Anyone loading and shooting a 16 g. rifle (British/European)?

You might post this on the big bores forum.....it gets a lot more traffic and fits well there.

I've owned three different 16bore double rifles, still own and shoot two of them.


Do you have any specific questions about the 16bore rifle?



Cheers
Tinker

My question is what weight bullets are you using that regulate (group) in your 16 b. rifles? I have tried round balls- the twist seemed to be relatively fast & RB did not group very well.I have used a bullet that weighs 690 g. It does not group well either. Is the bullet to heavy?
The sights are set for 100 yds, 200 yds & 300 yds.

Jim-


I've gotten excellent accuracy with roundball.
There are a few things to look at with respect to getting good results from your bore rifle.

-run your roundball ~.005 over groove diameter
-run a good wad column for seal/lubrication and to center your ball
-run real black powder
-make double damn sure your rifle is tight on the face
-make double damn sure your stock heads up to the action completely and properly

Rate of twist has ended up not seeming to be a very significant factor, and I've gotten great accuracy with twist as fast as ~1/40" and as slow as 1/60" -- the guys running Forsyth pattern barrels in their modern (reproduction) English pattern front-stuffers are getting great results up to 1600fpsMV or so with very slow twist in the 1/100" neighborhood.
In the mid-19th century, they hadn't come to consesus on rifling profile or rate of twist, and fortunately there were many very accurate rifles built that don't conform to the Miller formula rules or the Forsyth pattern standards.
I'm currently working loads up in a 16-bore Westley Richards SxS that has deep octagonal Whitworth (patents on the rifle) pattern rifling, 3" chambers (!!), and groove diameter that wants 14-bore ball and thin brass case.
It's powerful and accurate.
Surprisingly, in both respects.

This is the first 16-bore rifle I've had that runs this hot a charge, and the first I've seen in the flesh (or in print, besides those in 19th century texts) - most I've seen run 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 dram charges.
I sold a SxS rifle last year that ran beautifully and accurately with roundball and 2-1/2 drams of Goex FFg


Post some images of your rifle.
Post the bore and groove diameters and the rifling pattern.
Measure and post the dimensions of your chamber(s).
Show the sights. Measure all the leaves and post their heights from bore axis, also include the front sight.
Post photos of the bullet you're running, and print the measurements of it's critical areas (grease groove, ogive, skirt, major diameter...)



Roundball, especially good mid-sized roundball from the 16bore rifle, are amazingly good game killers.
The roundball penetrates straight-through and in the 1 ounce to 500grain neighborhood, they hit like runaway metro busses.


I'm sure we can get your rifle up to snuff with a good accurate hunting load.
Get some images and information up and let's take it from there.



Cheers
Tinker

Jim-

I'm interested to hear the details on your rifle and the bullets/load that you've been running.

Can you get some images up on the thread for us to look at?


Feel free to message me on the side if you need help posting photos or if you want to discuss this on the phone.



Cheers
Tinker