Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns 16 ga popularity

I’ve been known to use a few 16 gauges in the field and on the sporting line. If you enjoy reloading you can do anything the other gauges do as well if not better. The gauge calls back to a different age while refusing to lay down in a time when many have forgotten it. It’s time we found our place given among the sporting divisions and yes, a magnum 3 inch option for those wanting that. I think these 2 steps will bring on a new day where the obscure title is finally gone forever.

im keepig some 16ga's in my inventory for when all else goes obsolete. no one else will want it, so odds are the invading hoards of dooms-dayers will overlook it.

I've kind of noticed the last few years a big surge in 28 gauge popularity again and around here 16 gauge seems to be doing the same lately.

The 3 inch 16 came and went a long time ago....And in today's market of limited availability, I think it would be long time before you would see it again.

Old time 16 gauge 3 inch on the left....today's 2 3/4 inch on the right...

If they would bring the 3" 16 gauge back, that would be awesome. It would give a lot more versatility to the 16. It's been the red headed step child for to long.

The 16 doesn't need a 3 inch for the uplands...combined with the fact a great 16 has no reason to be a heavyweight shotgun...The 3 inch would give little more than unneeded recoil. Fellow who posts here on occasion has shot more Wild Pheasants than most could imagine with a 16 using 2.5 inch shells.

I didn’t even know that the 16 gauge was ever made in a 3”. I am surprised that it was abandoned as an option. I could see the duck hunters of years past wanting the extra payload. Upland guys, not so much.

The sixteen doesn't need a 3" anything.

2.5" 1oz NPBB


2.5" 1ozNPBB


The 2.5" 16ga is one of my favorites for close cover coyote hunting.

I have a little French 16ga from the turn of the century 1900 era that is awesome on everything from quail to ducks 3/4oz of ITX 6' and 7/8oz lead 7 1/2's and 1 oz of Lead 5's.

What I meant by the 16 gauge 3", is it would be better for duck hunters and us turkey hunters.

Maj. Charles Askins wrote of having a 3" 16 ga. in one of his books. I am not sure of the make, but he liked Ithaca guns. He passed in 1946 so it was a while ago.

Waterfowlers and turkey hunters have there 12ga's that shoot all the 3" rounds needed. You build a 3" 16ga and you build away everything that makes the 16 so desirable. I killed a pile of waterfowl back in the day with a 16ga with an 1 1/8 oz of lead 5's. I got away from the 16 for waterfowl with the advent of steel shot because in the early days of steel it wasn't loaded in anything but 2 3/4" 12's. With the availability of Bismuth, Nice Shot and ITX the 16ga is back on the table for waterfowl. I still do most of my waterfowling with 12ga but in 2.5" shells holding 7/8 oz of ITX 6's and 1 oz of Bismuth 5's, I hunt public lands, kill a lot of ducks and a few geese that like my duck decoys.. I would kill just as many with a 2 1/2" 16ga with the same load as my 12's, it kills coyotes just fine.







You can kill any game bird or waterfowl with a light load of shot, you just have to have enough restraint wait for them to come into the effective range of what you are using and not trying to compensate for that inability buy using bigger and heavier loads.

Shoot the birds you KNOW you can kill not the ones you HOPE you can kill.

I’m not saying make them all 3 inch, just as not all 12 gauges are 3.5. But not having a 3 inch is ignoring what drives many hunters. Most, and I am not one, but many want larger shot loads for hunting. The single biggest complaint against me when I display my 16 gauge is the under load volume for the use we are doing. We argued for 50 years that’s not the case and clearly all that is lead to is less guns being offered in the gauge and fewer round options made. It’s time we give a little to get a little.

3 inch would bring more turkey, waterfowl, and yes, pheasant hunters back into the fold.

The added interest would only lead to increased load variety and the chance for recognition by shooting sports. God knows with availability and price where it is, sporting needs all the help it can get.

Charlie, first you need shooters pushing for companies to make 16 gauge shotguns…. And few are doing so. Occasionally Browning throws a bone….and then the hype dies. Why? Because the majority care less about the 16.

The competition games don’t care….and if they did the rules would be 2 3/4 inch max like the other gauges. The 12 gauge is 1 1/8 shot max, and some are pushing for 1 ounce max. 20 gauge 1 ounce max. Where would the 16 fit in. Well, it wouldn’t be a 3 inch.

Perazzi now has a 16 for sale on special order. Ask and they will cut the chamber for 3 inch. Then have a shell company do a special run of 3 inch 16 shells for you.

Here is your chance to save the 16. All it will take is some money. Someone has to make the effort and you seem like the right man.

Only starting at around $14,500 American...Of course by the time you factor in the cost of a minimum shell run of perhaps 100,000 it may be the cheapest part...

But really I could live happily with one in 2 3/4....Long live the 16 Gauge.

"There are many permutations with 26 barrel lengths, 11 points of choke, more than 15 rib styles, six fore-end types, 
14 different recoil pads … you get the picture."
However, no 3 inch chambers...makes one wonder why?

https://www.shootinguk.co.uk/reviews/shotgun/perazzi-mx16

I know 16 gauges are a lot of times balanced better but, like Charlie16ga said, it would make the guns so much more versatile and bring more people into shooting 16's.

You may see it if lead is made illegal to use. And that may happen sooner than you think. However, I doubt you would even see it then. And remember for your Duck analogy, lead is already banned.... and something like bismuth, etc would only be the equivalent of todays 2 3/4 lead, Nothing gained. Or today you can load your 2 3/4 16 with TSS shot and have the equivalent of a 3in plus. If your barrel is TSS compatible. In addition, so far those who sell TSS shotshells have ignored the 16. There is a reason....

Federal Prairie Storm lists a 16 gauge 1 1/4 ounce load. How much more do you need? However, some say it doesn't exist.

Id just be happy if winchester came back out with the compression formed hull. Or if remington made a sts 16 ga hull

Seem to work okay for me.................