Again, remember that you have not won a prize. It's a scam. Also, I did NOT place that ad for the LL Bean coat. That's not the coat I wear and I'm not endorsing it.
Well I usually skip past the chronograph shooting because it’s tedious and I skipped through the 12ga shooting skeet in this video because it was tedious enough watching him fire 12 shots and you can’t see the clays burst so there’s no reward in watching it for me. But I like his videos and usually his conclusions are reasonable.
Back when break action single barrel and double barrel used to be the most common 16 was on the smaller 20 sized frame in most brands of guns, and the motto was "it carries like a 20 but hits like a 12" When pumps and semi autos came along they put 16s on the heavier 12 ga frame size and there's not much point to it when it's not in the lighter 20 ga frame like it was in break actions. If pump 16s we're in 20 ga frame size it would have still been popular with hunters regardless of what trap and skeet did.
Some skeet shooters have tubes to shoot 20 gauge, 28 gauge and .410 from their skeet guns. I guess 16 gauge is too close to 12 in dimensions and ballistics to be shot that way.
I started hunting in 1963 with a 16 gauge single shot, and then graduated to a 16 gauge pump. When ammo became really scarce, I switched to a 12 gauge and a 20 gauge, but still kept my 16 gauge guns. Today at 71 years old, I'm back to hunting birds with a 16 gauge Ithaca pump and a 16 gauge O/U. Yes, ammo is tough to find, but if you pay the price it's available. I probably only shoot 1 to 2 boxes a year. For Sporting clays I use a 12 gauge, but sometimes for fun I'll bring out the 16 and shoot a box or 2. I'm still very much a fan of the 16.
I live in Austria, you don´t even can buy 16 gauge here, at least i have never seen it in any shop. Europeans are not as fond of shotguns as Americans and thus have focused on only a minor few calibers.
@@niadhf Word. Always go for the 16 when hunting over the dog for grouse or pheasant. Woodcock and quail goes without saying. Early waterfowl is doable with the right chokes and loads.
Took my first whitetail with a Remington Sportsman 48 16 gauge with rifled slugs and multiple deer after that. Some at near or at 100 yards. For rifled slugs the 16 seemed to have a flatter trajectory than a similar 12 gauge. I also find that little 16 gauge is the perfect size and weight for upland bird like grouse. Partly for sentimental, partly for anecdotal, I simply LOVE 16.
I had the predecessor to the 48 a model 11 sportsman its pretty much a browning auto 5 or more specifically a browning sweet sixteen. the 11 and 48 are both excellent guns.
A gunsmithing friend gave me a chance to pick up either an Remington 11-48 in 16ga or 20ga. I went with the 20 because ammo was always a limiting factor with the 16's I had in the past. Still a fine guage. But no ammo is no ammo
Not if you shoot the same weight slug in the 12ga. You could push it faster and flatter than a 16ga. Also, when you take the oddball route, you pay much higher prices for ammo and have a very hard time even finding it. Same for reloading supplies for 16ga.
Yes. I personally never cared about "carries like a 20 hits like a 12" or upland game bird doubles much. I like 16 because the slugs and buck work very well on medium game and with the heavier framed 16s they seem to recoil less than a light and small 20 does which is nice in an autoloading shotgun. Also the #6 "magnum" Remington shot is sworn by with good reason by old guys in my area for squirrel and rabbit use.
Love the addition of shooting clays! Really brings home the real world application for shotguns. Paper targets give you a theory (pattern), moving targets test the theory.
Interesting comparison. Going back a couple of generations to when there was no 20 gauge 3” magnum, I think 16 and 12 both did the job, but many chose the 16 for its trimmer dimensions and lighter handling. In my low budget family, cheap single barrel 16’s were common. In modern times, it sort of got over shadowed by the 20. I hope the 16 makes a comeback.👍
@Lane Dexter Heard they did come back with some gun companies for a short while some years back, Just looked it up on google. Looks like they are making more of a comeback now. And guess now some of the gun companies are making them to chamber in the 3 inch shells. Remington has 16 gauge back on its model 870, Ithaca 37 think it is, Browning, CZ, Mossberg 940, Beretta A300,Tristar Bristol side by side. But seems like very high priced on most of them now like $800.00 on up. If 16 gauge makes more of a comeback and hopefully more people buy them guessing price would go down and get better.
I will say my Dad always (RIP) prefered the 16 gauge over the 12 for hunting but he had to give up using the 16 in favor of 12 cause ammo was so hard to find before the advent of the internet sales. He always told me it was the best general purpose gauge you could have. Could take out small game like rabbits squirrels whatever and 16 gauge slugs still had enough knock down power to hunt deer with. About the only he told me wasn't as good for as self-defense. It works but okay but my dad grew up in the 70's when paint huffing was big thing and there was stories floating around that some rural cops and there 16 gauge guns just couldn't cut it on taking down one these crazed huffing nutters. Keep in mind this is what my Dad said and passed on me to. Dunno how true it is or not. (well the ammo thing is true. I've never seen 16 gauge ammo in stores) so this might be considered FUDD lore but my Dad was a bit of a old school dude.
Thanks for sharing; I find these kinds of anecdotes interesting to read. I think your dad's personal experience is probably quite a bit more reliable than the rumors he picked up, though. I have trouble imagining that a few less pellets of buckshot would make a big difference between a 16 and 12 gauge, but maybe I'm naïve.
Reloading makes that ammo issue all but disappear - you just need the 16g hulls and they are available! I am an American living and working in Europe and I absolutely love the 16g. The old adage of "Shoots like a twenty, hits like a twelve" has always resonated with me and it is nice to see it reflected somewhat in these results. Thanks, Paul!
16 used to be very popular in the German drilling. It is just a nicer package, a drilling with 12 bore gets very bulky. As the popularity of the drilling has declined in recent years the 12 is by far more popular now. But 16 has still its friends over here.
The 16 is awesome. Handloaders do benefit. It can launch a 1oz load to over 1500 fps in a strong modern shotgun. Perfect for wild and wary Pheasant. The 12 gets a benefit if someone is a waterfowl hunter. For upland or small game the 16 is a more sensible option. For deer, the 12 only has an edge in states where buckshot is required. Handloadin shots helps does more for performance than most people realize. You can make close range spread loads, to tight holding long range loads.
I reload for my 16 gauge guns, but have a sporting goods/hunting store that always has a good selection of 16 gauge ammo and even 16 gauge steel loads in stock. I do reload Bismuth shot for hunting federal and state wildlife areas.
Proposal - The 28 guage seems to be really popular in my region. After my initial surprise, I started paying attention and I keep hearing how it's a great gun, light to carry, and performs as well as a 20. Any chance you can put something together on these two?
I've honestly never heard of 28 Gauge. Is that like a compromise on a compromise kind of deal since 20 Gauge is a less powerful alternative to 12? This is a open question.
@@donttreadonmemes Check out our presentation on bird shot in your home defense shotgun. It includes a demo of 28 gauge. In my opinion, good for squirrels, and great for shooting pigeons out of the barn.
@@donttreadonmemes - Don't have exact figures, but the 28 guage is somewhere around 54 caliber and the 20 guage is something like 60 caliber. Could check a data table for exact numbers. As for hearing of it, I had actually heard of it in reference to a European gun, so it wasn't a complete surprise to me, but hearing how well accepted it was in my region was a definite surprise. I've also heard of 28 guage hulls being used to reload the 577 snider cartridge, although properly done, that should be with 24 guage hulls to get an exact match. Since that first noticing, I find that it is used in multi-gun skeet and trap meets, is somewhat fairly often part of a multi barrel set in doubles, and shoots a 3/4 oz load as a standard load, but can go as high as 1&1/8. Comparison with the 20 is with both using a 1 oz load. The guns are also significantly lighter per reports. Haven't held one personally, but I hear 6 pounds (approx) fully loaded. While I don't see myself getting one, I find that what I hear about the 28 interesting enough to want to hear more.
28 seems to be favored by trap/clay shooters and not hunters in my area. Much like 16 gauge, it's nearly impossible to find locally. I have a thing against guns that I have trouble getting ammunition for. My cousin has a browning sweet 16, it's a beautiful gun, shoots great. It's more expensive than my 12 or 20
@@materiaparticulata du kannst als Privatperson in ein Schießkino gehen und die Erfahrung selbst machen. Bin auch deutsch und jäger spoetschütze exsoldat
as a german hunter and sport shooter I can tell you that have the possibilities. Even if you not interested in getting a hunting or sport shooter license you still can shoot on shooting ranges as long as there is a supervisor
".....It's not because I am not competent in shooting this model", I am sure that statement was necessary or Paul would not have felt the need to include it but that thought literally would have not entered my mind. As always a good comparison.
Yep, dedicated reloaders who stock up on the appropriate components and equipment can make the ammo issue a non-issue. You're also quite right about how it's often true that lower velocity can make better patterns. Also, a lighter shot charge can (this may surprise many people) improve patterns by shortening the shot column and reducing pellet deformation for the pellets at the bottom of the shot wad, which is also one of the reasons why lower velocity can often help the patterning. It would be interesting to see what the effects of lower velocity and lower shot charge would be with shot materials other than lead, e.g. steel, bismuth, tungsten, etc.
@@Gunners_Mate_Guns Agreed. My best loads are kept in the 1 ounce range and at 1150 to 1200 fps.. Never had issues with crippling birds. I like nickel plated #5 shot for pheasant, #7.5 for Grouse, Woodock, and Quail.
@@davidcudlip6587 Thanks for confirming much of what I believed. Another nice thing about lighter shot and powder charges is significantly less recoil. I'm not intimidated by the recoil of my 12 gauge, but it's still interesting to see just how sore my shoulder will be the day after 50-100 rounds of high-velocity game loads busting clays throwing 1 1/8 oz or 1 1/4 oz of shot. By contrast, when I rolled my own with 1 oz of shot and a lower middle range charge of 700-X, I had no soreness at all. I also broke nearly all of the clays even though I had to trip the spring-loaded thrower by putting my right foot in the loop of the release rope and rocking back on my left foot to swing the right foot up and outward. btw...you are very fortunate that you live in a part of the country where you can still hunt pheasant and quail. Where I am, east central Indiana, Believe it or not, the winter of 1977 was so harsh that to this day, there are so few quail and pheasant that my dad had to give up on it when he had to give up in frustration several years running after that particularly harsh winter. In my opinion, Bobwhite quail is the finest wild game that a person can eat, and pheasant is right behind it for taste.
@@Gunners_Mate_Guns I've been using Universal Clays for my 16 and 20 gauge loads but will soon be switching over to Longshot because of the scarcity of Universal powder. Latest memo from Hodgdon Powder said it wouldn't be available til 2024 at the earliest. I really like Ruffed Grouse as far as game bird meat. But Pheasant and Quail are tied for a close second. I make a mean Pheasant ala King and Sweet & Sour Pheasant over rice.
Paul, of probably 1500-2000 rounds of shotgun rounds fired in my life, 16 gauge represents 2. Thank you for shedding some light on a gauge most people (myself included) don’t know much about.
@@MyKonaRC for me that’s about 1/2 year and in round count 2-2 1/2 months of pistol. However this year I’ve fired exactly 6 rifle cartridges and killed 3 coyotes and dispatched on mauled calf. We all shoot different brother. Some more and some less. Up until 2 years ago I never fired a .38 or .357 but I owned many revolvers including 2 guns that shot those calibers.
16g is definitely harder to get not saying it's bad cause it's not but.. 20g and 12g is the most popular.. even .410 has gotten outrageous in price and availability..
Everything that's not common calibers is very scarce and expensive these days be it niche shotgun, rifle or handgun ammo. Even components and equipment for reloading oddball stuff is absurd right now, and the more niche it is, the worse the situation is.
@@krockpotbroccoli65 I couldn't agree with you more my friend... These days we gotta take what we can get ... I just remember not even that long ago even wal mart didn't lock up shotgun shells ..
Having shot and own both .410 and 28 I and a good number of shooters I know well MUCH prefer the 28. It patterns the 3/4 ounce load beautifully and is very effective on a good number of species that we have in the Northeast. The slightly greater gun weight also helps in the handling department. Shells are $$$ for both.
Another great presentation, Paul. I’m stuck in the nursing home with my grandfather after he had a bad fall and binge watching old & new videos is helping me get through his restless nights. I appreciate your consistent hard work.
I'd say 12g, because 12g is less expensive, more readily available, and there is greater variety of rounds to choose from on the typical store shelf. NOTE: I wrote this before watching the video, so I was pleased to see that I am just echoing Paul.
I love my 16 gauges. I have two, a Winchester Model 12 with a 30” barrel and full choke and the other a Remington Sportsman 48 with a 30” barrel and full choke. I want to send my Remington out to have Bailey chokes put in it to make it more universal for me and I will use it more. As far as ammo availability, it is hard to find in S. Fla. as well. I usually buy it when I see it just to have plenty on hand.
Notice that between chronograph test no shells on the ground at the beginning of each test. Great example of how you keep the range open. Thanks for your example Paul.
I love them both but the 16ga is near and dear to my heart. I have the one my grandfather had for years. I have a lot of great memories and sentimental value with that old gun! :-)
I've always had a soft spot for the 16ga. An old single shot Stephens 16 was my first "big" shotgun when dad felt I was ready to move up from a .410. Wish I still had it. I also inherited my father-in-law's side-by-side in 16ga. Although he had it out in the field a lot, it is still in really good shape with a nice case hardened receiver.
I choose 12 because of the market support in ammo and guns. 16s are known to Pack like a 20, shoot like a 12. Browning is making a Wicked Wing version of the A5 Sweet 16. I wish someone would make a 3 inch chamber option and then someone like Apex or Boss make 3 inch 16 gauge loads. If someone would tackle this it would really help the 16 gauge overall. The 16 gauge is an awesome option for upland bird hunting. If you get waterfowl hunters on board with it then more guns would be sold and more ammo would be produced. Waterfowl hunters are now using smaller gauges now that Shell Technology has improved. Coated Steel, bismuth and TSS has opened the door to make sub gauges a legit option now. If you are a reloader you can really make the 16 shine. One of my fav 12 gauge loads is 1-1/8 oz at 1200-1250 FPS. The 16s can do this exact load easily. You can buy these loads in factory ammo. They are just hard to find at times and very costly because they market them as field loads for a premium.
The pack like a 20 shoot like a 12 is true of the 16 guage. My oldest brother out his Rem Sportsman Model 58 hunting quail, then sent it to Remington to be rebuilt, and continued on. Its lesser weight, plus hit like a 12, he mentiond all the time. He also shot a double 20 guage in the back half of every season, plus use of a 28 double too, under ideal field condition. Even from 40 years ago we/he would order two caes of special heavy shot loaded shells with 1 1/8 oz loads due the brushy areas we hunted in. Quail became real bushhogs with the adent of row crop farming as they could feed quickly and get back into the edge and beyond. All this shotgun talk is flooding me with nastaliga: I eventually had my own pair of English Setters, and hunted with a classic Fox B 20 guage double. Old Freckles and Bandit, if such exists, I'll see you over that Rainbow Bridge.
My late brother would have loved this video. Before he died he was always at pigeon range trying out his different guns with different ammos. Thanks for the video to remind of the good times shooting we had.
I have said for years that the difference between 16 and 12 is a choice of "run whatcha brung". Thanks Paul for validating that! Love the 16 ga shotties, its what Grampa shot.
Thanks for the video Paul. The main disadvantage to the 16 is ammunition availability. There just isn't the selection for the 16 as there is the 12 or 20. If someone reloads the 16 then is a very solid choice for many types of hunting. One of the big advantages of the 16 is when it's built on a gauge specific action. Winchester model 12, Ithaca model 37, I think the Winchester model 97 were built on smaller frames than the 12 gauge models of the gun. Same goes for many of the classic sxs shotguns of the day. A Fox, Parker, LC Smith, etc in 16 are great to carry and hunt with when there's a lot of walking involved. Your patterning actually shows just how good Winchester with their barrel/choke work. They put a lot of effort into getting their shotguns to perform well on game and clays depending on model.
This was very interesting! I have shot 12,16 and 20 gauge for years and what I have noticed is that for shooting birds on the wing 12 and 16 gauge really doesn’t matter but the big difference is when hunting for rabbits Id rather use a 20 gauge. I’m not sure why 16 gauge went out of popularity, my assumption has to do with marketing. The “bigger is always better” won out in my opinion.
I've been using a 28 gauge shotgun for trap shooting games since HS in 1972. It is much more comfortable to shoot 100 or more rounds in a day or even a three day weekend. I reload so I can usually make any kind of ammo I want to use.
One thing I've always said and believe, whoever makes factory loaded 28 gauge buck and slug offerings would be a millionaire overnight in the shotgun world. It could replace .410 entirely if it was an option and would give 20 gauge a run for it's money too.
@@Giovanni_Litterini I'm seeing them for $650-850, after a gunsmith has checked them over and tuned them up for cowboy action shooting. The Norincos are going for $850+ because they're unobtanium.
Thank you, Paul! Interesting! Would love to see a similar comparison between a 12-gauge and a 20-gauge (thinking primarily around upland bird hunting - and grouse, in particular). And, for that matter, a similarly-oriented comparison between a 20-gauge vs .410. Thanks again!
I second that. I have both a 12 & 20-gauge shotguns. I find that the recoil doesn't feel any less between the two. I like the concept of extra pellets but I think that you may have proven it to be not such an advantage. I'll agree that the 20 gauge is a smaller overall gun so it might be easier to maneuver than the 12-gauge. I am wondering if the 16 gauge is giving a tighter pattern just because of it's diameter, kind of acting like a full choke would in a 12-gauge. One would think the same effect would improve on a 20-gauge or a .410. I wonder if a 20 gauge pattern would hold at a longer distance than a 12 gauge. I don't know if it can be proven in the field over a paper target. I never thought to test it. I always blamed the shooter (me) for a bad shot or misjudging the distance on a bird in flight.
I loved mine, but after having it gather dust for so long I let it go down the road. I no longer had access to the places where it was a good choice. Nothing wrong with it at all, but I don't want to have expensive spider condos sitting around. My 10 and several others had to go down the road
@@maxpinson5002 After putting 3 decades behind my Ithaca Mag ten, a much older man unable to swing it like I once could, mine looks much better in the hands of my son, however, marksmanship being the key, a new A-5, 3 1/2 12 gauge with an awesome pattern firing BB's is sooo close it's undetectable to me. Now the recoil with that lightweight Browning, that's a whole nother story. But I'm really fast, again. 😊
Yeah, I never had any problems, but the real estate situation isn't what it used to be. Not that long ago, it wasn't any problem at all finding places to hunt the various species at reasonable or no cost. More and more subdivisions now on formerly accessible lands. I have the tools to hunt everything I'll be able to hunt until I'm no longer able, or get priced out of it one of the two. Hopefully those that still have the places to go and persue their hobby will take full advantage while they can. Good Luck to all
Dad gave me his old (at the time) 16 gauge Winchester about 60 years ago. I really like that old shotgun - it's served me flawlessly all these years. I think it's time to pass it along to my son. Yeah, the ammo is difficult to find, but not impossible. Interestingly enough, at one point during the "pamdemic", it was the ONLY shotgun ammo I could find.
0:50 lol >.< I know right?! In all seriousness the real question is not which is better, the question is can 16 gauge overtake 12 gauge as a common firearm and that answer is no. There is a reason law enforcement and military use 12 over 16. The sheer amount of support parts, and ammo types is staggering. Are there 16 gauge bean bag rounds for riot control? Are there 16 gauge rounds for breaching doors? Rubber rounds? Tear gas rounds? Are there a multitude of youtube channels like TAOFLEDERMAUS with 1.5 million subs that talk about all the hundreds of custom rounds (mainly slugs) people make for 16 gauge? Can a 16 gauge shoot a .50 caliber round like a 12 gauge can? So if you are trying to argue that a 16 gauge will bring home 11 doves over a 12 gauges 9 doves then maybe its better but that's about it. Once you remove that niche target you pretty much eliminate it as a winner. Can you take your 16 gauge to various countries on hunting trips and not have to bring ammo and spare parts like you can with a 12 gauge? I rest my case. My stepdad has a custom made remington 1100 semi with a custom choke made in the 1950s but it looks and shoots like brand new. I use it in 3 gun matches because its so stinking accurate. Base guns I can see value in the 16 gauge for that hunting application but all my guns are highly customized and when i sold firearms at a sporting goods store it was rare to sell a base gun and not a customized one.
I'm very fond of the 16ga due largely to nostalgia, it's the gun I started on. Ammo is harder to find, less diverse and, more expensive. I'm glad that I'm happy with 12's and 20's. Matching the frame size to the gauge is very important. Matching a shotgun, it's frame, choke, ammo and shot size is a rabbit hole that would make a finicky .22lr blush with envy.
Guess every area now its harder to find then 12 or 20, but in my area most gun stores have 16 as well as 12 and 20, but if not they for sure can get it. But I don't see the 410 ammo like I used to.
@@airbornesoldieramerica7125 from your name I might believe that you are in, our from, the South East. That region has historically considered the 16 as a heavy quail round, whereas being from South Dakota, in my area, it's considered a weak pheasant/duck round. In my travels I have always found the South Eastern states more welcoming to the 16ga. Or anywhere that quail/partridge are the game is choice
@@roustabout4458 Not really, but at times, since I got older, I live in Florida for part of the winter. I am in 1 of the mid westerns states but prefer not to say. I am not a duck hunter so idk about that, on how good 16 gauge works on ducks. But many duck hunters told me they also like using 10 gauge on ducks and geese. But most of the pheasants I got was actually from a 20 gauge. Don't know what it is with that model 1200 Winchester 20-gauge pump it is, but its good luck to me for pheasants, and got way more pheasants with that shotgun then I ever did with the 12 and 16 gauges. Been through South Dakota 1 time. That time counted and seen like 85 to 100 pheasants just driving through. You are lucky to live in pheasant hunting heaven there. Out of all the hunting sports I done, pheasant hunting is my favorite one. Was actually looking into planning a pheasant hunting trip there a few years ago, then covid19 lockdowns happened.
@@airbornesoldieramerica7125 there is a lot of public land in SD to hunt if you want to avoid the cost of a guide. Additionally, we have some of the best waterfowling you could hope for. I encourage a trip here. I'm in the glacial lakes region and am glad of it. I drove a truck for 30 years and have seen every inch of the country and wouldn't trade home for any of it. The real truth behind the lack of popularity of the 16 stems from shooting sports. Trap and skeet. Those sports adopted the 12 and 20 but shunned the 16 as not being a great enough change from the 12 to consider it a handicap compared to the 20. Come for a visit, if be glad to meet ya!
16 gauge is near and dear to me. Around here it is fairly typical to find No.6 bird and No. 1 buck loads and I have hunted everything from dove to deer with one. I can testify that the 12 is a bit more onerous to carry around and get into the shoulder.
20 and 28 have always been my favorite shotgun gauges. Obviously have a 12 as well, but its nice to see the 16 getting some love, too. Thanks for the great video, as always!
The older I get the more I appreciate the 16. Yea I might get a trivial amount more lead on my bird with a 12 but you can sure as heck can get the 16 up to your shoulder a split second faster and acquire a rapidly moving target that much faster still. When hunting in tight cover speed trumps lead 9 out of 10 times. I recently saw a brand new Browning A-5 sweet 16, what a bute, I think I am going to buy myself a late Christmas present and pass my old model 12 16 gauge on to someone I think will appreciate it as much as myself.
Remington knows how to make a very high precision cut. They made shavers before making rifles. So if theyre history still holds up, then their quality should too. They make great durable but cheap equipment. Doesnt have all the nick-nacks but it provides a well made system thats easy to clean, handle, and use. Winchester? Makes some of the hardest guns. Made mostly to self service. Lever-actions. In their time from the 1800s to the mid 1900s, their baseline was the repeater. Make them better, cheaper, lighter… though, they cornered the market in lever actions from drop block to cowboy repeaters. They also pushed to make the best ammunition they could as they grew up. Winchester has some of the best and most powerful ammunition variants that i know. It wasnt till the mid 1900s though that they started caring more of performance than just power. And enter, the .300 Winchester Mag. If i were to take a rifle off the hunting store gun rack. Id pick a Remington. Chambered in a Winchester munition.
Good video. 410, 28, 20, and 16 are looked at differently now because of advancements in ammo that mimic or better lead. Shot like bismuth and tungsten. Who would of thought people would be turkey hunting with small and light 410's loaded with tungsten?
Indeed, newer shot materials and advancements in wads as well as chokes have really changed shotguns a lot. Smaller and lighter gauges are more viable as a result. I'd love to see things like buckshot and slug loads developed for the 28 Gauge personally, it could easily replace the .410 as a go to smaller shotgun and could give the 20 a run for it's money too.
Can you do a video of shooting 22 lr out of a 22 magnum? I'm thinking a rifle but both rifle and pistol would be nice. Accuracy and velocity is what is important to me. And safety of course. And if youd like to do a specific rifle the one I have in mind for this is the Chiappa Little Badger. I'm considering getting the deluxe model (the wood stock one) so i wouldn't mind a review. I'd like to know if it's added versatility or just foolish inaccurate dangerousness.
I always go 12 for everything as it’s just so available. I also take into consideration what my friends shoot so we have commonality of ammunition. Paul I really like that old duck hunter patter.
I have several models & actions of both- Can't say I like one better than the other - Would have yo say I have an old Ithaca Double barrel in 16ga. That's exceptional for birds- Thanks for video!
Acadamy is pretty decently priced for 20g. I paid around $12 for a box of their brand #2 buckshot. Their brand is actually Rio which I've had great success with and consistent. Almost forgot that was a 25 round box. 410 however is expensive no matter where I find it so that one never gets used.
@@gregphillips1998 I've got a 410 adapter for my 20g, I no longer use it due to cost. Recoil was nice when hunting tree rats and rabbits but the cost just wasn't worth it. I noticed the other day there was 16g on the shelf at a local store, first I've seen it in a long time. Haven't hade a 16g in thirty years so does me no good.
@@JamesSmullins That’s good to hear, where I’m at you can add about 10-15% for 16 ga and about the same step up in price for 20 and .410. I haven’t shot my 20 or .410 in over 2 years.
I don't see much if any use for 16. Rare. Nothing listed or carried in 16 in this area. Ammo hard to find online and cost about twice as much. Can probably home handload a 12 to same 16 specs. I'd get a 16 adapter for the 12 if it was possible.
I'm really blown away at the amount of work that goes into these videos. I had to learn a bit about video production lately and just wow. Not just the technical side, but didn't Paul gloss offer the fact that he had to find a comparable gun? That's a lot more work than we have any right to expect from anyone.
16 gauge has maybe more advantages here in Europe where there are still alot of these guns around and quite many hunters still use them. But for long-term use, the future of the venerable 16 seems rather dark. Greetings from Belgium
I inherited my grandfather's 16 ga. Fox side by side and 2 or 3 boxes of shells that have to be older than I am. They still went bang (I only shot one box) but I have yet to be able to find more locally stocked. Fingers crossed it does get a bit popular and some local shop starts carrying it; I'd love to take that old thing out to the clays course more often. Thanks for the comparison, Paul.
@@PaulHarrell ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EUHmkvQNch0.html Unfortunately it appears from the polling that it is on track to pass. I would hope some or all of it would be struck down by the courts though.
Having both 16 & 12 ga, and doing a fair amount of dove hunting since the early 70's, I can confirm & validate your test results. Both are great for small game hunting, especially in the dove & quail hunting trips I have done. The argument presented by those espousing that 12 is better, obviously have very little (if any) time with a 16. Enjoy the seasons all! Living my la vida loco here in south eastern Arizona
Paul, I LOVE how you try using ammo that compares to each other! So many on YT use totally different ammo and try acting like the results can be compared similarly. I was surprised with these results for sure! I love the 16 gauge. Those are some really nice 1897's!
12 and 20 gauge is all I ever see on the shelf. I sometimes wondered why there wasn't something in the middle but now I know there is. For the same reasons mentioned, I'll stick with my 12 gauge as it's commonly available and affordable (sometimes).
@@FoulPet oh yeah, there's some of that too but I think I just overlook that one as it's not what I'm looking for. 12 and 20 gauge are right next to each other generally and I stop looking further down the shelf at that point.
Very nice video Paul. I load my own 16 gauge, and every other gauge including 24 and 32. Factory loads for the 16 gauge only go to 1 1/8 ounces these days, it used to be heavier. I’m loading up to 1 5/8 ounces with lead. My handloads can outperform factory 12 gauge offerings, while cutting the cost of shooting 16 gauge down by a large margin. I love both gauges but kind of prefer the 16 just because it’s a little easier to carry more shells for. I mostly load buckshot and slugs. On my channel, I do loading and shooting videos with all 8 different gauges.
My go-to upland bird gun is a Marlin Model 90 over/under 16ga with dual triggers and choked mod/full. It's accurate, dependable, patterns extremely well, and was the best $435 I ever spent! The most common load I see, and what I use, is Remington 1 oz of #6, and yes it's easy to find here in Colorado. (Insert weird, whiny voice) 🙃
I'm 69 years old and grew up in an era when the 16 guage was very popular. One of the big gun companies (Browning, I think), marketed a gun called "The sweet 16." My First shooting experiences were with 16 ga. single shots when shotshells were still made from cardboard, and plastic shot cups didn't exist yet, and different loads were plentiful. I think it fell out of favor because it was in between the 20 guage and the 12 guage, much as the .22 long, was between the .22 short and the .22 long rifle. As a young shooter the 16 put a lot of rabbits and squirrels in my belly. Great video Paul.
Is there a Pop Tart shooting video yet? I haven't seen 16 gauge anything for years - except this video. Hornady has spoken... I was shopping for one, but I couldn't find very much. I've found a lot of good, high velocity ammo from Winchester, in several calibers. They have really good .22lr, and .270 Winchester. Go figure, but I didn't really compare 12ga. I just got it. I had trouble with their tungstens turkey shot, and they bought the ammo back. Good company, ammo-wise. Does FN Herztel still own the firearms part?
I've always been a fan of 16ga. However, it's been left behind. You can get more modern, versatile guns and ammo in 12 and 20ga. Modern 12 and 20ga chambers are 3". 16ga chambers are only 2¾". The biggest technical reason 16ga is no longer popular is that light 12ga loads and heavy 20ga loads now overlap. So you can shoot 3" magnum 20ga and 16ga performance. Or light 12ga and get 16ga performance. Now if you're into customizing your guns and handloading, 16ga probably comes into its own since you can correct these disadvantages. You could give it a 3" chamber and make 3" shells if you wanted. With a modern 3" chamber and modern ammo, 16ga would probably be the most versatile shotgun gauge of all. Weak 20ga is too weak and powerful 12ga is too powerful. A 16ga with the same power range would be in the goldilocks zone of maximum usefulness. Of course, you only get such a broad range of power if a large variety of ammo is available, and with 16ga you'd have to handload. Not a problem with shot and traditional components, although you not be able to find the most modern wads and slugs, and if you do find something equivalent to state-of-the-art 12ga ammo you'll probably have to assemble the components and load it yourself. For most people, it's just easier to own a 3" chambered 20ga and a 12ga. Between the two of them, you can obtain 16ga power levels. A 20ga is even handier and can usually get the job done. A 12ga isn't as handy, but it's way easier to get better ammo and guns than for 16ga where you have minimal modern industry support. I really wanted a 16ga. I still think it would be great if there was wide industry support, and I may make one as a project gun one day if I get more into tinkering and handloading. But once I realized 20ga 3" shells could do most of what I wanted a 16ga for, and that if not I could probably be shooting a superior shotgun in 12ga with more available and often better ammo, my desire for a 16ga greatly diminished. Besides, I prefer modern semi-auto shotguns, and they pretty much only come in in 12 and sometimes 20ga. The coolest "tactical" Berettas and Benellis usually don't even come in 20ga, although there's usually at least a hunting variant or gun using the same operating system in 20ga. In 16ga, forget it. The guns are all early to mid-20th century. More recent operating systems don't exist in 16ga. Maybe if you want to pay thousands of dollars for custom gunsmithing to make a one-of-a-kind exception. Except your fancy ammo to go with it will have to be custom, too. Unlike 12 and 20, where high-tech ammo using fancy slugs and tight-grouping shot cup wads is right on the shelf at the gun store.
Seems to me the "power" behind each pellet is the same or similar between 12 and 16 gauge, as evidenced in the chrono segment. The difference is the amount of extra "oomph" the additional 1/8th oz of shot the 12 provides over the 16. In essence, 12 gauge is about 20% more power than 16, IF and ONLY IF, you get *ALL* the shot on the target.
if each pellet is travelling at the same speed, it has the same power ( m * v^2 ). The difference between the two being the amount of pellets in the load, since the velocities are so similar.
I have to ask when you were shooting the 16 and 12 gauge 1897, did you load into the chamber for style or for a problem with the tube magazines? I know I myself and others I know have had issues with the retainers for the shells becoming inoperable or getting bent if not heat treated properly.
