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<  16ga. Guns  ~  Picked up my DeHaan 16 gauge SO SxS today...
MaximumSmoke
PostPosted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:34 am  Reply with quote
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Cool


Last edited by MaximumSmoke on Fri Sep 17, 2010 6:35 pm; edited 1 time in total
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16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:11 am  Reply with quote
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Well, I guess I must go put my knickers and tweed on to feel qualified to comment on something as profound and important as a few ounces above or below 6-1/2 pounds. Rolling Eyes. Like the man said, don't weigh it, shoot it. If you hit well with it, keep it. If not, make it fit well enough so you can or dump it.

Most gun manufacturers could easily make a 16 ga gun under 6-1/2 pounds. However, then they'd be deluged with how hard the damned thing kicks. they'd take it in the neck about how poorly it swings or tracks. They'd be assaulted by attorneys looking to start a product safety class action suit because the gun is not stout enough to drive pilings with or the fact that the gun can't handle triple the max pressure of the latest hi-pressure 16 ga ammo. It goes on and on.

We want them cheap. We want them light. We want them pretty. we want them to fit us perfectly, we want them to be indestructable, and we want them now. If you want a very light gun, you will pay at least 2.5K or more for a new one. You may very well love how it carries, but you will cuss the shit out of it at the skeet range. You will also cuss it everytime you miss the hard crossing shot the only bird you found that day presented you with. And if you shoot more than a few 1 ounce loads or heavier in a brief time, you will cuss your sore shoulder. now that i'm done, you can cuss me for stating the obvious. Laughing 16GG.

PS: I think i understand now why makers of hese light for gauge guns charge so much for them. If someone is willing and able to spend the extra dough for such a piece, he probably already knows exactly what he's getting and why. If he doesn't and he's spent this much on one, he still won't say anything about it because he'll look like a complete boob. Laughing
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IFL16's
PostPosted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:45 am  Reply with quote
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Tony, before I knew about the barrel weights I thought I had seen a 4 on the barrels which was barely visable. I've since had the barrels reblued and whatever I saw is no longer there. The gun weighed 5 lbs. 12 oz. but the stock had been trimmed on an angle to 13 3/4" to give it zero pitch. I've since added a pad and some weight to bring the balance back from 5 3/8" in front of the front trigger to about 4 1/2".

Mark refers to a semi-splinter on his web site. It doesn't really wrap around the barrels any but it's really wide and long compaired to the SW splinter.

The DeHaan was nicely balanced at 4 1/2" in front of the front trigger which was just a little in front of the hinge pin. It didn't feel barrel heavy or butt heavy.... just heavy. Smile

Larry
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16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 6:34 am  Reply with quote
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[quote="budrichard"]Carrying a 7# 2oz gun in Florida where the terrain is flat and low is a lot different than in Wis/Mn where it goes UP and DOWN and is very THICK. Also, as one gets older, one begins to appreciate light upland guns.

Bud, I've viewed your posts on a lot of stuff. You are certainly no fool. Most of what you say shows intelligence and insight. However, I've hunted grouse in the laurel and galax hells of Southwest Virginia which is both very up and down plus damned near impenatratable. Of couse I have to allow I was a much younger fellow. I hunt the scrub oak thickets and rasberry tangles of MA which are also tough going and hardly flat. I also lived in Florida for nearly 13 years. Hunting quail in the palmetto thickets and saw grass in 90 degree heat is no easy feat if you are not in decent shape. Plus, assuming florida is flat is a mistake. The mid-Florida ridge country can be very up and down. I'm also pushing 60 and have never been a big fellow, but wiry with strong legs from years of walking and hunting. perhaps the lack of weight has been a plus.

I honestly can't tell much difference between 6 lbs. and 6-3/4 pounds except that the heavier gun swings better. I've also had the pleasure of teaching quite a few folks how to wingshoot--people of all sizes and shapes. The one common factor that keeps coming up is that light guns do not shoot as well for most folks.

I can think of one good example. Ruger makes a lightweight 28 ga O/U that weighs at or around 6 lb. or a tad under. quite a few folks in my area bought one in the three years after they hit the market. Few ever kept them. They found they could not hit much with them. The guns were too light and would not carry through or swing on a target or a bird. Another is the 20 ga. Featherweight Ithaca 37. few folks could hit with them and most of thes models ended up on the used rack over time. I've seen the same thing with the Franchi Al-48 28ga. and the Veloce too.

However, most folks who have shot my 28 ga. 26" Citori Lightning of about 6 3/4 lbs can hit very well with it if the stock fits them fairly well. I have an extra stock of a somewhat shorter LOP that I put on it for smaller folks. A lot of folks have learned to shoot with this gun because it does not kick and swings very well. Yet the stock dimensions are about the same on the Ruger. The only difference is the weight. the same can be said for my 20 ga. 28" Lightning and my 16 too. most folks adapt to them fairly quickly.

I cannot say my experience allows me the final word on the subject of light guns verses mid weight guns and shooting qualities. However it certainly is a solid indicator that I'm on the right track.

Whether we are skeet shooting or hunting, wingshooting is wingshooting. the fundamentals remain the same. a little added, well distributed gun weight very much seems to help the shooter hit the mark more often. however, if a fellow can shoot well with a light weight gun, then more power to him. Hes the exception to the common experience. 16GG
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fin2feather
PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 7:53 am  Reply with quote
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IFL,

I think you've already made up your mind, and think you know it Smile ! If the gun feels heavy to you, it's heavy; doesn't matter a whit what anybody else says. Personally, I think this weight thing is overrated and out of control, but that's just me. 16GG is right: most of us will shoot better with a gun that's a bit heavier than we think it oughta be, but you'll never convince some folks of that, so...

Personally, if I like the way a gun feels and swings, and I can hit something with it, I like it fine. If it "felt heavy" to me, though, I probably wouldn't like it. My Sterlingworth weighs about 6-1/2 lbs, and I like it a lot. To some that's heavy; to others it's a wand! I hunted for years with a Springfield (Stevens) 5100 16ga. It weighs about 7 lbs give or take, and I didn't know it was too heavy till I started reading these boards Laughing ! I still like that gun a lot, too.

But from what I read you're disappointed in the gun already. Don't know about you, but I am not a "get used to it" guy: if I've got concerns about something from the git-go I don't often get over it. Just my $.02. Good luck with your decision...

Fin


Last edited by fin2feather on Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:04 pm; edited 3 times in total

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16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:39 am  Reply with quote
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F2F, you are right there. If the gun doesn't suit a fellow, he will never have the peace of mind and confidence in it. Wingshooting is an act of faith a mental exersize as much as a physical one. No faith in the gun equals no birds in the vest or no targets on the tally sheet. If the owner doesn't like it and can't make it suit him, then its better to dump it, learn from it, and move on.

On the flip side, if a fellow is one of those poor unfortunates who can never seem to find the right gun for him and has been through a bunch of them, then he probably is not looking in the right place. The right place is squarely between his ears.

Either that or he likes trying out stuff for the hell of it. Which is ok too as long as he knows the truth of the matter and is not kidding himself. I'm kinda like that with women. Laughing 16GG.
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IFL16's
PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:25 am  Reply with quote
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Fin. I was seriously thinking about keeping the gun and maybe do a little more dove hunting and target shooting with it until I spotted the rust. The barrels are supposed to have a flat black chrome finish on them but it looks like it has been sprayed on. At least maybe the top layer. Where the forend covers the barrels there's a gap between the barrels and looking down into it where the rust was I could see where the flat black finish tapers out down to a lighter color, like the spray just couldn't get down in there all the way. But of course I could be wrong about that but that's how it looks and the little rust chards sticking up in there and the over all color of the lightly rusting metal was the final determinant for me.

I'm still looking at these guns as a possible next gun but DeHaan only carries a limited line and supply of these guns. He has no 26 inch barreled gun in the SO and only the flat black finish right now and no plans on getting any according to his assistant. His next guns will probably have the silver finish she said.

The CZ-USA website now lists the 16 gauge Bobwhite in their 2006 price list at 6.6 lbs. with 26 inch barrels, DT, straight grip and case colored. I'm trying to get a line on one that I could look at and weigh before buying. A guy has one ordered near me and the shop owner said he would give me a call when it comes in. He won't order a 16 gauge in anything with the first right of refusal. You order it you buy it since he says there is no market for 16's in his area. Balanced right and at or under 6 3/4 lbs. it will probably see some time in the field.

Larry
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k28ga
PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 7:11 pm  Reply with quote
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at the risk of ruffling feathers (pun intended), after reading several posts in this thread, i thought i had stumbled onto the girl scout web site by mistake. i don't think i ever read or heard a conversation between grown men over the outrageousness of having to carry an extra eight ounces of weight for four or five hours afield. Rolling Eyes

i think instead of buying another shotgun some of you need to get a membership in a good gym.

karl
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16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 6:22 am  Reply with quote
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k28ga wrote:
at the risk of ruffling feathers (pun intended), after reading several posts in this thread, i thought i had stumbled onto the girl scout web site by mistake. i don't think i ever read or heard a conversation between grown men over the outrageousness of having to carry an extra eight ounces of weight for four or five hours afield. Rolling Eyes

i think instead of buying another shotgun some of you need to get a membership in a good gym.

karl


and get our blaze orange tu-tus all ruffled.... not on your life!
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TJC
PostPosted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 8:53 am  Reply with quote
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k28ga wrote:
at the risk of ruffling feathers (pun intended), after reading several posts in this thread, i thought i had stumbled onto the girl scout web site by mistake. i don't think i ever read or heard a conversation between grown men over the outrageousness of having to carry an extra eight ounces of weight for four or five hours afield. Rolling Eyes

i think instead of buying another shotgun some of you need to get a membership in a good gym.

karl


I kinda feel the same about some of the posts about recoil. I think some need to stick to .410's. Smile

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