I like L.C. Smiths and have a few 16 gauges. They are all short chambered 2 9/16". A few years ago you could find Kent game loads in 16 ga. 2 1/2" which I bought at Cabela's. I then decided to reload my own but could not find any loads for the pie crimp 2 1/2", so I roll crimped them and just used the 16's for hunting.
Now there are recipes for Cheddite 2 1/2" hulls 6 crimp that are a pleasure to load especially with the new primed hulls you can buy.
About 7 years ago Cabela's near me had a Fabrique Nationale d"Armes 16 ga. 30" Krupp Steel barrels, lt. mod and imp.mod, side clips, greener cross bolt and monte carlo stock. Gun weighs 6 lbs. 2 ozs, Gun was underpriced in my opinion. This became my go to gun for bird hunting.
Thought I would add another gun that I used for bird hunting, a 16 ga. F grade L.C. Smith. This picture was the first time I had used this gun. I received it in parts and put it back together. It needed a stock and I was lucky to find one. So being the first time I shot this, the first bird that my friend's Brittany pointed, I missed it with the first shot and got it with the second. The next bird I got on the first shot, and upon opening it, the left barrel was fired. What the heck, tried it again with an empty and sure enough front trigger fired left barrel. Come to find out when I got home that the left barrel was opened more than the right, hence front trigger left barrel. I wonder if some previous owner was left handed. It is still that way now, left it alone.
