16ga.com ~ View topic

Down to the cabin this past wkend , got to spend some time with my Excel and the Winnie 37 . Like them both ! . The Excel has a strong hammer spring and can make a
spark with a rock ! Much better duck/Turkey gun than a Grouse gun . The Winnie on the other hand is a fast handling /cocking gun due to the hammer/ barrel lever config . You can't miss where the hammer is on the Win , where it can tale a grab or 2 to get the hammer on the Excel . Both guns have 28'' full chokes and shoot fairly tight . The Excel is a 16ga and the Win is a 20ga . Similar weights ,etc . Overall , I like the Win better , but guns have distinct use differences and fit each situation well ! ...(PC Dave - still no Grouse drummings - odd ! ....I know the Win has a cocking device , but for 60 yrs , it's a hammer !!)

Bill were heading out in the morning with out you.

Will send pictures 🖼️🖼️🖼️🖼️

Wish you could tag along as in the olden days.

Your friend always,

Nick

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3276 Location: NCWa

One of the first 16 ga guns I got, about 30 years ago, was a Red Letter Model 37 full choke. It's lighter than a double and points fairly naturally, but I find it spends most days in the safe because the doubles are the ones that get to go hunting.

Joined: 27 Jan 2016 Posts: 525 Location: Oswego, Kansas

My first 16ga was a Stevens 94 given to me by my grandfather. Shot my first pheasants with that gun on my first Kansas shunt in 1985. I grew up in Missouri where there were no pheasants at that time and my Dad only had 12ga guns so that was what I started with hunting quail.

Joined: 08 Feb 2009 Posts: 1470 Location: Western WA

Just have to interject this - as a former MO resident I came across pheasants in, of all places, St Louis County, where strangely enough there were hidden a few native populations of them in places. And at least one of them ended up in my game vest.

B.

Joined: 30 Sep 2019 Posts: 195 Location: Colorado

Another former Missourian here - back during my college days in the late 60’s we hunted doves out on the prairie fields between Greenfield and the Kansas line. There was the occasional pheasant in there and even more amazing, the occasional prairie chicken. (I understand they are rare, rare now in Missouri.)

And, yes, I still have my single 16. A 1929 Springfield hammer gun with 30” barrel.