16 Gauge Blues

[dovehunter]

Originally Posted by Larryjk

I read through the Cabela's Fall Shooting catalog and got bummed out. Very few loads for a 16 gauge fan and only 2 loads for the 6mm Remington. Hornady and Remington are the only manufacturers who had 6mm loads, 95 and 100 grain; no varmint loads. I guess people don't know what a great cartridge the 6mm Rem really is; better than the .243 Win. if you know what is going on.
The 16 gauge is such a fine light and finely balanced shotgun that most people haven't had a chance to shoot. You have to hunt with one to really appreciate them. I guess it is time to buy a 16 gauge loader and load up on 16 gauge wads.

As someone else said, when you can find 16 ga. shells - even field loads - they are usually priced much higher than their identical 12 & 20 ga. counterparts. Do take up reloading 16 ga. shells. You won't regret it. I was fortunate enough several years back to get a case of W-W field loads really cheap from a store that was going out of business and have been using those hulls for reloading ever since. The W-W's seem to hold up very well. I too use the Rem. SP16 wads as they are the only thing I can find around here.

As far as the 16 ga. itself is concerned I love my three guns - two SxS doubles and Rem. 870 pump. I bought the pump a few years back to give the two doubles a break from the constant hammering of early fall dove shoots. Whenever I hear anyone knocking a 16 ga. the first thing that tells me is that they have never tried one! To me, at least for upland bird hunting, a 16 ga. hits like a 12 ga. and carries like a 20 ga. I frimly believe if more people had the opportunity to try a 16 they would become more popular.