Hi! I recently got my first ever auto shotgun-a1952 auto 5 sixteen gauge. Standard weight. Anyway, I'm looking online at the manual, and checking out the recoil spring setup, and I'm curious. What velocity load should I consider setting up for heavy loads? Thanks! MP
I'd say a light load in a 16 is 1 oz. @ 1200 fps and a heavy load anything greater. But I wouldn't use that as my criteria for setting the rings. Use as much friction as the gun will cycle with. Start with the heavy load setting and a few drops of motor oil on the magazine tube. If you get malfunctions, switch to the light setting. For really heavy loads, like shooting slugs at 1600 fps, wipe the magazine dry.
I just got a rebuilt gun back from Arts gun shop. Anyway, I shot 1 oz loads 1200fps 7 1/2 shot from both federal and Remington with my sweet sixteen set up for heavy loads and never had a problem......everything cycled fine.
It seems dependent on the gun. I have had stoppages using some 28G 1 ounce cartridges and some work just fine set up for light loads. It seems that case length has an impact as well my 1930's A5 doesnt like anything other than 70mm carts. I am currently using a budget spanish load that only cost about 50 pounds for 250 and they are 28 gram and cycle the gun on the heavy load setting no problems. I think its a case of trying and finding out how your gun performs with various loads.
