16 Gauge Blues

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Brithunter;
The 3" 20 gauge pretty much caused the decline of the 16 gauge here on this side of the pond. That, and a few other things (such as building 16's on 12 gauge frames and decreasing the various shot size/payload offerings of 16 gauge shells) helped boost sales of the 20 gauge and made 16 gauge shotguns disappear from manufacturer's catalogs.

What people don't realize is that while the payload may be the same, the shot string is longer, ect. ect. and the ballistics aren't the same.

At any rate, I have a small collection of 16s and use them frequently....even for waterfowling. Hope to take a deer some day with my Ithica M37 and a slug.
Take care................

[skeet]

Part of what Mr 16 says is true. But the 16 was losing(had lost) market share before the 3" 20 ga really got cranked up. The 16 was a great size gun in a double I guess. It was a bit trimmer than a 12...but the same thing happened to the 10 ga way back yonder..the 12 just erased it from the scene for all intents and purposes. The thing that really knocked the 16 out of the park was the demise of the double..and that happened because of other reasons.. The depression first and foremost..the repeaters just took over because the nice trim little doubles just couldn't be made as cheaply as the repeaters..and the returning service men wanted repeaters...like they had been using. The same thing happened in England..especially after the First war..they lost so much gun making talent.and after the war the cost of the beautiful English doubles skyrocketed out of the price range of the common man. Happened here after the 2nd war. And the thing that really pushed the 16 in it's grave was..yep the 16 was a good gauge..better than the 20 by far...until the advent of the newer plastic wadded ammo. Then the 16 really couldn't kick the sand in the 20's face any longer The one ounce 20 and the 1 1/8 ounce 16 were ballistic twins for all intents and purposes..except the 20 actually patterned a bit better. The 16 lagged in upgrades as it just wasn't as popular and a nice 20 ga O/U just won out over the 16 in any form. The thing that finally filled in the 16's grave was the advent of steel shot. Sure they make it now..but at what kind of ballistics? Nah...the 16 died a (maybe) undeserved death. But the death occured because of apathy. And that isn't going to change. The naysayers have been predicting the demise of the 12 for years too...but that really isn't gonna happen. Not in the US anyway. And by the way..in repeaters the 16 and 20 were usually made on the same frame. M-12s in 16 and 20 were on the 20 frame. In fact the M-12 was made in 20 ga first. In the 1100 870 guns until 1970 or so they used the 12 ga frame for the 12 16 and 20. Many other guns used the 20 ga frame for the 16 too. In fact I think the Ithaca m-37 16 and 20 were on the same frame. I may be wrong on that but the 37 WAS developed from the original gun made by Remington..the M-17...which was only made in 20 ga. So don't blame the demise of the 16 on the guns they were made in..look at the real reasons..unpopularity and poor ammo compared to the rest of the gauges

[fabsroman]

Skeet,

That is a great write up. As far as the 12 gauge going bye-bye, I don't really see that happening. Now, the 10 gauge might go bye-bye because the number of offerings in it are pretty slim right now. Beretta and Benelli don't offer anything in a 10 gauge, or I would own it. Now, correct me if I am wrong on that because I haven't really kept up with the Beretta and Benelli websites recently. Too busy with kids and work.