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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 6
Boxlock
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Boxlock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 6 |
They are very popular with me.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 869 Likes: 2
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 869 Likes: 2 |
16 ga ammunition and component availability is no longer much of a problem. Ammo and component prices are a bit higher vs the 12, certainly. Shot, primers, and powder are more significant cost drivers than are gauge-specific wads and once-fired hulls.
We all wish someone would make a CF 16 ga hull. Truth is, ammo makers are slowly moving away from CF hulls in all gauges. 16 ga hulls are not as pricey as .410s, so there's no need to try for 15 loadings per hull.
There are many reasons to fall for the 16. Mine is the 16 ga M-12. 12 ga versions are not walk-up guns in my hands. I've never developed a "scaled frame" obsession. But the 20 ga M-12 suffers from that argument.....in theory. I take long birds with my .021 prewar 16 alot better than I can with any 20 ga M-12 or auto - and every bit as well as with any 12 ga gun I've used.
Maybe the 16 best matches my level of incompetence. Reason enough.
Sam
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,164 Likes: 2
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,164 Likes: 2 |
My dad shot a 16; I've never cared to shoot anything else. I have a couple of 12's, a couple of 20's, and a little sxs .410, but when I got afield it's a 16ga I want hanging over my arm.
“It would be foolish and maudlin to insist that the 16 is irreplaceable; it obviously isn’t. It had its day and now it seems that day is over. Yet, somehow, I feel a warm spot in my heart when I meet a man whiling away an afternoon over a couple of bird dogs and when we stop to chat, the sleek lines of his double gun whisper “Sixteen.” There’s a magic in it to him that has its roots in days probably, and sadly, no longer with us. It makes me wish that things were a bit different than they are - and glad to know that there is someone carrying a “little gun” as much out of affection, or more so, than a proven belief in its ballistics.”.... Gene Hill, Shotgunner’s Notebook.
The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. - Albert Einstein
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Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 52
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 52 |
Some years ago I became interested in old Beretta SxSs'. Then after I discovered Beretta made 16ga SxS shotguns I really was hooked. The 16ga may be declining in the market but, in my house they are on the incline. I now have 8 Beretta 16ga SxSs and only two are the same model. I'm hooked and am beginning to wonder if an intervention is in order. Ron
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 329
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 329 |
I have a number of 16s and hunt with them almost exclusively. (When traveling, I use 20s because of ammo availability issues.) My main gun is an Army & Navy, w/2 1/2" chambers, 30" bbls, made in 1896 by Osborne. The gun has an absolutely tight lockup.
While one can't get 2 1/2" ammo in the typical local gun shop, it is easily available over the internet. I generally use Gamebore shells w/ fibre wads, and shoot them in all my 16 bores, even the ones w/ 2 3/4" chambers. In the overall scheme of things, cost of ammo (except for expensive exotic non-tox, e.g. NICE)is irrelevant.
Rob
NRA Benefactor Member
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 11,392 Likes: 107
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 11,392 Likes: 107 |
Cost of ammo is largely irrelevant if you only figure the shells you use for hunting. However, if you burn a few thousand rounds on targets/year, then it becomes more relevant.
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Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 960 Likes: 12
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 960 Likes: 12 |
I really don't think the 16's popularity or lack thereof has that much to do with the cost of ammo and its [minor] role in high volume target shooting, but rather its overall subjective handling qualities/between the hands feel, and use in the field. That's where it really shines and earns its devotees. Also, 28ga ammo is more expensive than 16, yet no one doubts its popularity. There seems to be a somewhat dismissive bias against the 16 by some that I find perplexing.
Last edited by Mark Larson; 06/30/12 08:45 AM.
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 156
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 156 |
Yeah, the 16 is pretty worthless, redundant, outdated; but then so am I. Guess I'll just struggle on in ignorance with my sub-standard 16 gauge smokepole:
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 704 Likes: 1
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 704 Likes: 1 |
GF1, that's a great picture.
Very nice looking SxS too. Who's the maker of that gun?
Thanks, CDog
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 15,456 Likes: 86
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 15,456 Likes: 86 |
I always thought the 16 ga. became popular in the USA after WW II when the soldiers brought them back from Germany.....and lost popularity because there was nothing the 16 ga. could do that the 12 ga. couldn't do a lot better.
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