16ga.com Forum Index
Author Message
<  16ga. General Discussion  ~  The 16ga. advantage?
romperstomper
PostPosted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 2:43 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Posts: 14
Location: Simsbury, Connecticut

What makes the 16 superior to the 12 or 20?

What are the limitations of the 16?

What would you say to the following:
a) A 20ga. with a 3" chamber makes the 16 obsolete.
b) A 12ga. can do anything the 16ga. can do and several things it can't.

_________________
rifles:shotguns::dive bombing:carpet bombing
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
CitoriFeather16
PostPosted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 3:08 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Posts: 989
Location: Las Vegas

Well hello Stomper! I think the 3" shell in a 20 ga. gun is an abomination. You're trying to throw too much lead out of too small a bore which results in a long ineffecient shot string. A 1 oz. load out of a 16ga. bore will give you a more effecient pattern. (That being said, I believe a 1 oz. load out of a 12ga. would give you an even better pattern.) Also, 20 ga. guns tend to be light and a 3" load will kick pretty good. I know because the year before last I bought a 20ga. Benelli Montefeltro for desert quail before I bought my new 16 ga. desert quail gun this year Laughing The Monty weighs 5.5 lbs. and it kicks like a mule with a 2 3/4" 1oz. load. I shudder to think what it would feel like with a 3" load!

The 12 ga. will do everything the 16 ga. does at the expense of a heavier gun. The 16 just seems to nicely fill the gap between weight and effeciency for an upland gun and some clays applications.

Downside is the relatively few loadings found commercially. Also, the 12 is the way to go for certain waterfowl applications, however, for decoying ducks the 16 is still hard to beat. (Plus, a 16 ga gun is just plain COOL!)

Matt
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Jeff Mulliken
PostPosted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:43 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 25 Jul 2006
Posts: 781

a 12 with 1 oz loads is a wonderful gun and you can stuff roman candles in it if you have to. But why schlepp it around when a light fast handling 16 is so much nicer to carry?

If you need one gun for everything from sandhill cranes to woodcock a 12 may be better. But drop sandhills and pass shooting giant canadas with steel shot from the mix and a 16 does a better job on everything thats left.

Jeff
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
revdocdrew
PostPosted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 6:19 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 28 Dec 2005
Posts: 2016
Location: Glendale, AZ

Always a fun topic. Here are a couple of good threads from other Forums:
http://gunshop.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=023940;p=1
http://bbs.shootingsportsman.com/viewtopic.php?t=29101

And don't forget, 16ers have more fun Very Happy

_________________
Drew Hause
http://sites.google.com/a/damascusknowledge.com/www/home
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
fin2feather
PostPosted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 6:55 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 06 Aug 2004
Posts: 2171
Location: Kansas High Plains

I shoot a 16 becuase I am a masochist. I enjoy walking into sporting goods stores all across this great nation, approaching the counter, asking if they have any 16ga shells, and seeing the blank look on the guy's face, letting me know he has no freaking idea what I'm talking about.

Sometimes there is laughter, and said clerk will go in the back to bring out his friends to take a look at the antique (me) who has managed to survive this metaphysical gap in space and time. They view me in awe; sometimes they reach out to touch my garments. But they are not worthy; I do not bless them.

In the even more rare event that the clerk not only knows what I'm talking about, but in fact has some of the rare and wonderful elixer we know as 16ga shells in stock, I enjoy the pleasure/pain of paying an extra few bucks for them, even though equal boxes of 12 and 20 gauge loads sit along side, easily accessible and cheaper. This to me is a wonderful feeling.

When it is done, I go back to my dwelling. "Thank you, Sir," I often say to myself. "May I have another?". It is the least I can do.

Fin

_________________
I feel a warm spot in my heart when I meet a man whiling away an afternoon...and stopping to chat with him, hear the sleek lines of his double gun whisper "Sixteen." - Gene Hill, Shotgunner's Notebook
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Terry Imai
PostPosted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 9:04 pm  Reply with quote
Guest





Please get your hands on one of the finest books on providing you the proper background on shotguns by the late Gene Hill named "Shotgunner's Notebook". In chapter 13, there is an essay "The Sixteen - Still Sweet". Every member on this board probably could quote this wonderful essay word for word. Basically, every person that takes up a sport whether it's fishing, hunting, golf etc. finds a natural progression to "get there". Hitting a solid drive on the screws with a real persimmon driver just feels better than hearing the "ping" of a composite driver even though you don't get the distance with older technology. The same would be casting a dry fly with a real split bamboo rather than a graphite rod. You'll probably collect more birds with a twelve due to its slightly better ballistics but the sixteen is just that much sweeter...
Back to top
nossman
PostPosted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:25 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 01 Dec 2005
Posts: 235
Location: Southern Oregon

I don't know if it's a matter of 'superiority' or not. There are reasons for different gauges. Your intended use should be a major factor in your choice of gauge. Then, personal preference. Being that you're here, leads me to believe that you know what you want. You are just trying to justify the desire. There are statistical answers for your questions, but will those little black hieroglyphic symbols really scratch that itch? I have learned that not all 16's are created equal, but one on a proportionate sized frame, is sweeeeet.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MGF
PostPosted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 11:17 pm  Reply with quote
Guest





nossman wrote:
I have learned that not all 16's are created equal, but one on a proportionate sized frame, is sweeeeet.


Well, I'd have to agree, but must I admit I'm right next to virginal with my 16, having only owned it since the spring and having yet to carry it in the field. But, at low-gun skeet anyway, I'm shooting my 16 ga. FAIR O/U as well as or better than any gun I've ever owned. My regular hunting partner, who's owned some fine 12s and 20s but not a 16, threw it to his shoulder recently and had one word: "Sweet." Personally, I'm amped about this coming bird season with this gun.

And I, too, find the 3" in a light 20 SxS or O/U to be a nasty little thing. Truth be told, I may just be a bit of an oddball. I've never been all that fond of the 20 as a gauge ... but I do love the 28.
Back to top
Larry Brown
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 7:25 am  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 26 Apr 2005
Posts: 743

For reasons stated above, the 3" 20 doesn't make the 16 obsolete--although ammo makers and gun manufacturers in this country tried pretty hard, starting about the end of WWII.

The 16 is limited both in terms of different models available and in terms of ammunition availability (if you don't reload) in comparison to the 12 and 20. It's only limited ballistically by its bore size, which is true of all other gauges as well.

Yes, the 12 will do everything the 16 can, and quite a bit more--although if you get a 16 of the proper proportions and weight, you have to do some looking to find a 12 with similar characteristics. If you're talking doubles, British and European 12's tend to handle pretty much like American 16's, although some people like the slimmer profile and feel of a 16. But the British and European 12ga doubles--the light ones, that is--have pretty much the same shot charge limitations as American 16's, so it's a wash on that score.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Foursquare
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 8:55 am  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Posts: 398
Location: S Fl

I have discovered a kindred spirit in fin2feather!
Couldn't have said it better myself. It's the same thought process that propels me towards the 6mm over .243 and 41 mag over 44, etc.

Pete

_________________
" .......you have learned patience and stubbornness and concentration on what you really want at the expense of what is there to shoot. You have learned that man can as easily be debased as ennobled by a sport....."
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
pudelpointer
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 8:57 am  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 14 Jan 2006
Posts: 1007
Location: Lancaster county, Pa

I always tell people that ask me why a sixteen? Because it handles and carries like a 20 and shoots like a 12. The 16 gauge choked and loaded properly will handle any bird hunting task in north america. The only thing I here is pass shooting geese. Well my answer is you shouldn't be pass shooting geese anyway. You decoy geese and kill them at 25 to 30 yards. Same with turkeys call them close or don't shoot. The only real disadvantage is ammo choices if you don't load your own. 1 oz of shot placed properly kills them just as dead as 2 oz of shot with less broken teeth. Plus the 16 gauge just has class and style that some old 12 or 20 could never match.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
revdocdrew
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 9:08 am  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 28 Dec 2005
Posts: 2016
Location: Glendale, AZ

pudelguy: 'class and style'? Did you finally come up with some pics of 16GG in lederhosen? Laughing

_________________
Drew Hause
http://sites.google.com/a/damascusknowledge.com/www/home
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
pudelpointer
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 9:47 am  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 14 Jan 2006
Posts: 1007
Location: Lancaster county, Pa

After that thought I might sell all my sixteens and try to put this chapter of my life behind me. I really don't know what they are but hose put an image in my mind I don't want to see again.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
fin2feather
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 11:25 am  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 06 Aug 2004
Posts: 2171
Location: Kansas High Plains

Foursquare,

Yeah; me too; .250 Savage instead of .270 or .30-06 Rolling Eyes !

Fin

_________________
I feel a warm spot in my heart when I meet a man whiling away an afternoon...and stopping to chat with him, hear the sleek lines of his double gun whisper "Sixteen." - Gene Hill, Shotgunner's Notebook
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
CitoriFeather16
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 5:36 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Posts: 989
Location: Las Vegas

Terry Imai: I wouldn't be caught dead with a plastic fly rod on the stream, however, the persimon woods stay right in the closet where they belong! This madness has to stop somewhere! Shocked

Matt
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
All times are GMT - 7 Hours

View next topic
View previous topic
Page 1 of 2
Goto page 1, 2  Next
16ga.com Forum Index  ~  16ga. General Discussion

Post new topic   Reply to topic


 
Jump to:  

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum




Powered by phpBB and NoseBleed v1.09