doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Handsome 16

2006 525 Sporting,
Made in limited quantities in each oh 3 barrel lengths.
This one’s NIB 28” and fits me like a glove.

Nice looking gun, Bob. I recently bought a Beretta 687 SP lll in a 20 gauge that looks just like that and fits me like a glove. And an SP lll in a 12 gauge to go along with it to match. My buddy has a Browning 525 like that that is gorgeous. We both love ours. I keep telling him- Ford vs. Ferrari . 😃

Nice gun!

I shoot those really well - any Browning O/U, really.

I shoot Berettas well, regardless the model. They seem to stock them suitably for me. I may add length to the LOP, but everything else will be close to right. FAIRs are usually okay, too.

Some other Italian O/Us, not so much. Rizzinis, Guerinis, Zolis, all have insufficient drop for me. They all shoot high, which is unacceptable.

My guns have to shoot to the POI that I want them to, or they are no longer my guns.

A friend of a friend pheasant hunts with one. It outweighs the 12 gauge version.

No thanks.

Best,
Ted

Hey Ted! I've got a 1987 (first year) "Hunter" 16 gauge.



Like the "Sporting", the Hunter is built on its own 16 gauge frame. At about 6 lbs 10 oz, the Hunter would be
the one of these two for the field. The 525 will be a fun Skeet gun. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

You ‘be shootin’ registered skeet with a 16, Bob?

Nice guns, hope you kill all the birdies. The 16 I posted about is a bit too close to 7 lbs for my taste. My 16 double (juxtaposed not Superposed) is 6lbs and an ounce or two.

Handy little guy.

Shoot ‘em in good health, Bob.

Best,
Ted

That barrel boring conundrum has always bothered me.
Miroku is a sophisticated enough outfit to make scaled barrel sets in 16 and 28 gauge for the Browning actions.

I’m not saying the extra barrel mass is any kind of a disadvantage on a skeet field. Many shoot tube guns for all 4 gauges that weight 10 lbs.

Just that it always seemed odd to me that their 28ga barrel sets weigh more than their 20’s of same length.

Good morning Ted.
Living where one must, another feature that makes these guns very appealing
is that they will shoot steel.

Bob,
I can honestly say I’ve never purchased or, looked for 16 gauge steel shot. It must be out there.

My 16 gauge double, an Ithaca Nitro Special, is actually my non toxic shot shotgun, oddly enough. A bloke right on this site had about four boxes of the old Heavi-shot loads, 1 ounce of number 6 shot, that disappointed him greatly when used for duck hunting. I have heard reports that the shot used was a bit brittle, and they weren’t exactly 40 yard ammunition. But, for pot shots at grouse over a pointy dog, I’m pretty sure those two points don’t matter, and they kill grouse just fine. They keep me legal on a few local spots that require me to use non toxic shot.

We all do what we must, I guess:




If some fine day, my time afield comes with a steel shot mandate (Lord forbid) I have a steel shot gun. It is a Spanish boxlock, 3” proof (if a guy is into that sort of thing) that has been rechoked to Cyl and Icyl, yielding a steel shot gun. Nobody has certified this use (save me) but, at age 65, I really doubt I have the time to hurt the old gun, and if I do, that will be somebody else’s problem, if they so choose.




We all have different answers to the same questions, no?

Best,
Ted

I had one of those.

It was both my first 16 gauge, and my first lesson in trying to shoot a gun that didn't fit.

It was something around 2 1/2" DOH, which is about 1/2" lower than my ideal. Nice gun, other than that.

It went down the road fairly quickly.

2 1/2” is a fairly modern drop dimension. Mine is 2 3/4” and it is a fairly late Nitro, 1938 vintage. I can shoot 2 3/4”, but, those lovely English doubles that feature 2” of DAH are out of my league. 2 1/2” is about perfect for me.

The Nitro is ‘sorta an implement, a bit of a reminder of the times my ancestors lived through, Americana at its purest. I have nicer and more expensive guns, but this one fits some hunting that I do, so, I keep it around.

Best,
Ted

Everyone is different, and should take some time to learn what they shoot well.

...I can make a decent argument that the 2 1/2" DOH is closer to what most people should shoot, if they don’t crawl the stock like I do. 😉

...I have an English double here - with a really well done POW stock - with about 2 1/2" of DOH.

Someone will love it, but it won't be me.

I can't shoot a gun with only 2" at the heel well in the field, pre-mounted at clays is not problem for me but guns that high I struggle to mount quickly. My gun is 1&3/8" x 2&3/8" and it fits me very well. I can shoot 1&1/2" x 2&1/2" without a problem and that is what I consider to be standard modern dimensions for a game gun. Different strokes for different folks or different horses for different courses, either way, find what works for you.

I think one of the biggest factors in fit is indeed drop and the sight picture that your brain expects to see, I float my birds and always have and never could shoot well with guns with lots of drop, my father is exactly the opposite. I have read Stan's comments on how he likes his guns to pattern, it would not work for me but it does for him.

Here's that English boxlock I wrote about above:







E. Chamberlain, stock dims: 15 7/16" LOP, 1 1/2" DOC, 2 9/16" DOH.

I can't measure it accurately, but I'll guess 14" cast off.

Pitch sure looks odd to my eye.