Foxy; I am personally one of those with a fondness for the 16 bore. I think of the 16 like many others do, and that is given the typical identical model of gun, the 16 is often times half a pound lighter than the same model in 12 bore. For me, as a 'rough' hunter that is huge for a gun with a 1 oz payload. For driven shooting, that half pound doesn't amount to diddly, but for rough hunting, such as Grouse hunting which is what I do, a half pound matters a TON after an entire day maneuvering through the great Northwoods. For me, the 16 gauge fits the bill.
I'll concede that point- doubled and redoubled. But as 95% of my shotgunning on game birds is either on hunt club pheasants, or ducks and geese, to me that's a 12 ga. game, plus I reload 12 gauge hulls RST and AA- for off-season crow and barn pigeon shooting- If I have to pay almost twice for 16's over 12's, and in my neck of the woods, 16's are hard to get locally- OK if you order from RST- anyway, to each his own. And I kill birds cleaner at age 73 with longer barreled guns in 12 gauge that are a tad muzzle heavy- and as I don't get on them as spryly as I might have at age 40, Full or Mod and Full in the double guns works best for me.
