Some info to add....
The Sweet Sixteen is not built on a 20 ga frame. The frame dimensions were set in place with the introduction of the Standard Sixteen in 1909, 49 years before Browning made a 20 ga A5, which was introduced in 1958. The Sweet version was introduced in 1937, 21 years before the 20 ga. So, the 20 was built on a 16 ga frame (sort of)
The receivers are not exactly the same but are darned close, many 16 ga parts ARE exchangable with the 20, for example the stocks will fit either receiver, forends will not...
Forends do crack, but most of those crack because the mag nut was not tightened properly.
The stocks were lightened by hollowing them, not by picking lighter wood, and they are near bulletproof. I have found a number of (factory) hollowed stocks on A5's made long before the Sweet Sixteen and Light Twelve. (1920's)
There were lots of vent and solid rib Sweet sixteens made. They just cost more.....because collectors think they are worth more. Shooters know better. On a 28" A5 barrel a vent rib adds 4 oz, all out front. As a result the plain barreled guns are better handling, with almost all the weight between the hands. 26" barrels do save another 2 oz, but the 28"s swing smoother.
And you cannot see the vent rib because of the humpback, and the block under the front bead of a plain barrel looks the same as a rib. (with the gun properly mounted)
The internal parts are well fitted and the simple vine and leaf engraving was hand cut.
The design is weird, they deliver recoil in an unusual double shuffle and they make noises like a Ford Model A going over rail road tracks.
IN a pinch you can use one as a canoe paddle, boat hook and to break skim ice, then hunt all day and it will still shoot with ice crusted all over it.
And if that aint enough, they are neat.
Jeff (whew)
