Larry;
Back in the 1950s when I was a mere lad (Teenager actually) the normal loads for a 16 were either 2-1 or 2 3/4-1 1/8 in "Field loads" & were available in either 2 9/16" or 2 3/4" lengths. The "High Brass" loads were 3-1 1/8 in 2 9/16" or 3-1 1/8 in 2 3/4" length. somewhere around 1960 plus or minus a year or so, the Magnum load came out in 2 3/4" length of 3-1.
The vast majority of my 16 gauge shooting has been with the lighter two loads & for my purposes were always adequate. I have shot a lot more 12s & 20s than 16s over the years and for the most part used the 2-7/8 oz or 2-1 oz in the 20 & either the 3-1 or 3-1/8 oz in the 12. These loads are getting hard to find also unless you pay a premium.
For several years I did my quail & rabbit hunting & a bit of woodcock by happenchance with a 12 ga Damascus loaded with an oz of either #6 or #8 shot to about 1125 fps. The gun was a Birmingham p[roofed J P Clabrough sidelock with 28" barrels choked choke in both barrels ( about .010"). Weight was a couple ounces under 7 lb & I did some of the best shooting I ever did with it.
I did do some duck hunting for a few years & mostly used the regular 3 3/4-1 load of #6 for that. I also handloaded some 1 3/8 oz loads to a lower velocity which cut the recoil some & liked them extremely well.
Miller, you've got a few years on me (but not all that many!) I don't recall any 2 9/16" 16's being available in gun shops, but then I didn't own a 16ga until 1974. One interesting 16ga load I do recall came from Kent, back when they were still an American shotshell company: 3 1/4 DE - 1 oz nickel-plated shot. You'd think that much powder pushing an ounce of shot would result in a blown pattern. But I patterned some of those (7 1/2's) and compared the result to factory 1 1/8 oz loads of 7 1/2. That Kent nickel-plated load really produced tight patterns. In fact, I got more hits in a 30" circle with the Kent 1 oz loads than I did with factory 1 1/8 oz loads--which is really surprising because there's a difference of 40+ pellets when you add an extra 1/8 oz of 7 1/2's. Whether it was the nickel plating or some other factor--maybe just shot that was that much harder to start with in the Kents vs the 1 1/8 oz loads--the patterning results really surprised me.
Back then, there were still decent bobwhite numbers in one part of Iowa where I hunted pheasants. I'd load that Kent 1 oz 7 1/2 in my R barrel, back it up with 1 1/8 oz 6 in the left. If we moved a covey and went after the singles, then I'd load the Kents in both barrels. Great results on both quail and pheasants, if the rooster wasn't too far out.
