ammo sizes for shotguns?

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i just bought an older 16-guage automatic shotgun. i'm not sure what type of game the various sizes of ammo are good for. and before anyone starts on me about safety, i grew up with my father and all of his male relatives hunting, have been taught how to shoot a rifle and a shotgun (not that it's that difficult), and have daddy around to teach me how to take care of the gun. unfortunately, he only hunted geese and deer, so the other sizes are unknown to either of us. thanks. sarah

-- sarah (qubr@aol.com), April 28, 1999

Answers

Sorry Honey,

I don't deal in such stuff. However, if you want to talk about howitzer ammo, or tank shells, or booby traps, or chemical/biological weapons, I'm your man. Just dial 1-800-Y2K-WACKO

(some so-called reasonable people have tried to convince me that Y2k won't bring on the need for guns and ammo, but I just blew 'em away...why listen to such drivel)

-- Schizoid Doomer (ammo@depot.com), April 28, 1999.


automatic shotgun??

-- R. Wright (blaklodg@aol.com), April 28, 1999.

sarah; sounds like you have a nice old time shotgun passed down from someone? The gauge of ammo you will need is of course 16 gauge shot shells. They are sometimes hard to find because most use 20 ga. or 12 ga.

Ammo for it can be had ,it might be worth locating a reload set if you plan on keeping it. Shells can contain various loads for 16ga shells,meaning the size of lead shot contained inside the shell. Most would hold a 7-1/2 buck-shot load or even an 8 buck-shot load. In your travels to Wal-Mart step up to the sporting goods dept and look around for shells, and manuals for such a shotgun. The 16 gauge shotgun is somewhat old to use, you might consider the 12 gauge or even the 20 gauge shotgun ,they will be a gun which you can get shells for over the counter.

Furie...

-- Furie (furieart@dnet.net), April 28, 1999.


7 1/2 shot is a good all around size for small game. If you are after deer you want 00 buckshot or rifled slugs. 00 buckshot is also good for two legged animals. 16ga. ammo is hard to find. If you find it, buy a good quanity.

-- SCOTTY (BLehman202@aol.com), April 28, 1999.

R. Wright, Automatic loading was the phrase used decades ago in all the ads, as in Auto 5 (famous Browning), Sweet 16, etc.

Sarah, Furie and Scotty make very good points as 16 is not a common guage. Reloading shotgun shells is easier than reloading pistol or rifle if you go that route. I'ld buy the swabs and brushes for that size right NOW before you can't find them anymore. I'ld get one box of anything I could find in 16g, then concentrate on 7 or 8 for birds, and then 00 (or 0 or 0000 or whatever you can find in that size range) for larger targets.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), April 28, 1999.



I have a 16 gauge and I love it. It's a old Sears model with a extra long barrel modified choke and a three shot mag. I'll atest to ammo being hard to find and when you find it you better buy it! Anyway I was at K-mart the other day and found some shells. They weren't marked so i asked a worker how much they were. $1.09 a box- Remington game load 25 to a box. The guy said that's the wrong price but sold them to me anyway! I bought all 5 boxes they had then went to another and bought 4 more. The joy of this is I think K-mart just went through some y2k remidiation work. When I left the second store the registers crashed and were down with lines backed up down the aisles.

-- Johnny (jljtm@bellsouth.net), April 28, 1999.

16 gauge ammo is some what difficult to get but it can be ordered from any ammo shop. There is considerable discussion if the typical game load is useful for home defense. Look on the barrel of the gun and find out what size shell it is chambered for. Typically a 16 gauge is chambered for 2 3/4" shells.

Typical Bird Game Load (and indoor with drywall) is a #7 or #8 shot (pellets)

Typical Home defense is #2 Buckshot or Rifled Slugs. Winchester still offers a 16 gauge MAX DR EQ 4/5oz Slug by order from ammo wherehouses.

Usually you will have to pay for your order in advance and will get your ammo in 3-4 working days.

Hope this helps you out

with 2 1/2 Dram

-- helium (heliumavid@yahoo.com), April 28, 1999.


#4 buckshot will give you a lot more lead balls per shot,a little smaller than "00" but you get 27 little lead balls flying at the bad guy compaired to 9 with the"00" more projectiles to hit vital areas and shot placement counts more than mythical "knock down"power

-- zoobie (zoob@aol.com), April 29, 1999.

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