Lowell,
One things for sure, everyone has different tastes. Don't get me wrong, I like a light gun as much as the next guy. As for the smaller bores than 12, I just feel wrong shooting little quail and dove with a 12. But that's just me. It's perfectly alright with me for someone to shoot a 12 or even a 10g at quail and dove. I shot a 12g on dove & quail longer than I've shot the smaller bores. I've just found more pleasure in shooting something smaller. As I said, I could find a place for a light 12 game gun in my safe. In fact, I do have a straight stocked damascus Parker 12 that's 6 1/2lbs. That's pretty close to the classic 12g game gun config. Now just for the record, if I were to ask most serious modern hunters what was a "novelty"; a hundred yr old 12g game gun or a modern 20g gas gun, the answer would be unanimous: the hundred yr old gun.
