doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Heavy 12s and light 12s, all you'll ever need.

I had something of an epiphany the other day and it's taken me almost 50-years to get to this point (I'm slow, I know, & I understand that this will rub some folks the wrong way) but IMHO...most sub-gauge guns are superfluous. 16s are the very best of them, but they're all a significant compromise past that point. In doubles, a heavy 12 (~8lbs) will do anything that a 10 will do, and perhaps do it better (more load options, easier to carry). A light 12 (~6lbs) will do anything a 16 or a 20 can do and will be even more efficient when it comes to killing patterns. 28s and .410s are fun and even "cute" but largely unnecessary (unless you're into self-flagellation). If you've smaller or have developed some physical limitations and a heavier gun isn't much fun anymore, then by all means shoot a .410 but...you better be awful good with it, otherwise you're just wounding animals unnecessarily.

There is a reason that more 12s are made than any other gauge and it's because they are "the Alpha and the Omega" when it comes to utility and lethality. History has proven that fact over & over again. You wouldn't want to use the 8lb gun in the uplands (unless you had too) and you won't enjoy shooting the 6lb gun on targets because each has its place where it excels.

Light 12’s all the way. Hope to get to the Southern and find one I can afford. I’ll be looking at 16’s too.

Lloyd using your logic on a heavy 12 instead of a 10 can also be used for a 16 vs a light 12. lol

Mike: 16s are the best compromise of all and I'm a giant fan. The "Queen of the Uplands" title is apt, but... the real challenge of 16s these days is ammo. I wish that wasn't true but it has become their "Achilles' heel" anymore. That applies to the 2-inch 12s as well (I think I'd love having one, but the really good ones [w/28 tubes] are too-expensive and too-hard to feed). It's a shame this took me so-long to figure out but I guess I had to try out the extremes on both ends to figure out where the "middle" (the optimum?) really was.

I love short 10's and 16's but I have to agree. On the other hand I don't live in a country where I am only allowed one or two guns so....

While I do own 16s, 20s and a 28 in addition to a bunch of 12s, I completely agree with you Lloyd.

It’s just it’s fun to mess around with all of them.

Lloyd in Alaska I've never seen a 16 ga box for sale in an ammo shop. I reload my own. I have 2000 sitting and waiting.

This thread "lost me" in the title with that UGLY 4 letter word......."need". Right out of the gate your premise is flawed because we don't NEED any shotgun. Food, shelter and clothing (in colder climes) are all we NEED (and we don't NEED a shotgun to get food). everything else is a want. Having said that, gauges I own are 8GA, 10GA, 12GA, 20GA, 28GA and .410 in SXS hammer guns (except the 20GA which is hammerless until I find the right hammer gun to replace it). As you can see, I don't (yet) own a 16GA. I don't have a "need" for a 16GA but if the right sxs hammer gun came along for the right price...............If someone wants to limit their shotguns to 2, then your hypothesis makes sense. It's the "only wanting 2 shotguns" part that, to me, doesn't make sense. There really IS no right or wrong position in this IMO.

What fun is that?

I buy the gun, not the gauge.

I've been advocating light 12s over subgauges for a long time now. Welcome to the club at last Lloyd. Better late than never.