I never really saw a "Need" for long shells in other than a 12 or 10 gauge. To me when you magnumize the smaller gauges they need to be built heavier to handle the heavier loads as well as to soak up the greater recoil which defeats their purpose.
Many years back, if memory served me correctly, it would have been in the mid-1970's. A gentleman brought a fired hull into a gunshop where I happened to be visiting at the time. It was a Remington SP plastic hull & was a 3" 16 gauge, it had been loaded according to its markings with 1˝ oz of #7˝ shot. I do not recall the powder charge but was rather mild, I seem to recall on the order of 3-3Ľ drams equivalent.
Such a load would, in my opinion, be much better handled by a 12. As an admirer of the 16, I am quite happy it didn't catch on. To my knowledge, this load was never placed on the market & was most likely an experimental load. Why it was brought to the mountains of Franklin Co TN I have not the foggiest idea. There were a few ruffed grouse in the area, but in most of it, you couldn't have seen a grouse far enough to have needed 1˝ oz of shot.
