doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com popularity of 16 guage shotguns

I reload many thousands of both per annum.

Please list the significant advantages to the 12ga.

Isn't this the key issue? Thinner walled barrels on light 12-ga. gun are more likely to dent and can't take as much re-bluing and/or honing before the barrels get too thin. This is not to say they are inferior guns in any way, just that there are trade-offs for their thinner walled barrels.

Lovely gun Model2128Ga. A beautiful SxS that one shoots well is a grace to be thankful for.

I confess to a 16ga addiction. I have lost track of how many I have owned, traded, and sold. Today I have four 16 bores to include my original 16ga, a German guild BLNE (the first gun I successfully hunted with), a lovely Jules Bury Side-plated BLE, a very lightweight Greener FH50 BLE, and my best gun a Jules Bury made Louis Christophe 16ga SLE. The only non 16ga I shot is a near best Thomas Turner 12b Hammer-gun. One day I will have a matching 12b sibling for my Christophe (mostly because it was available and I could not resist a near matching gun) I sold off all my other lesser 16s, and 12s, and 20s other than my grandfather's M37 pump and Franchi auto (I may not shot them much, but I will never let them go)

I do not believe 16 gauge is a growing thing. If you want the convenience of buying shells locally and not having to carry a large basic load when you travel, don't buy 16. If you are ok with reloading special loads, and having few off the shelf non-toxic options, then 16 again is your choice. Fewer people carry the 16 to the field every year and that will continue. Just as the total number of guns going to the field declines. Within that number the percentage of 16s being used out the total guns being used will go down. I do not believe it will disappear but it will more and more become an affectation of connoisseurs

I obviously believe 16ga has merits. I am heavily invested in every possible 16ga reloading device, accesory, and component. I am so used to the looking down the lean width of a pair of 16 bore barrels, that looking across a pair of 12b barrels seems enormous. my favourite website is this one and 16ga.com.

To be a 16 gauge man you have to want it, because to do it right takes more effort. If you want it enough the effort is ok. You may actually take great pleasure in the ritual and process of all the challenges of the 16; I do.

That said when I brought my son a SLE to take with him as he leaves the house onto active duty it is an Italian 12b SLE because as the 16 is not his religion I wanted to make it easy for him to shoot without the complications of the 16.

16ga is my upland gun of choice. I enjoy the weight since the sxs's I have are 5 3/4 - 6 1/4 pounds so they never get heavy no matter how long the day. I like 28-30" barrels. I enjoy making and shooting my reloads. I never feel under gunned. I like to think of what these guns might have encountered with their previous owners. I try to give these guns good days afield.

Charles Daly 185


J. Blanch & Son



Franz Sodia


"To be a 16 gauge man you have to want it, because to do it right takes more effort. If you want it enough the effort is ok. You may actually take great pleasure in the ritual and process of all the challenges of the 16; I do."
Well said Old Colonel.

The dude with the leather snake boots may look like the late Harry Lillis Crosby (aka- Der Bingle) but he ain't. Bing shot Purdeys and driven birds in Spain, and dove in AZ with his best friend Phil (That's what I like about Da South) Harris- Harris shot a M12 in 28 gauge and was a first rate wingshot with it. I have no idea in Hell who the dopey looking other guy is- some Olde Fhart with a damn fine looking bird dog though.

Ask and ye shall receive:

1. Better hulls--many of which you can often pick up, once fired, on trap and skeet ranges. A lot of guys buy new Rem Gun Clubs and toss them. They reload about as well as STS . . . both of which reload better than anything I ever used in 16ga. That includes the venerable old Win AA 16's, which were supposedly the gold standard.

2. Readily available and cheaper wads.

3. Easier to work up low pressure recipes using a variety of (again) readily-available components, for those who shoot guns requiring low pressure.

4. Recent appearance of a 3/4 oz wad, which makes working up very light loads quite easy and simple.

Reloading for the 16 requires more tinkering, harder to find (necessary to order) components (which are also more expensive), and there are still no hulls as good as those available in 12ga (which run in cost from cheap to free).

I suppose "significant" is in the eye of the beholder but I see nothing significant to me on that list.

While I reload 7/8oz into twelve gauge shells for an eight pound double for trap the sixteen gauge game loads are no trouble. I bought a couple thousand of new Cheddite sixteen hulls. Three different types of wads. The 16 Gauge Reloaders Group has dozens of low pressure recipes. I get several reloads out of the Cheddites.

For bird hunting the cost of the shells is by far the cheapest category. It comes in well below any of the costs for bird lease, transportation, licenses, bottled water, motels, dog food, vet bills, electronic collars, trainers, and bird dog puppies.

Best,

Mike

1) What is "better?" I'll only concede the 12ga hulls are "better" if one insists on loading a hull more than 5 times. I don't load any hull more than 4 times...not even STS's. With a little effort, both 16ga and 12ga hulls are available free. Otherwise, they can both be bought for 5 cents each.

2) This is 2012. ANYTHING that can be purchased is "readily available." If you're capable of posting in this thread, you're only a few mouse clicks away from buying wads. There is ZERO practical difference in availability of 16ga and 12ga wads.

The 12ga wads ARE cheaper. The Claybuster AA16 costs 0.6 cents more than the Claybuster AA12. That's 15 cents more for a box of 25. I feel really badly for any reloader who invests hundreds of dollars in equipment and supplies and finds 15 cents/box to be cost prohibitive.

3) Easier to work up? Not for people who are still willing to learn something new. Google is your friend. There is a dedicated coterie of 16ga reloaders that has amassed a wealth of tested, "low pressure" recipes for 16ga reloaders.

4) There is a 16ga wad that will add 40 cents to the cost of a box of reloads relative to 12ga. Is $4.25 significantly more than $3.85 for a box of shells that matches the quality (and perhaps exceeds the utility) of $8/box premium target or $12/box premium field loads? That one wad, in conjunction with a Remington hull and any one of 4 or 5 other available 16g hulls, can be used to load anywhere from 5/8 to 1 ounce, with excellent crimps and NO filler. IME, there is no 12ga wad of comparable versatility.

Any contention that 16ga reloading components are not readily available is ludicrous. And most 16ga reloaders are by nature "tinkerers," not only willing but eager to learn something new. That mindset, like the 16ga, is not for everybody.

Say it isn't so! It was the Life Support article years ago that got me turned on to the 16 AND Double guns!

Looking at the supplies of guns and shells around here I don't see any upswelling in the popularity of the 16 gauge. That being said I also like the gauge a lot. As has been observed, light 12s are about the same in weight and handling as 16s. Neither is better than the other though, so individual preference is likely the main reason to choose one over the other (I have both types and they interchange well). For almost all of my hunting a 16 works just fine, but other hunters have their own thoughts.