Best "affordable" 16 0/U?

About 10-12 years ago I just had to have a 16ga O/U too. The 16ga is a great upland round and the history and nostalgia that go with it doesn't hurt either.

Well, I picked up a Marlin Model 90 in 16 gauge pretty cheap and I didn't shoot it half bad, but it had double triggers and looked more utility grade than I cared for. So I started my hunt for a Citori 16 gauge - this was before the last run of them and they were pretty scarce. I finally located a straight stocked lightning and couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with it. I sold the gun off and months later found a Lightning with a round knob stock.

Guess what - couldn't hit anything with that gun either. I guess I should have kept that Marlin...

So I've pretty much resigned myself to shooting light 12 gauge guns for my upland hunting. I lucked into a couple of Beretta 685s (like a 686 but extracters and fixed chokes) that weigh 6.5-7lb. They both shoot 1 oz loads very well, and if I am into pain, I can always use a 3" mag shell in them. I have one with Imp Cyl/Mod 26" barrels and another with Mod/Full 28" barrels.

I still have one 16gauge - it's a SxS Remington Model 1900 made over 100 years ago. The stock has a little too much drop (I guess gentlemen did not lower their heads to look down the barrels back them). But I shoot it OK.

Good Luck with your endevour. May it be more satisfying than mine was. If worse comes to worse, you can always resort to a light 12 gauge like I did.

Maybe next time I will share my 28 gauge story....
 
I still have one 16gauge - it's a SxS Remington Model 1900 made over 100 years ago. The stock has a little too much drop (I guess gentlemen did not lower their heads to look down the barrels back them). But I shoot it OK.
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Mostly true - back then those stocks with huge drop were better for pass shooting at high flyers........

That Remington sounds like a neat gun to shoot a round or two of skeet with......most likely with 2-1/2" loads
 
more like a "gentleman's hunt for quail" in the piny woods over some nice german shorthairs, maybe some Pheasants in South Dakota along the breaks of a wheat field with a big old lab busting them loose up close, maybe even some rough or blue Grouse in Northwestern Montana on a dusty logging road on nice fall morning or evening
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Having hunted wild phez years ago in ND, my Ithaca 37 shined, as did my 20 gauge Savage/Fox SxS - both light enough for all day hunting - were quite a few 16's back then in the hands of the old farmers who would let us hunt their fields for free.........
 
Sure,

but remember in those days - it was before any of us had guns with changeable screw in chokes / and the only shells available, unless we reloaded, were whatever the local hardware / grocery store had in stock.

There wasn't nearly the variety of guns / shells - at least in my family in the 1950's and 60's - like there is today ....
 
16 did and will do for me

I just sold my last 16 (Higgins Bolt 26" Mod) that I shot pheasants/ducks with. I am now looking for a BPS 16 Hunter and ultimately for an O/U too!
I wonder what we would say to all the old timers who shot Turkeys and Geese with full choked 1 & 1/4 Oz #4s and killed em with one shot before 3" Mag 20's and 12's came along
:rolleyes:
 
Mostly true - back then those stocks with huge drop were better for pass shooting at high flyers........

That Remington sounds like a neat gun to shoot a round or two of skeet with......most likely with 2-1/2" loads
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The Remington is factory choked Cyl and modified. I don't think the original intent was for high flyers. I still shoot it a good amount and take it hunting at least once a season. I've got a couple of 12ga Rem 1894s that also get shot occasionally.
 
Re that 1900 Remington.....

Look at pics of the shooters back then. They had a heads up style that needed more drop than we do now.

The nigh universal splinter forend gets the POI back where it belongs with heads up form even with the half curved grip common then.

I need more drop than most, and some of those stocks work for me IF they're long enough. Many are not.
 
Lots of the European makers chamber in 16 bore but whether they meet your price point is something else...

I, like you, love the 16 and have switched all my hunting over to it--except pass shooting geese...and have switched most of my 20 bore hunting over to the lovely 28 bore...

Clays are still 12 and 20 bore...

You probably know of the 16 GA. Society

Jim, you remember when all gauge skeet included the 16?
 
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