16ga.com ~ View topic

Gentlemen,

Thru the years and ammo technology upgrade many upland hunters have decided to use smaller gauge shotguns. Have you stayed with your original shotgun gauge, for hunting upland birds or have you chosen to use a smaller gauge shotgun.

Myself I still use my 16 gauge guns as my dominant bird gun, however I do use my 20 and 28 gauge guns more than I ever did in the past. I credit the Ammo manufacturers for making better 20 and 28 gauge shells now for these and purchase of more 20 and 28 gauge double guns, especially now hat I am in my mid 70's and like the lighter weight double guns.

all the best,

Pine creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

16 gauge L.C.Smith Hammer Gun, I used for Grouse hunting.

Bird gun???

Geese
Sandhill crane
Ducks

he he he

I am soon to be 76 and like the 410 for doves

Here, a Zabala SXS, Fausti O/U , and Crescent SXS all in 410

Mike

Joined: 04 Mar 2019 Posts: 1908 Location: Central ND

16 gauge....OF COURSE!!

16 followed by 410.

Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 464 Location: WI

I use a 16 gauge exclusively for everything except trap and waterfowl, for which the 12 gets the nod. I mostly just hunt grouse, woodcock, sometimes doves, and the occasional pheasant. Nothing there the 16 can't do as good or better than anything else for those applications.

Not to derail onto the subject of light guns, but when it comes to "carry-a-lot-shoot-a-little" guns, I do prefer a gun 6lbs or less for upland birds, and there are more than a few 16's - both new and old - that fit or come very close to that description.

For a "shoot-a-lot-carry-a-little" guns, heavier is the way to go. I even filled the stock screw hole of my Beretta trap gun with #8-1/2 lead shot because I was too cheap to buy a recoil reducer insert.

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3201 Location: NCWa

I haven't gotten the picture posting process down since photobucket objected- however, I'll list the favorites. My first involvement with firearms was rifles- single line of sight with sights, so when I expanded into shotguns it was single line of sight. I started with my dad's 12 ga Brng A5 but when I bought my own I got a Brng superposed 20ga. That worked for years, until John Doggai of this site made available a Parker 0 frame 16 ga 5# 13 oz. That opened the door to shooting sideXsides and they have become a way of life. In deference to its age (110 yrs) I shoot only light loads in it, heavier loads get the M21 16 ga and if I go after geese it's a M21 12 ga 3". The limitation is the shot needs to be reasonably soft so I'm limited to lead where I can shoot it or bismuth.

16 for everything. Geese to grouse, ducks to dove. I’ll break out the 3.5” 12 for heavy payloads or for that 3rd shot (or more for September geese). One day I’ll get around to using the 20ga M37, but haven’t in 20 years.

Joined: 01 Oct 2007 Posts: 979 Location: Minnesota

Depends on the bird, I hunt doves to geese. I hunt with four gauges and one bore. This is one case where diversity is my strength.

Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1454 Location: Denver, Colorado

Bird gun? We had a rather large bear in the yard last night (a first!). When I took the dog out early this morning to pee, I had an M12 in 16 with me, just in case. It's still sitting by the front door. Light, quick and lethal works for lots of things (it was also convenient).

Joined: 07 Mar 2010 Posts: 488 Location: South Eastern PA

16 hands down. The ones I bird hunt the most with top out at 6.5 pounds, most are lighter.

You can use 7/8ths for the small stuff or load them up with 1 1/8th (Which I usually don't) You get a lot of leeway with your loads. I know guys that use 1 ounce in their 28's all the time and their guns don't carry any lighter than my light 16's.

Joined: 08 Feb 2009 Posts: 1354 Location: Western WA

Favorite gauge for birds? Depends on a lot of things - and not just the bird. Yes, anything larger than 28ga for quail and woodcock (sigh, sure miss those little fellows out here) is a bit much, but other factors matter, like weather conditions, quarry skittishness, DOG (oh my word yes), terrain, etc.

Not sure there is a right answer. Otherwise we wouldn’t need so many guns.

And I have a confession to make: I hunt a lot with a 12 ga SxS. It’s my meat gun. Not especially pleasant to shoot but it sure gets the job done.

B.

I shoot 16 at Everything anymore except 12 ga Heavy Duck in Canada and when I went to Alaska for Waterfowl, simply for ammo availability.
Before CA Lead Ban, I did mix in .410 and '28 for dove...

Joined: 21 Mar 2019 Posts: 56

I use the 16 for near everything I hunt with a shotgun except turkey but I’ll probably use one for that in the future. I think it is close to the perfect gauge for small furred game and not overly so for quail or doves. My guns all come in at under 7 lbs. and are still easy to carry for the better part of the day.

Good shooting, John.

28ga , then 16

Member Joined: 09 Jan 2013 Posts: 2183 Location: Florida

16 and then 16 and then 16 Laughing

from 3/4oz to 1 1/4 oz but mostly 1oz