In 1926, when they came up with skeet, they didn't make a category for 16ga. While it is true you can use a 16 in 12 ga skeet, nobody who truely wants to win would limit themselves. After they came up with skeet, the shell manufactures began dumping massive amounts of money into developing winning loads for each class of skeet. But what was left out? 16 gauge! So ammo became much more available for 12, 20, 28, and 410 bores. That eventually put 16ga guns on the back burner in the US, but they are still widely popular in Europe. In the late 40's, 12ga guns comprised about 50% of all shotgun sales, while 16ga carried about 25%, and all others combined made up the remaining 25%. Now, as far as guns go, unless your talking about 6.5lb English Doubles with 2.5" 12ga chambers, 16 ga guns typically cary MUCH better in the field. A 16 ga gun can be built on a 20ga frame, thus giving you a gun that carries like a 20 but kills like a 12. In the ultra high velocity 3.5" super magnum break your shoulder off world, The 16 will never get any respect, but for those who realize the 16 throws as good a pattern as a gun can throw, and makes the perfect upland shotgun, there is a reason so many double gun manufactures sell a TON of 16ga guns! For an upland hunter like myself, a 12 ga is garbage because of the weight.... Unless we are talking about $100k British Bespoke guns.
Last edited by jetjockey; 02/07/16.
