16ga.com ~ View topic

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

I know there has been some discussion on the 3" 16ga. before. Here's a gun chambered for one!

http://www.hillrodandgun.com/picture.php?id=12397

Matt

Member Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 1545 Location: Michigan

Why would a Fowling gun be choked Skt #1 and Imp.Cyc ?
Hunting over decoys, or someone has opened the chokes. Crying or Very sad

I wonder if it was chambered for 3 inch shells in hopes they would make the ammunition for it. You know if there was such a thing as a 3 in 16 gauge, I probably wouldn't need any other gun.

Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 77 Location: Lynchburg, VA

Scolari, In fact the 3" shells were made for a short period of time. I believe Winchester was the manufacturer (Researcher discussed this topic at length some time ago), and there were a few Win 21's chambered 3". I own the only reported 3" 16 ga. L C Smith .

Member Joined: 18 Aug 2006 Posts: 114 Location: Tucson, AZ

This may be a 3" gun, or someone might have "openned" the forcing cones so that it seems like a long chamber. Confused

I would agree with Scolari. A modern 3" 16 could do it all, including ducks/geese. The perfect "one gun" solution, especially if it weighed no more than 6.75 lbs. I'm surprised the 3" idea didn't catch on. If it worked for the 12 and 20, why not the 16?

I would think it might be something to consider for manufacturers. Everyone I know has several shotguns and just aren't too interested in buying another one. I'm trying to get down to just a few. A 3 inch 16 with some good ammunition offerings just might create some demand for a new shotgun. I would buy one and sell off a few more of mine.

I have a two year old, Italian made Charles Daly O/U. 16 ga. ( They are now made by the Turks.) It came from the factory with 3" chambers. The
Charles Daly people tell me that many European builders chamber their new 16 bore guns for 3 ". And that 3" factory ammo is popular and available
in Europe. Some loaded for 1 1/4 oz loads. I've never tried to buy any. I don't know that I ever will. If I need that much lead I'll use a larger bore.
Plus, I don't think it would be any fun in a 6 lb. gun !

Rabbitdog.....

I guess I see no great need for a "magnum" 16 gauge. A guy can successfully hunt almost all game with the standard loads, and heavier loads in a 16 of a nice weight would really tend to whack you. I agree with Mr. Rabbitdog that if a hunter plans to shoot 1 1/4 oz or bigger loads regularly, a 12 gauge is the choice- that's what it's made for. If the gun manufacturers decided to come out with 16 gauge shotguns with 3" chambers, I would think that they would tend to build in extra heft also for safety, and the sweetness of the 16 would not be there anymore (the guns could be like the recent Rem 870s which were 16 gauges as heavy as 12s). I'd rather the gunmakers came out with more 16 gauge guns built to handle the standard loads which have worked so well for so long. This type of lighter-than-12-gauge gun is what makes the 16 gauge so nice.

Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 30 Location: West Tennessee

Back in the 70's Federal & Winchester use to manufacture a 2 3/4" magnum load with 1 1/4 oz of shot. I used many of them for duck hunting they were a great load.

The Federal & Winchester 1 1/4 oz magnum shells were both paper hulls.

Jesse

Federal has offered a 1-1/4 oz. short magnum in purple plastic for as long as I've shot a 16 ga. (since 1990) and probably quite a bit longer. These are buffered loads of 4s and 6s that they describe as "copper-plated". At 3-1/4 dr. eq. this is the equivalent of a 12 ga. pigeon load. They produce fine patterns from my SK1-SK2 M-21, and recoil isn't at all uncomfortable in a 6-3/4 lb. gun. But I'd not want to shoot them through a really lightweight gun.