I own and use both 12 and 16 bore hammer doubles. Some weigh about 6,25 lbs and two 16s weigh much more, well over 7,0 and 8,0 lbs, respectively, and one 12 weights a bit over 7,0 lbs. Carried on slings, weight is weight. Carried in hand, the 16s are much more comfortable to carry for hours and hours afield, no matter what the weight -- has to do with ease and comfort of getting hand around breech area of gun. The 16s get used afield far more than the 12s. Hunting loads are nearly always 1,0 oz at about 1250-1300 fps, both 12 and 16 gauge.
When it comes to shooting, my trap scores and ratio of birds to shells fired, one of light 12s, the lightest, slimmest 16 and one of the 7,0+ 16s are most effective. And, NO, these three guns DO NOT have the same dimensions nor do they feel the same. They do all point and swing very naturally and fast for me and have very crisp trigger pulls at between 4,0 and 5,0 lbs, with both triggers nearly the same.
As regards chambers, forcing cones, bores and choke dimensions, the most effective 12 and lightest 16 both have original 65/67 mm chambers, original forcing cones, tight chokes, etc. and appeared to have been used little before I got them. The heavier 16 has 90+ mm forcing cones and modified bores, including one totally choke-less barrel (apparently for round ball use) and has clearly been heavily used and often repaired -- one can think that it served its previous owners(s) well.
Niklas
