How old are these shotgun shells? 28,16,12.

[Kev18]

I was jut wondering. I got them out of my grandfathers stuff years ago. He died when I was pretty young. He had a bunch of odd caliber ammunition but never owned any guns for them... I asked my dad and he's never heard of a 28 or 16 gauge. I have more but I was just wondering about these.

The brass ones were purchased at a gun show by me.



Brass ones:

[mattw]

No idea on the age of the shells, but I have been shooting a 16 gauge Belgium Browning for decades. It was made in 1951! I spent my youth and early adult years at farm auctions with my Dad and would buy every loaded 16 gauge shell I could, if reasonable. I am glad I did now, I will have enough for me to hunt birds and bunnies with for the rest of my life.

16 is really a sweet spot for me with a shotgun. I own 12's, but just do not like them and I also own an old 28, but they are just to weak.

[JimB..]

Shot 16’s growing up, they just aren’t popular, no idea why not.

[Pigboat]

Our local Walmarts almost always have 16 ga. shells on the shelf and on occasion, the 28's. Not much of a shot size selection but they do carry both. I have my Dad's Model 12, 16 gauge from the mid 50's but never shoot it (too old to hunt anymore)

[Markopolo]

The ones marked ely Kynoch are most likely from the mid 50’s.. ssg is a shot size designation and is British-Canadian, and I think the Aussie and new zelanders still use that designation system today.The shot sizes are designated like this..

SG stands for 'small game' and is 00 buck size.
SSG stands for 'special small game' and is half the weight of a 00 buck pellet so it does not correlate to an American shot size.
It is 16 pellets to the ounce which puts it between 2 and 3 buck.
Also there was an LG(large game) which is probably close to 000 buck.. never actually seen one of them though..

the imperials are also from the same era, probably somewhere around 1951 is when they started stamping Canada in a smaller font. If memory serves..

Very interesting looking case that ely Kynoch one is... it looks like a paper case sleeve inserted into the end of a brass case? Dont think I have ever seen one like that before??

Hope that helps...

Marko

[Bazoo]

The 16 gauges decline began in 1926 when they invented the game of skeet. It was decided that only 4 gauges would be allowed, 12, 20, 28, and 410 bore. As skeet grew, available bird hunting was declining, and while many 16 gauges remained in service little effort was devoted to the development of the 16 gauge. From a ballistic perspective, it's nearly perfect as it's payload is nearly the same height as diameter.

[Earlwb]

I remember seeing and using paper shot shells up into the 1970's. Then the plastic shot shells pretty much took over. When I was young I never saw any full length brass shot shells though. So I assume the brass shells are probably before the 1950's, before WWII even.

[bedbugbilly]

Can't tell you anything on your 16 gauge shells but when I was a kid, I had an old N.R. Davis double 16 gauge. It took quite a few pheasants and some ducks as well. I wished I had some of the old shells that I shot up in those days - early 60s. Not too many I knew had 16s - mostly 20s and 12s. Quite a few of y
Dad's friends would pass along odd lots of old 16 gauge shells as they knew I had one - some were pretty vintage at that time and once in a while, a few commercial BP loads would come my way - they shot just as well and all of them sure helped in keeping me of having to buy new shells. Of course that was nearly 60 years ago and at that time . . . they were just "old shotgun shells".

[Jniedbalski]

I also used my dads 16 in the middle 70,s to early eaightyes Walmart carried 16 all the time then. I haven’t seen 16 gauge at Walmart since the early 90’s. Dad had a bolt action shotgun with a screw adjustable choak loved that gun

[Kev18]

The ones marked ely Kynoch are most likely from the mid 50’s.. ssg is a shot size designation and is British-Canadian, and I think the Aussie and new zelanders still use that designation system today.The shot sizes are designated like this..

SG stands for 'small game' and is 00 buck size.
SSG stands for 'special small game' and is half the weight of a 00 buck pellet so it does not correlate to an American shot size.
It is 16 pellets to the ounce which puts it between 2 and 3 buck.
Also there was an LG(large game) which is probably close to 000 buck.. never actually seen one of them though..

the imperials are also from the same era, probably somewhere around 1951 is when they started stamping Canada in a smaller font. If memory serves..

Very interesting looking case that ely Kynoch one is... it looks like a paper case sleeve inserted into the end of a brass case? Dont think I have ever seen one like that before??

Hope that helps...

Marko

Thanks for the info!

[Kev18]

Can't tell you anything on your 16 gauge shells but when I was a kid, I had an old N.R. Davis double 16 gauge. It took quite a few pheasants and some ducks as well. I wished I had some of the old shells that I shot up in those days - early 60s. Not too many I knew had 16s - mostly 20s and 12s. Quite a few of y
Dad's friends would pass along odd lots of old 16 gauge shells as they knew I had one - some were pretty vintage at that time and once in a while, a few commercial BP loads would come my way - they shot just as well and all of them sure helped in keeping me of having to buy new shells. Of course that was nearly 60 years ago and at that time . . . they were just "old shotgun shells".

Back in those days not alot of people collected stuff. It was more of a " i have money to buy what I need and will use" type of era. Which is understandable.

[Boolit_Head]

Wow there are some interesting shells there. The really high brass ones are quite interesting. the Eley-Kynoch headstamps I believe are of British origins. 16 was a good gauge but everyone gravitated to the 12 and 20 so it just got lost. 28 gauge is very popular with skeet shooters. In general use for some reason everyone gravitates to the 410 gauge when it really is not good compared to the 28 gauge. The 28 has much better patterns where the 410 should rather be called strings. I would love to find a older Remington 1100 in 28 gauge to sit next to my 20 and 12 gauge ones.

[MT Chambers]

I used those Imperials for ducks and geese in the early 60s, prolly not much value because they are Canadian, the Kynoch may be different, Imperial went to plastic a few years later.

[15meter]

Wow there are some interesting shells there. The really high brass ones are quite interesting. the Eley-Kynoch headstamps I believe are of British origins. 16 was a good gauge but everyone gravitated to the 12 and 20 so it just got lost. 28 gauge is very popular with skeet shooters. In general use for some reason everyone gravitates to the 410 gauge when it really is not good compared to the 28 gauge. The 28 has much better patterns where the 410 should rather be called strings. I would love to find a older Remington 1100 in 28 gauge to sit next to my 20 and 12 gauge ones.

Skeet shooter generally shoot 410 when they must make amends for some evil they have committed. Self-Flagellation, but with a shotgun. And in front of your friends. And the scores are recorded for posterity, just to make sure no one forgets.