To those of you who arent fond of Don Zutzs work, this could be interesting as he said, "If we started from scratch to reinvent the ideal shotgun shell - - it would end up looking a lot like the 16 gauge." This is a Zutz opinion with which I disagree. The span of shotgun purpose is way, way too wide for there to be an "ideal".
Don Zutz reminds us in Shot gunning -- Trends in Transition (1989) that ". . two of the most famous rulfed grouse hunters of all time -- William Harden Foster and Burton L. Spiller -- focused in their books on the 16. Perhaps the most famous shotgun in all upland writing is the 16 gauge Parker hammer gun . . . `The Little Gun' of Foster's New England Grouse Hunting. And when Burton L. Spiller narrated the ordering and purchase of his first custom bird gun in More Grouse Feathers (1938), it turned out to be a 16 gauge." Two choices of gun and gauge. No argument from me as to these being perfectly workable choices. I do not, however, believe that the 16 will out perform the 12 given equal gun suitability of fit (both stock and handling fit) to the shooter. I'd add the 20 as long as we keep the loads at or below an ounce. Do grouse require more than an ounce?
Annie Oakley set a world's record by breaking 4,772 out ot 5,000 thrown targets in nine hours in February, 1885 (The American Rifleman, October 1998 issue). She chose a couple of 16 gauge doubles for the job -- she knew the secret of the 16's reputation for superb patterns and modest recoil.. OK, what secret is that? Given a constant load and relative constriction, the 16 will pattern just like a 12. Not better, not worse. Given constant recoil factors, the 16 will recoil just like any other gauge.
The above is interesting to me because after many years of shooting upland birds with a 20 gauge SxS, I discovered a 16 gauge in the form of a #2 AyA and have never looked back. A perfectly fine choice of gun and gauge. No reason to look back. But, not magic.
