Has 16 gauge become popular again?

Rudolph31 said:

One of the problems with the 16 is that the shell length has changed. Older guns have 2 9/6" or even 2 1/2" chambers and since WWII the fired length of a 16 gauge shell is 2 3/4".

Unless you reload, shooting those bargain 16's is expensive.

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I had my 2-9/16 chambers opened up to 2-3/4; it was pretty cheap; far cheaper than buying those short shells.

I collect Auto-5's. Many changes are required for the conversion. Art's will do it for $225, but the collector value is gone.

I just bought a new in the box BPS 16 gauge 26" with Invectors off Gunbroker for $425 for my grandson. It's a start...

Good coice BC Miroku makes high quality stuff and weight of gun will help tame recoil of standard 1oz loads. That is good price. When they sold new ones around here the cost was over $500.

I wouldn't say it is popular but I would say it is being "rediscovered" I have seen a resurgence of its use in skeet and five-stand at our local club in upstate NY. Unfortunately as a reloading goes wads are limited to 1 oz. I shoot 3/4 oz in 12 ga. There is savings to be had over new ammo if you have hulls

Finally took a pic of my Winchester Model 12 16 gauge.

About the only reason to buy a 16 is the possibility of getting a beautiful vintage small game/birding gun at a bargain price. You could hunt down your preferred loads at leisure and stock enough to fill your hunting days for the rest of your life.

The 16 ga is popular in Europe, probably to the same level as the 12 ga in the US. Browning and Remington currently catalog their shotguns in 16 ga. As long as manufacturers continue to make 16 ga shotguns there is a market for them and the 16 ga will have some popularity.

Firearm calibers and gauges popularity wax and wane. A good example is the 28 ga. I have hunted and shot trap since the mid 70's yet until Dick Cheney was accidentally shot with a 28 ga 11 years ago had never heard of a 28 ga but now you find them in gun shops and ammo in Walmarts. This accident probably did more for the 28 ga popularity than anything since its introduction in 1903.

DDDWho said:

Finally took a pic of my Winchester Model 12 16 gauge.

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That gun and other vintage American guns that were all built on 20 gauge frames is the only reason the 16 gauge remains popular even today. You just cannot wear these guns out. Beautiful shotgun!!!

The current BPS 16 gauge is built on the 20 gauge frame...

RPZ said:

About the only reason to buy a 16 is the possibility of getting a beautiful vintage small game/birding gun at a bargain price. You could hunt down your preferred loads at leisure and stock enough to fill your hunting days for the rest of your life.

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Well stated. My hat's off to you.

Years ago I lived in N.J. and we had to use buckshot for hunting deer. You had to use a 12 or a 10
gauge gun. So there weren't too many 16 gauges used for small game everyone had a 12 gauge.
In Pennsylvania you could use a rifle for deer hunting so the guys gravitated to the 16 gauge. It
still is an excellent gun for small game hunting.
Zeke

I've never owned a 16 ga but they were about as popular as 12's when I was a kid. Ithaca built quite a few 37's in 16 ga. that are still in use. I honestly think it will become so obscure that handloaders will be the only ones using them in the future. The short chamber 12 ga. (2 1/2" and 2 5/8") is there already. You can still buy factory ammo for those but it's expensive and not sold in stores. I have a 2 1/2" gun in my safe that I used for grouse. I developed a way to reload for it but powder is a problem these days. Most of the low pressure stuff has been discontinued. That has also affected 16 ga reloaders.

The 20 ga mag has killed the 16. It's a relic from by gone days.

Dog Soldier said:

Many of us simply like the old Belgian A-5 Browning. It is likely due to the fact we grew up in the days when the A-5 was the choice of the "Hard Hunters".

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That, and the fact that they have a level of craftsmanship and machining that would cost several thousand dollars if replicated today. More recent designs, cheap to manufacture, stamped steel, mass-produced-for-Walmart type guns do obviously appeal to a lot of people, just not so much to me. I've owned a few, they functioned well as long as they were clean, but they soon went down the road due to a lack of any character that connected with me. Just the opposite of my old Auto-5, which makes me just want to go out and find something to shoot at.

I had an A-5 like that for hunting "grouse". I just recently picked up an original American A-5. It is the first auto shotgun produced in America. The Browning/Remington Mdl 11.
It is 90% with a solid rib 28" IC barrel. I will try out on Prairie Chickens in Sept.

CoalTrain49 said:

It's a relic from by gone days.

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If that is so why does local Walmart carry three different loads for the 16ga?

DDDWho said:

Finally took a pic of my Winchester Model 12 16 gauge.

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That is second-best repeating shotgun for upland game that Winchester made. Numero uno was 12ga Model 12 Featherweight 26" barrel with IC choke. By better I mean same weight & handling but more pellets in "square load" shell. Most get bypassed by buyers because in rack from front they look like old Mossberg 500s.

Dog Soldier said:

I had an A-5 like that for hunting "grouse". I just recently picked up an original American A-5. It is the first auto shotgun produced in America. The Browning/Remington Mdl 11.
It is 90% with a solid rib 28" IC barrel. I will try out on Prairie Chickens in Sept.

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My dad had an old Model 11 with a 26" solid rib Improved Cylinder that he quail hunted with. Well, actually, he'd have hunted anything he hunted with it because it was our only shotgun until my older brother and I were old enough to get shotguns. As soon as I thought I could stand the recoil, probably at about 9 or 10 years old, I started shooting the Model 11, and I continued to shoot it some until I was about 30 years old, by which time I had several other shotguns of my own. The gun was simply amazing at how well it held a pattern considering the open choke. Even after I had a choked side by side, over and under, Remington 1100, Remington 870, and my friends had various shotguns including a 1973 Belgium Auto 5, I'd take that old Model 11 out from time to time and just shoot it for whatever task was at hand that day -- clay targets, doves, blackbirds, or whatever, and it seemed to bring down just as many as any other gun in the bunch any given day. I patterned it once when I was working up some loads for my Remington 3200 and the Model 11 threw one of the most even patterns I've ever seen from a shotgun -- looked like you'd just taken the available shot and placed them equidistant from one another within the circle. I showed a couple of my shooting friends and they were struck the same as I.

My brothers and I were talking about it a couple years ago and their recollections were the same -- they also took it out with their friends from time to time and the gun always seemed to get the job done. I don't know what happened to it over the past 15 years or so, but I believe my youngest brother or his son has it. Unless they've cleaned it, I don't think it's ever been cleaned beyond an exterior wipe down. Anytime I see anyone on the internet say anything about an Auto-5 design needing to be cleaned, needing the friction rings set just so, or any such thing in order to cycle reliably, I know that they, based upon my experience with the old Model 11, have NO idea what they are talking about. Based upon what I've seen, those guns are the definition of bullet proof.

Wow! Turbo16 what a great post. I no longer shoot Trap. That said, I asked one of the top shooters to shoot a round of 25 yard Trap with the Mod. 11. I did not expect much with the IC choke. He scored 24 of 25 birds? He was surprised. I will try it on Prairie Chickens in the Fall..
I am not an expert on the Mdl. 11 shotgun.

I lane like vintage Browning-Ton, but I want to limit my gun buying, therefore I have set bar very, very high. For me to buy it must be 12GA have 32" barrel full choke and factory overbored. Very hard gun to find.

I just got my first 16 gauge at a gun show yesterday - a Winchester Model 12! So now that I've joined the ranks of fellow 16 gaugers, I'm trying to find low pressure 2 9/16" shells that'll fit. Seems like almost every place sells 2 3/4" shells, and a few sell 2 1/2" shells, which I assume will fit. I'd rather not enlarge the chamber to 2 3/4". And if I did, I assume the ejection port would also have to be opened up as well? Regardless, those of you with the older, smaller chambers, where are you getting your 2 1/2" shells? Only places I've found online are polywad.com and RSTshells.com. Any other places?

I've bought them at Cabelas, but don't see them there anymore. They were Gamebore.

Thanks, Cokeman. I see Midway sells the Kent Cartridge Gamebores.

That's them. I didn't know they were selling them. Pretty expensive, huh?

Yes, and shipping costs makes them even more expensive. Cheapest I've found so far is bulk purchase from polywad.com, but still way more expensive and harder to find than regular 12 ga.