New "16" gauge smoothly help

[Snow on the Roof]

I just picked up a sweet little 16 gauge. Light weight smooth handling with a 26" barrel, and the big chambers lock is a sure sparker! When I measured the bore it was only .655 ?! So what size round all would you use? Better does anyone make a mold in say... .635? Track has .626, maybe with a heavy patch? Any suggestions?

 

[Grizzled Roberts]

Google Jeff Tanner moulds. Jeff is in England and he will make you any size ball mould.

 

[garra]

Looks like your stuck between available sizes. TOW also has a .648, maybe with a thin batch or as you suggested the other option with a thick patch.
I checked the gun works and they also jump over the size in the middle.

I checked Lee to see what they would charge for a custom size. Round ball mold set up charge is $150.00 plus cost of mold, which is not bad at $26.00 for a 2 cavity.

 

[jamesthomas]

Well, a 16 gauge is .663 so its not to far off .655, my calipers say they are accurate to .004, could be you just have a bad measurement. Plus if your barrels are 26 inches long somebody could have cut it down, that would also change the Diameter. Let me do an edit here, Just use it to shoot squirrels an rabbits, etc. I have a 16ga. barrel from Colerain for a English Fowler I have in the works and I see no reason to shoot roundball out of it, also the recoil will punish you in that lightweight gun you have.

 

[jamesthomas]

Btw, that's a 435 grain roundball your going to be shooting.

 

[Dane]

Round ball is not as punishing as shot usually. One ounce of shot is a lot more than the weight of the appropriate sized round ball.
The most important thing to figure out, is whether the barrel is cylinder bore, or is choked. If it's cylinder bore, round ball or shot is no problem at all.
Hope this helps you decide.
Be safe!

 

[Stumpkiller]

A 16 bore round ball weighs one ounce - 16 to the pound. Though with paper patching I have to go with 0.648" or 0.650" round balls instead of the 0.662" bore size.

I don't notice a difference between 1 oz. shot and a round ball.

Usually, however, I use 1-1/4 oz of shot and a little less powder than a round ball load in the interest of better patterns.

 

[Snow on the Roof]

Stumpy, what kind of loads are you using? I was thinking 60 gr of FF with an ounce as a starting point. Maybe as high as 82 grains ( 3 drams) of 1F or 2F with 1 1/4 ounce. I like to use V M Star's advise and use thinner wads stacked over the powder and a single wad over shot.