deputy125

i had an old gentleman give me two boxes of winchester high brass 16 ga #6's.............

Always good to add to the 16ga stock pile............

i suddenly have a craving for a single shot 16. Hate it when that happens. There is no logic, justification, or need for it. More than likely it will just gather dust and on occasion create an internal debate about what to take hunting. But i want one!!!!

H&R has dropped the 16 from their line-up. No current producers i believe of a single shot 16. Bound to be plenty of old H&R and savage/stevens available should get serious.

I am just drawn to those old break-overs. There are times when the auto and pump stays behind and i take a break-over just because i enjoy carrying one and fondling one. Hitting a dove with one is a different story..... i over-swing with the light suckers.

gunman42782

My 2nd gun was a H and R 16 ga. Still have many fond memories of that gun, shot many a box of shells through it. I will always have a soft spot for sweet 16s!

Bountyhunter

I've never owned anything other than a 12. I have thought about a 20, but I don't really have a use for it. I haven't seen a used 16 in my local ever I don't believe. People must hang on to them.

sheepdog

...got a Cherokee uncle who loved the 16...had an old Remington 11...outshot all the 12 guys with their Brownings and 1100s...I kinda figured he didn't wanna share shells... BH, you oughta try one 20 pump....the Mossberg youth model with vent rib is slick..compact...great for house or truck...betcha you'd love it.....

deputy125

i don't remember if i told this story or not so bare with me......

Back more years than i can remember and when i had a little money, , i was working for Dekalb. Anyways, i clearly remember when i bought my first shotgun from a gun shop in Lubbock, TX. It was a Browning BPS 12 pump.

I was so proud of that shotgun with the rich bluing and beautiful wood and just had to show it off to my daddy on a return visit back home.

He took one look at it and unimpressed with the length, balance, and weight made a remark that created a memory that has stayed with me for years......................."why didn't you get a 16"?

That was what he hunted with.......to this day, i always make it a point to take a 16 dove hunting at least once every year. I even still have a partial box of his remington "express" 16ga #6's....to pass on when i do.

He had a simple plan.......#6 shot for everything. Even for grandpa's old iver johnson 20 ga it saw nothing but #6's......Awful hard for me nowadays to pass up on #6's. Nowadays, most shops stock heavily #9's, 8's, and 7.5's.........#6's don't seem as popular today as they were 30 or 40 years back.

the #6's were i guess the jack of all trades shotgun rounds for the farm. good for bird hunting to rattlesnakes to skunks and such. No confussion on what you have loaded....you already know.

sheepdog

...# 6 for everything but quail...7 1/2 on covey rises...#9 on single flushes...worked for them...I never was fast enough to get a shot on covey rise...enjoyed trampin' with 'em, though...

Bountyhunter

I've never been bird hunting. Never cared for it. But I have shot a few small critters with a shot gun. Never used #6 shot either. Man I don't get out much.

kim

Always used 6's for pheasant, 4's for rabbits and 7 1/2's for quail and dove. BH, you do need to get out more. Actually, you need to leave the east coast and move out West.

Molon Labe

Kim

Johngoboom

16's are a hoot. We have a 16 gauge model 12, Winchester that points like the finger of death on doves.

I use 6's for crows, 7 1/2's for trap, 8's for skeet, and 4's for turkey.

Bountyhunter

You may be right.

44s Rock

Bird hunting can really be fun. Don't get to do it much in WA. but sure enjoyed it when I lived in MN. The father in law swore by #6s as I recall, must have been the farm upbrining!

Snuffy

Well #6's are goond no doubt about that. True your putting out less shot in the pattern but it only takes a few 6"s to put them in the dirt. I my self love #5 shot, years ago when I started reloading an older man down the road from me was a janitor for a big city and in the days he worked for them they used #5 shot to clean the ink off of the ink pens they used for penman ship. Then they came out with the wick drying ink and they no longer needed the ink cleaners. Well he had a garuage full of them. there was plenty of #5 shot for the asking. In those days I was poor and had to hunt in order to eat. Lots of rabbit qual pheasnt when I was lucky. So I love # 5 shot but #6's are no slouch there.

jody johnson

Deputy...

Totally agree...th' sixteen RULES as the yougsters put it!

I, too, enjoy the feel of a nice SS. Sometimes ( not often enough, tho...) I'll pull out my old (1965) Winchester M-37 and do something with it. Bought that gun new, in '65, from a local sporting goods store. It was "covered over", in the box, under a counter, and I happened to be in the store when the Sporting Goods Manager, whom I knew, found it. He told me I could have it for $25 since the "37" had been discontinued for about a year by then.

Did some Dove shootin' with it, and rabbit, and carried it afield on Duck and Goose trips as a spare gun. We'd also take it out in a duck boat when we'd paddle after downed ducks. It's nailed a few, "downed" and "undowned", before the age of steel shot. That shotgun is probably the only SG I own that is "not available" at any price...except for maybe it's .410 kin...

Snuffy

That's a great story pal thanks for sharing that with us. I love to hear the old storys of the way things were in those days. I was but 14 when you got your sxs. And for $25.00 what a deal.

sheepdog

...that was 25 hours of work at my first job in 66....not cheap at all...what would a find like that be worth today!!! wow....

deputy125

the last 16ga model 37 i saw was beat to death and ragged with a missing butplate........and they wanted something like $150 for it at the gun show.

model 37's in 12's and 20's were found in good shape but they were all $300 plus.

i can't begin to imagine what they would want for a 410 or 28 ga version.....never seen one in those gauges and probably would not survive the sticker shock if i did.

Snuffy

your right there pal.

JOHNNY WACKO

I have 7 model 37 and at todays prices ill never have more then 7.

The 410 is always over twice the price as a 12 or 16.I have 1 410 3 16 and 3 12s. I got a few before the prices went crazy.I got 150.00 in the 410 and today there over $300.00

Thanks for the stories guys ,but keep that 37 out of the boats please..

jody johnson

Th' Model 37 always had eye appeal and it just seemed perfect for the 16 ga chambering. And, when I was growing up, a good "16" was 'bout all anybody needed unless you were gonna go after geese or ducks "on th' pass". I still prefer the sixteen over most everything else, but the cost of "fodder" is relatively high ( but finally becoming more commonplace again!) and I no longer reload shotshells.

Like you guys pointed out, good 37's are gettin' costly WHEN you can find them! But, should you "grab" one, you'll become "attached" quickly...the gun just looks, well, SLEEK with that cool, "sorta-bobbed" hammer! And, lately, a few 37's have shown up in a local shop...mostly twelve's, tho'. Darned tempting, I might add...

But, guys, we gotta stick to our sixteens, no matter WHAT configuration!!!!!!

Like Johhny indicates, seven is a really good number for 37's! Way to go!!

JOHNNY WACKO

JJ the feel is similar to a 94 and the sleek look too..They stick rite in the palm of my hand and hold on so tight,,I only pick a for sale one up if I have enough in my pocket to never let go till I'm in the car..