I've clearly overthought this. I had written a fairly good missive on the subject and then fat-fingered it on my POS laptop and lost it. Let me see if I can recapture that thought...
The prey species and habitat are critical components here as well. Ruffed Grouse and deciduous forests are the biggest parts of the equation. All the factors must intersect for this to make any sense.
We're talking lots of walking (4 plus miles per day), often with opportunities to shoot either never happening or only seldom, and then usually without much warning. You rarely get more than one good shot off, and... if there is a chance of a second shot, it is almost always immediate and crucial.
I'm of the opinion that the 2-inch 12 should excel here. My 16 comes very close (at 5lbs14), but I suspect that the highly specialized 5 1/2 lb 12-gauge is the ultimate answer. But...it must fit and swing flawlessly. For someone of my size, 14 3/4-inch LOP and twentyeight inch barrels are critical (and seldom encountered, most are too-short and with 26 tubes). I've only seen a handful of 2-inch guns that would've worked for me and they were, accordingly, priced somewhat prohibitively. Thus my little 16...
