doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Reloading Herter's 16 Gauge Shells from Cabela's

What about the Federal hulls. I have noticed our local Walmart has starting putting out a few Federal 16ga shells. I don't know if they are available as empties or if you just have to buy loaded ones to get the hulls. They have some in what is essentially the old 2�-1 load @ about $8.00 a box. Would not recommend firing even these in a strictly "Black Powder" era gun or light 65mm chambered ones.

40x,

From the 16 G Society Spreadsheets, no link to any testing. All with the RP SP Hull 15.5 g International DR 16 Wad 7/8 oz.

Ched 209 1119 FPS 6160 #

Rem 209 STS 1124 FPS 6140 #

Win 209 1105 FPS 5760 #

General opinion is Win 209's produce less pressure and velocity than Cheddite Primers. Problem is little data currently published on 16 G light loads and components limited.

Not recommending anything to anybody, I use Cheddite hulls Win 209's & DR 16 Wad in my 16 G loads and data very close to above. All very light loads. Pushing velocity or shot load would not use any of this information & stick with factory tested.

Listen to warnings from the ammo company's would not shoot my Twist barrel 16 either.

Boats

2 Piper am on the lookout for some of those Federal 1 oz 16's shoot them in a Pump then see what the hulls will do loading. Even though the Cheddite Hulls work, would drop them in a minute for a quality hull.

Boats

The reloading sheets from 16ga.com have many low pressure loads, used and some tested. Join the group, acquire the spread sheets, and you'll have plenty of choices.

A buddy of mine reloads the Rem Game load hulls (black) and gets over 6 reloads per minimum. I use only the cheds and get at least five reloads per. Then cut them down for a couple of roll crimps again.

I do have 500 of the 16ga. Win CF hulls. They reload well. I'm only up to about three reloads on them, as they are strictly used as my hunting loads.

Brydog over on the 16 ga forum sells that tool to cut down hulls. Works great.

I have loaded a few hundred of the Herters hulls in 16 ga. They load and crimp fine, but they only last 3-4 loadings and then the crimps split. They are a decent hull and the right color.

As far as I'm concerned there's nothing Federal makes that comes in a 'quality' hull. It's all shoot and pitch including Gold Medal. I'm not saying they can't be reloaded, but life is too short to dork with inferior hulls. They're cheap for a reason.

The Herter's, Rio, Cheddite, etc. are the same deal. Have at it if you want, but I ain't gonna.

Remington 16s are the best available to load, and in fact the Remington is the best available in any gauge except 28 and 410 where AA is still king of the hill.

I've used enough of the Herter's factory shells to be able to recommend them highly in any gauge or loading. Cabela's should be commended for not charging the '16 gauge premium' on the Herter's line of shells. Bravo Cabela's.

The only alternative I can think of is in form of Winchester loads with stars on base (Starline make) in form of Browning ammo made at WW Australian facility. Not sure what quality cases are, but loaded ammo is substantially more expensive than equivalent loads from competition using Cheddite cases. Quite interestingly 16ga Winchester shells in grey boxes are also loaded at Australian factory but use Cheddite hull. That is the way it has to be because it would not be good if customers bought Browning ammo and found Winchester stamped on case base. I believe that are fair number of buyers still think Browning actually manufactures something. Finding out the truth may not be good for company business. For example, what I mean is the new Browning Auto 5 with Benelli recoil system is collection of mass produced parts assembled into guns at secret location (I would guess Portugal or South Korea).

Yesterday the Cabela's in Grandville, MI had Herters target loads for sale for $54.99/flat. They were mostly 20 & 12 gauge , but they had a couple of 16's at that price as well.

Question: Can you reload today and make significant savings compared to the $5.50/box price of the Herters?

I reload 12's and sometimes wonder if the effort is worth it when I can buy shells at that price. I am not a high volume shooter; maybe 150 /week.

Time = money. I always buy factory loads and never re-load for that reason. In free time I like other activities that involve fresh air like hiking, mountain biking, fishing, hunting,.....