lagopus.....

Very nice hearing of your fortuitous outcome! BTW, Gamaliel's is a supplier, not A mfg. They are known for quality components, so not to worry.

Good shooting to ya, mate!

That was old Lenard Lemke, I'll betcha. He lived up in the Pacific NW, and shot starlings with abandon. Very affable guy. I once asked him if he was any kin to Mark Lemke, 2nd baseman for the Braves ........... he just laughed.

Hope you're doing well, Cary.

SRH

No, they'll work but you might lose a little pressure and velocity because they'll be a bit loose. I've shot BP shells at times, and the clean up isn't all that long, even removing the lead fouling. www.circlefly.com makes fiber wads or you could punch out your own. I've used the CF wads for years. Good luck. Paul

Something like this (which per the ad is local to the OP down under in NSW) might be the ticket for punching one's own: https://www.ebay.com/itm/17mm-Boker-Wad-Punch-Made-In-Germany/263214003461?hash=item3d48c6f505:g:pRMAAOSwQTNZtfvM
On a lot of French and Belgian 16ga guns, the bore diameter will be stamped as 17.0 (or 16.9), the measurement in millimeters.

Stan, thanks for the kind thoughts. You're right, it was Lenard Lemke. He seated the wad tightly to expand the base and experienced no velocity loss. My experiences mirrored his but when I found a large supply of proper wads my problem was cured.

I'm doing great and it's getting better every day.

I got the wads in the mail today.
They turn out to be, Ballistic products inc. Sporting 16
#072SG16.
Seem to fit the straight wall hulls pretty good.
I am looking forward to making some nice shooting 3/4 & 7/8 Oz loads.
Those factory loads in 1 1/8 Oz are heavy bangers.
O.M

What powder choices are available?

My powder choices are all Australian Defense Industries, ADI.
ADI. AS 50N. = green dot
ADI. AP 70N = unique
Trailboss.
I have both Winchester & Federal primers.
O.M

Moses ADI AS50 was sold as International in the states and AP70 was Universal
you should be able to get hold of some Winchester WSF through your local dealer a little pricey but should work in a 16g