To answer Rogers query on the 16ga popularity in Continental Europe I believe the answer lies in a Napoleonic Era edict which forbade the populace from owning firearms that were equal to military issue muskets. The Brown Bess, Brunswick and French Smooth bores were all .720-.730 caliber, thus sportsmen were confined to 16bore and smaller.


Hugh Lomas,
H.G.Lomas Gunmakers Inc.
920 876 3745