A rattle:
Interesting takes, gentlemen, but in reading the entire thread I see only one ref to the 'size' [frame's circumference] of the gun being of import & to me that is one of the nicer attributes of the 16's, particularly in the SxS iteration(s), a little more bore that carries as well as a twenty. Many 20 gauge guns are built on 16ga. sized frames, making them a bit larger than if built 'to scale'. There are exceptions, of course. Merkel, at the urging of Joe McBride in Austin after some years of discussion finally started building 16/20's, which made a delightfully smaller than normal framed/sized 16. There are others.
I may be mistaken on this, but believe that for many makers, they only had a couple of frame sizes, a 12ga. and a 16 ga. that was also used for making 20 ga. guns. That certainly held true for the Model 12 Winchesters, inclusive of the 28ga. guns. Plenty of folks here that can chime in w/hard fact(s) on specific makers.
From my own limited experiences w/16's that began with an old Stevens 311 type w/two triggers that I didn't have any sense whatsoever about using correctly at the time.. but became a fast learner after shooting it w/two fingers inside the trigger guard, ouch(!), to using some much nicer guns as I was able to afford them; it just seems that many of those guns have had a good 'feel' to them, meaning that esoteric was present in sufficient quantity to make hunting w/them & shooting them pleasant. Only speaking to upland applications as I have no experience using one for waterfowl & I'm not sure it would apply from a blind in any case. I liken some 16ga. SxS's to the 3XX series Beretta gas guns that started w/the AL-1 that so many sporty clays shooters have adopted to good success.. they have a liveliness to them in the hands w/o being cumbersome to bring into play. In the same breath, I'd not wish to shoot significant quantities of 1oz./28gram loads in a lightweight 16 anymore than I would a 20. 7/8's oz. or 25 grams is sufficient for clays, most upland game and enjoyable to shoot.
