One last retort, lads. Today, whilst awaiting my EKG, I read a 2013 Field and Stream, and the shotgunning section was one of the better by Messr. Bourjaily- A solid comparison between- 12 gauge 3 and 3.5" magnums, of interest to waterfowlers I should guess- and even a 20 versus 3" .410, looking into recoil and shot performance and patterning at 30 yards- apparently the "midget gauge" .410 bore is usually handicapped at 25 yards, whereas the 28, 20 and 12 are pattern tested at 40 yards- why so, you tell me. How-Some-Ever, note the absence of both the 16 gauge and any attempt by Mr. B to compare it to another gauge, and to be fair, he also excluded the 10 gauge. Very well presented- and the solid absence of the "bastard" gauge here is quite telling to me.
I will quote Paul A. Curtis- 1934 Penn Publishing- Guns and Gunning- pages 156-157: "There is little to be said about the 16. It is a delightful gun to shoot but as a rule, the ammunition is not so well distributed as the 20, and it has always seemed to me that as the gun (16) is but slightly lighter than a 12, and but little more powerful than the 20, it was in a rather unhappy position between the two, which were certain to be more popular" Further down page 156, my gunning guru of the Limey school discusses the "midget" gauge- the .410-- The Winchester co. to bring out a 3 inch shell holding 3/4 ounce of shot--- whilst this monstrosity is equal in the weight of shot charge to the light 20 bore, it should not be supposed that it is equally efficient. It is simply a freak and not built on sound ballistic principles.-- Paul later discusses the 28 gauge (I do have one of those- a 1939 era Model 12- with a 28" solid ribbed WS-2 choked barrel)Here are his words on the 28-- "It is unfortunate that our sportsmen and manufacturers overlooked the 28 bore, which is a much more serviceable weapon with the same charge"--
The 16 gauge does have a solid place in Limey gunning history- the Edwardian Era- when Queen "Vicky"'s son, Prince Edward, who was one of the principals in developing the art and science of driven bird shooting, often shot a pair of Purdey guns in 16 bore-his special order- to keep his invited guests from bumming the expected 12 bore shells from his shell bags-apparently "Tum-Tum" was a bit "tight-fisted"--Noblese oblige non withstanding--
