They made them as I have a match to Rich's gun one serial number off. They also made shells for the 16 for skeet I have some Winchester Skeet shells in my collection in 16. Again why when the 16 was not shot in registered skeet.

I think when the game was first developed every guage other than the 8 & 10 guages were used hence the 16 as a skeet guage. It may have been used early on in registered shooting but I don't know. Perhaps Mr. Murphy could clear this up.

since the game was developed by New England grouse shooters who are known to ascribed magical powers to the 16 - :rotf:

and Foster, a grouse hunter known for his 16 guage "little gun" - came up with the idea of cutting the clock in half to give us the modern skeet course -

why wouldn't they have shot the game with it with it?

even though it was eventually classed with the 12 as regulations grew, it was still what a lot of them shot.

It is my understanding that you can/could still shoot a 16 in registered skeet. You would shoot in the 12 ga class. Many older shooters shoot their 20's in 12 as they are recoil sensitive. I believe the first National shoot was won w/ a 16 and it may well have been a Parker. It may have been high overall in Juniors- how quickly our memories dim.

There was a separate thread not long ago about the 16g being used in skeet. Check it out.

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthr...ighlight=Skeet

The linked thread tells it all. However, in a nutshell, skeet is largely classified by shot weight except that you can't shoot a bigger gun than the class you are in. The 16 could always shoot in the 12 gauge class. Dick Shaughnessy won a National Championship in 12 gauge class in 1936 shooting a 16 gauge Model 21. I'm sure many championships have been won over the years with the 16, but this is the only known National Championship won with the 16. Today, many NSSA championships in the 12 gauge class are won with the 20 gauge gun, including World Championships, which are the same as the old National Championships, renamed.