The great Italian company offers shotgun cartridges for every need, therefore with all the innovative sophistications so sought after today, but there are also some hunters in the mood for romantic certainties on the beautiful 16 gauge.
di Emmanuel Tabasso
It was once the consolidated choice of hare and partridge hunters, the noble game that inhabited our hills and which a serious emulator of Diana's exploits could shoot without fear of demeaning: let's talk about caliber 16 and almost obviously chambered in a side-by-side shotgun, rather light, slender and racy with that serious elegance, appropriate for the use to which it will be dedicated. The difference with the slightly higher caliber, the 12 certainly, was noticeable in many factors starting from the weight of the rifle, putting the basic parameters in tune, from recoil to the cost of ammunition where those few grams of powder and less shot counted. something that, at the end of a hunting season, added up to a not negligible entity. Those were times when the peasant boys looked after the grazing cows with one eye on the abbecedary and the other on the mound of earth that was forming, an unequivocal sign that underneath there was the prey: a blow of the hoe given with dexterity and so they captured moles and then sold their skin.
We do not go back centuries, it is enough to arrive at the end of the war, nor in remote and poor lands because our experience of these events is based 15 km from Turin. These are things that rethink today move to various considerations, some seem beautiful, but it is undoubtedly because they bring us back to an infantile age where almost everything is lived with joy and enthusiasm: let's put with these also the rediscovery of the caliber gone for so many years in desuetude and now reappeared for strange alchemy of the mind, to try something never tried, to satisfy the sensation of a shotgun just entered the rack, often a used one of those years which we mentioned above. Last but not least, a regained sense of proportion in things. For us it happened like this and today a good one Beretta side-by-side in that caliber and from 1956 it offers satisfactions when it comes to taking a ride in reserve with trusted friends. Having to measure ourselves with partridges and already having cartridges with 5 and 6 shots we preferred to find 8 and the gunsmith, knowing our certain way of thinking, immediately proposed the most total classicism: Bows of the GFL type with dots of this number.
When we use calibers below 12 we usually take care that the charge weights are in the measure still codified by the British in the golden days, we grant ourselves some out-of-series licenses with the 20 and 28 calibers, but with the 16 we like precisely that magical number 28, the ounce that has always qualified the charge of this cartridge: this Fiocchi is just like that with the 70 mm case and the 16 mm caseback, so much so that it could be defined, in times of hypertrophic cartridges, as mediocre aurea it is understood that this appellation sounds like a boast and an appreciation. The package is presented in the usual cardboard boxes of 25 pieces, alternatively a box of 250, with beige and brown streaked color, company logo, weight of the charge clearly evident and identification code of the type that stands out in the center of the indications; on the bottom the numerical data we have just reported and the comforting Made in Italy writing; the indication of the dots is clearly legible, placed in the white window on the left of the lid.
Describe the cartridges from Fiocchi it is a bit like spreading the exegesis of fresh bread: the company has accustomed us well and here too every detail is perfect, such as the brass of the case with no differences in appearance, the uniform collar, the primer of the SUR 616 type perfectly inserted in the pocket, the red plastic tube also well formed as well as the folds of the heat-sealed closure. The writings are clearly visible, especially the one referring to the numbering of the dots, a fact that the less young people appreciate because the light is not always optimal and the view as well. The data reported by the manufacturer indicate the muzzle velocity in 395 m / sec and the pressure in 650 Bar; dots from 4 to 9 are available (Italian numbering). In the hunting indications for the pellets of n. 8 the following wild animals can be observed: turtledove, woodcock, snipe, hen, quail and rabbit, to which we also add partridge and redheads, obviously under the dog's firmness and preparing a 7 or a 6 in the second barrel.
Despite the good speed impressed on the lead column, the recoil is not felt even with a rifle lighter than the orthodox 2,8 kg, so if necessary you are ready for a quick and tight dubbing. Nothing more to add: those who already have a good 16 gauge will be able to try these easily available charges immediately and, if you do not have a rifle of this caliber, you can think about going and looking for one both on the new one, different manufacturers they propose it again, both on the rich second-hand market. Good luck!