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Hello chaps, Some of you will be aware from another thread that I've recently gone and bought myself a 16 gauge. Had it out on Wednesday for the first time and took a jackdaw and a big-******* crow with it in my first four shots. It seems to fit very well, shoot smoothly and has well-exceeded my expectations given the £140 I paid for it. In short, I'm well chuffed with it. So much so that I think my 12 gauge just got forcibly part-retired to wildfowling duties only! The guys at The Country Store, Pampisford (yes that's a name drop - go see them if you can) knew the gun was coming in, so they dug out an old slab of cartridges they'd had sitting around for ages - some Gamebore Traditional Game 28g #6 with felt wads (which should tell you how long they've been there). Still, at over 50% off their proper price, I couldn't argue, so I took the lot. They do the job and I've no reason not to buy them again. I chucked most of the empties in the boot of my car when I'd finished on Wednesday and it occurred to me as I listened to them rattling around this morning on the way to work, that they might be good for reloading. I remembered that after I'd fired a few of them that the cases still seemed to be in very decent condition. Most crimped cartridges I shoot leave that flower-like shape at the top of the cartridge, showing where the crimp was before firing. These cartridges though - in spite of being crimped beforehand - look a lot like a rolled turn-over cartridge would after they're fired. They're just dead straight cylinders with no discernible marks on them. I can't afford a press right now, but as a serial tinkerer with all things shooting-related, it's not going to be that long until I decide I want to play around with shotgun reloading. There are no 16 gauge clay loads (and I didn't buy it to shoot clays) but it might be interesting to try and manufacture one at some point. 21 grams of #8 or something. I could never afford a MEC press, so though I have a 28 gauge which would have benefitted from one, I never started loading for that gun. I think Lee make a Loader 2 in 16 gauge though and I might afford one of those one day, so here's the question(s): If I keep the cases I'm using now, could I reload them? They look to be in pretty good condition but I don't really know how to tell if they're any use. Do I just bag them up and keep them dry, or will they deteriorate if they're left in a loft / garage for (potentially) a year or so? Or should I just bin them and buy new primed cases as and when I can afford a press and all the other bits? More generally, I think I'm getting to the point where I've got the basics of rifle cartridge reloading sussed, but I still know no more about shotgun cartridge reloading than I can get from The ABCs of Reloading, so if anyone would be willing to exchange a few PMs to talk about what I'd like to do with 16 bore reloading and tell me all of the basics that I haven't learned / can't learn from the book, perhaps they could drop me a line? Thanks, Adam.​