doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Belgian Guild 16ga SxS - looking for info

Now you've got it. I read that as .025 constriction--pretty close to full in a 16ga. You'll likely want to have those opened or you'll be turning those quail into clouds of feathers!

Actually 17.0::16.4 is a ratio; 17.0/16.4 is fractional. As Skeetx has stated in Liege Belgium proof from 1910-1924 it is simply choke diameter over bore diameter written as a fraction.

Both chokes read as a wide IM when I slide my little choke gauge measurer into the muzzles. I know that those gauges are not super accurate because they don't take into account actual bore diameter, but, yes, tighter than what I want.

If the barrel walls do indeed mic okay, I am thinking I may want the barrels opened to skeet and modified. You can reach out pretty far with a modified choke. That'd be about perfect for dusky and ruffed grouse, as well as quail.

At the time this gun was proofed 0.025" constriction would have been considered on the order of am IM choke. With today's plastic shotcup wads they will most likely run full as SkeetX said. One word of advice that is often quoted on this forum is try them for a while as is & if possible pattern them with some different loads before you jump in & modify them.

Try handloads with 'brush wads' and chilled shot.

That might get you south of modified.

Edit: Somehow I thought the Herter's shells were in 67mm cases, but they aren't, although they do wear the CIP logo.

I'm pretty sure it's the Gamebore shells that are in 67mm cases, although I have none on hand and can't check.

Thanks for the advice. Once the barrel walls are hopefully confirmed safe, I will shoot it for choke pattern and stock fit at Cherry Creek Reservoir, then make a decision on what, if anything, I would do to the gun.

I believe that in 16ga, Gamebores are only available in the "Traditional Game" load. Those are marked 2 1/2". I have Gamebore Traditional Game 20's (marked 2 1/2") and Pure Gold 20's marked 2 3/4".

I like the Gamebores, but for a 16ga, I'd just go with RST's (or Polywads) if I were looking for short, low pressure shells.

Gamebore shows on their website the 2-1/2 "Regal Game" load in 16ga. It is 1 oz at 1350 fps, which sounds like plenty of punch to me, old lightweight gun or not. I can't find any USA retailers, though.

https://gamebore.com/uk/cartridge/game/16g-regal-game

I field tested a few 16ga RST 1 oz copper 6 loads on Iowa pheasants last week. Dropped 3 birds with 3 shots. 2 came down dead. I didn't center the 3rd as well, and he came down in some really heavy cover. The dog didn't mark him, and the cover was far easier for a rooster with 2 good legs to navigate than for either me or the dog. Sorry to say I lost that one, but I don't fault either the load or the dog. 1200 fps. I'd go with those in a light gun like yours.

I don't see any reason for a lot of extra velocity. But with British shells, the velocity they list can be misleading. We measure velocity at 3 feet from the muzzle. The Brits use a couple methods, neither of them equivalent to what we do. One of those methods is TRUE muzzle velocity--measured right at the muzzle. 1350 fps at the muzzle works out to about 1250 fps at our standard 3 foot measuring point. So they might not be all that much faster than the RST's. But the RST's are not all that pricey ($11/box for standard lead, $15.50 for copper), and they'll sell you a mixed flat with a variety of shot sizes and payloads.