16 bore?

[Retsdon]

Curious if anyone shoots one, and if so why?

[Feltwad]

5 minutes ago, Retsdon said:

Curious if anyone shoots one, and if so why?

Yes I shoot a sxs 16 bore Belgian Hammer Gun with black powder  little difference to a 12  ,I also shoot sxs muzzle loaders in 16 bore  with black powder. Has I said there is little difference to a 12  and I do like a change to the larger bores. 

Feltwad

[Farmboy91]

1 hour ago, Retsdon said:

Curious if anyone shoots one, and if so why?

To me it's like the difference between lego, (16 bore) and duplo (12 bore) lol. 

I have a sxs hammer too and love it, it's lovely and light, just something different. Carts aren't overly expensive but there isn't a massive selection. 

Edited May 28, 2018 by Farmboy91

[Scully]

One of the lads in the syndicate shoots a 16 most of the season with his live pigeon sxs. He says he’ll never sell it.

[Old Boggy]

Having shot 16g SxSs for the last 40 years I wouldn't wish to be without at least one. As said, there is very little discernible ballistic difference between a 16 and a 12 apart from the 16 being lighter and an absolute joy to own, carry and shoot. In my view it is a much forgotten and underrated gauge, but appears to be having a bit of a resurgence. Once believed to be a boy's or ladies gun but once tried, many people, me included, never go back to a 12.

Now having sourced some 16g steel cartridges, I can use my 16g O/U (sorry side by side club ) in the duck season instead of Bismuth. I have had many 16g SxSs over the years and have regretted selling most of them, unlike the 12s which pale into insignificance by comparison. Just my take on them, others probably totally disagree.

Try a 16g and see. You won't be disappointed.

OB

[Esca]

My lad uses a 16 Licoln Fair o/u. As aready mentioned lighter to carry all day and very little or no differance to a 12.I have heard that it was reckoned that the 16 bore was the optimum caliber for 1 oz loads. I don't know how this conclusion  was arrived at, but having seen the 16 in action I can well believe it.

In fact I am now on the look out for a sxs 16 for myself.

[wymberley]

3 minutes ago, Esca said:

My lad uses a 16 Licoln Fair o/u. As aready mentioned lighter to carry all day and very little or no differance to a 12.I have heard that it was reckoned that the 16 bore was the optimum caliber for 1 oz loads. I don't know how this conclusion  was arrived at, but having seen the 16 in action I can well believe it.

In fact I am now on the look out for a sxs 16 for myself.

Square load.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

13 minutes ago, wymberley said:

Square load.

Showing your age there, not many of us remember those simple ways of assessing whether something should be good.

[wymberley]

1 hour ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Showing your age there, not many of us remember those simple ways of assessing whether something should be good.

'Fraid so. However, just in case Esca picks up on this, it's better to clarify that it would appear that there are in fact two "square loads" - the first applies to the black powder muzzle loading guys -  and the second which will be the more appropriate to Esca's question.

[Walker570]

I do occasionally take my Army & Navy 16 box lock for a day out. Now 110yrs old and still  in good working order.  Will perform on a driven day equal to any 12 gauge and a joy to carry.

[Esca]

Ok  I'm old but not that old. Square load???

[TIGHTCHOKE]

A load in any bore that is as long as it is wide. Hence "square" load.

[wymberley]

1 hour ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

A load in any bore that is as long as it is wide. Hence "square" load.

For the front stuffers, as I understand it, this referred to the charge and load being of equal length and therefore volume.

For we lesser mortals, it's as quoted. No matter what happens, the lead shot is going to be distorted on the gun firing. All that can be done is for this to be kept at a minimum while also obtaining a viable cartridge load to suit our needs. Much distortion occurs on initial setback and this will increase as the load column length increases. Obviously, some distortion is to be expected, but the 'square load' principle is deemed  the most viable cartridge in this respect. Another reason for this is that not only does the lead suffer initial distortion but also even more as it travels down the barrel. Let's say that a 1 oz load is the ideal in a 16 bore. This then will have a volume of 0.233 sq" and obviously have a height of 0.667". If you now put that ounce in, say, a 20 bore, the height will increase to 0.779". Not only this, the load area in contact with the barrel wall in the 16 is 1.398 sq" which now increases to 1.51 in the 20. A lose lose scenario.

It's not rocket science to work out that (based on our assumption that the ounce IS square in the 16), then without being excessively pendantic, 1&1/8 is about right in a 12.

Edited May 29, 2018 by wymberley
close brackets

[Dave at kelton]

I shoot a 16 bore muzze loader which simply shoots better than my other  muzzle loaders. It is light, fast handling, throws a great pattern and performs as well as my 14 and 12 bores.

[theshootist]

I shoot a 16 bore side by side. Not wishing to drag out all the cliches but its very sweet shooting with 25g and 28g shells. I tried a 20 bore side by side (I even found one with a long stock) but it was just too small to handle well in that the barrels and forend were just swamped by my hand. The 16 is just the right size though. 

[shalfordninja33]

I inherited a leech sxs 16bore 2 years ago. It’s lovely to carry, well balanced and not overly light in comparison to my usual o/u 12 bore. A joy to shoot with ounce loads. 

I keep eyeing up the 16 bore b rizzini as something a little different to put in the cabinet.

[Old Boggy]

13 minutes ago, shalfordninja33 said:

I inherited a leech sxs 16bore 2 years ago. It’s lovely to carry, well balanced and not overly light in comparison to my usual o/u 12 bore. A joy to shoot with ounce loads. 

I keep eyeing up the 16 bore b rizzini as something a little different to put in the cabinet.

Chalk and cheese come to mind. Your 16g Leech sounds a great gun and no doubt is good to own,  shoot and carry around all day.

Whilst B.Rizzinis are very good guns, but their 16g O/Us weigh in at over 7 lbs which in my view defeats the object of having it in 16g. I had a 16g Macnab Highlander (made B.Rizzini and similar to their Aurum) which weighed 7 lbs 6 oz. I've now got a 16g Lincoln Prestige which is a lovely gun to shoot, but will always keep my 16g SxSs.

The Lincoln (FAIR) range seem to be one of, if not, the only maker who makes 16s on truly scaled down actions weighing around 6 1/2 lbs.

Just my thoughts. Others will probably have their own views.

OB

[hawkfanz]

i dont use a 16g but rate the 20g as highly as the other users do about their 16g,

[theshootist]

1 hour ago, Old Boggy said:

Chalk and cheese come to mind. Your 16g Leech sounds a great gun and no doubt is good to own,  shoot and carry around all day.

Whilst B.Rizzinis are very good guns, but their 16g O/Us weigh in at over 7 lbs which in my view defeats the object of having it in 16g. I had a 16g Macnab Highlander (made B.Rizzini and similar to their Aurum) which weighed 7 lbs 6 oz. I've now got a 16g Lincoln Prestige which is a lovely gun to shoot, but will always keep my 16g SxSs.

The Lincoln (FAIR) range seem to be one of, if not, the only maker who makes 16s on truly scaled down actions weighing around 6 1/2 lbs.

Just my thoughts. Others will probably have their own views.

OB

I understand that Lincoln guns are built on properly sized actions. I know that the Lincoln 28 bores are on a proper 28 bore action rather than a 20 bore like some other makes. 

[shalfordninja33]

8 hours ago, Old Boggy said:

Chalk and cheese come to mind. Your 16g Leech sounds a great gun and no doubt is good to own,  shoot and carry around all day.

Whilst B.Rizzinis are very good guns, but their 16g O/Us weigh in at over 7 lbs which in my view defeats the object of having it in 16g. I had a 16g Macnab Highlander (made B.Rizzini and similar to their Aurum) which weighed 7 lbs 6 oz. I've now got a 16g Lincoln Prestige which is a lovely gun to shoot, but will always keep my 16g SxSs.

The Lincoln (FAIR) range seem to be one of, if not, the only maker who makes 16s on truly scaled down actions weighing around 6 1/2 lbs.

Just my thoughts. Others will probably have their own views.

OB

OB thank you for the advice, I’ll certainly look at the Lincoln before making any purchase. 

[button]

Out of interest what should a 16 bore o/u weigh with 30 in barrels?

[Old Boggy]

32 minutes ago, shalfordninja33 said:

OB thank you for the advice, I’ll certainly look at the Lincoln before making any purchase. 

There are (or were) two 16g Lincoln Prestiges for sale on PW.

One secondhand one being sold by Pickerup5 and a new one being sold by Sabel25. 

Well worth a look.

OB

[Old Boggy]

7 minutes ago, button said:

Out of interest what should a 16 bore o/u weigh with 30 in barrels?

My 16g Lincoln Prestige has 28 inch barrels and weighs 6 lbs 4 oz, so I think that one with 30 inch barrels would be around 6 1/2 lbs.

OB

[button]

10 minutes ago, Old Boggy said:

My 16g Lincoln Prestige has 28 inch barrels and weighs 6 lbs 4 oz, so I think that one with 30 inch barrels would be around 6 1/2 lbs.

OB

Thanks for that

The reason I asked is Browning have got the 525 in 16 bore and the shop said it was a scaled action yet it weighs over 7lb which seemed heavy 

[Tollerman]

You might consider an AYA no.4 in sixteen bore  .

I've had one for a few years now and do most of my game shooting with it.Some people have a problem with double trigger sxs guns but in all honesty it soon becomes the norm.Strange as it may seem it's something I always wanted and will hopefully carry on using for as long as I'm able to shoot.