My first gun was a 16 gauge given to me by a great uncle. When he gave it to me, I couldn't hold both ends up off the floor. Think I was 3 or 4. I still have it. According to the S/N, it's an "Elsie" built in 1904. It's in my gun safe.
Second 16 I got was a 16th birthday gift from my parents in 1966. A Stevens 67D. In the safe.
The third 16 I picked up (1975-ish) was a Win M12. It had been used so much, I sent it to P.O. Ackley in SLC, Utah and had it rebuilt.
It's also on my safe.
The fourth 16 was a Win M12 I built to scavenge parts to make some repairs to gun #3. I ended up just rebuilding it AND gun #3.
You guessed it! In the safe.
The LAST (and 5th!) 16 I acquired was an inadvertent rescue from a pawn shop and probably one of my favorite acquisitions.
It's a Remington "The Sportsman" built in 1932. According to the S/N, it was one of the first 500 built.
Because the barrel wasn't the factory original and I wanted an all purpose shotgun*, I sent the barrel to Briley and had it fitted with choke tubes.
Since I don't shoot a lot, I'm always picking up a box of 16's whenever I can. Academy seems to always have a box or two of 16 gauge. Most of the time it's #6's or #7.5's. I prefer #8's or #9's but I'll take about anything I can get.
A friend gave me a box of #1 buck and a box of slugs! I seldom, if ever, shoot either one!
* - due to age, injuries and surgeries, I needed something with less recoil than my old Rem 870 12 bore, and this fills the bill.
I don't think I'd care to spend a day at the range with it, but for squirrel or turkeys, it's perfect! Hard hitting and low(er) recoil.
