Andy, there was a time in the 80s-90s that 16g ammo was very hard to find. I couldn’t find it in any of our local hardware stores and gun shops. First time I found a quantity for sale was around 91-92 when Shawmut Distributors had some. I still have some of those boxes of hunting loads.

The 16ga would likely be my choice if I could only have one shotgun. (I sure hope I never have to pick just one shotgun.)

-Victor

My dad fell for that too. I still have a case of 1980s vintage Remington hunting loads. Plastic hulls with fiber wads. Too hot for my liking

All this talk about 2.5" 16s on the for-sale thread reminded me, I still have a Belgian Browning auto loader. That only takes 2.5 also. I completely forgot I still had that gun because I recall my son saying he wanted it. Being a southpaw, I never liked shooting them.

I believe that’s the first year for the 16 ga Sterlingworth, starting with number 350,000. The first shotgun I ever owned was 350,038. I only sold it because the stock was pinned. It was affordable to me at the time I acquired it.

Back in those days I was in Philthy going to school and all I owned was 20g. I am well aware of why it isn't as popular. In my mind all shotguns are to be loved : )

Between 1995-1998 I was living in Hampton, Virginia. One day I was in a local Wal-Mart with the wife, and I swung by the Sporting Goods section. There was about a dozen or so boxes of NOS 16-gauge Federal Field and Remington Shur-Shot loads in 7.5 and 8 shot.

I bought a couple of them, went back the next day and bought a couple more. Next visit they were gone.

You can still find 16-gauge loads in the local Wal-Mart where I live now. It is usually Remington Express or Federal Game loads in 6 or 7.5 shot.

The only shells we could find were those “booger breaker” game loads and they were snotty! (See what just happened there?) Most guys wouldn’t think of shooting them out of a vintage double. They’d most likely be fine for hunting. A few shots over the course of a day. But I wouldn’t subject old stocks to that pounding in a round of clays.

Edgar, are you're sure it's not 2 9/16" chambers?

I have so many 16's that unless I go to my files to check, I'd probably guess wrong. Let's just say at least 10 but maybe a tad over. For me it's' not the shell or it's payload, but the weight of the gun and its' handling qualities.

I sent a pristine CSMC RBL in 16 down the road because to me it was clunky. I also sold a Paker Trojan because it carried like a 12 to me and I just could not see myself ever picking it over some of my other guns to go hunting. I've also sold others; Foxes, LS Smiths, Masqueliers, Ithacas, Bakers for the same reasons.

Right now, my favorite 16's are a 3-gun battery of Foxes, an XE with 26-inch barrels, another with 28-inch barrels and a 28/30 inch combo custom gun I had built for me and engraved by Geoffroy Gournet that is as nice or nicer than any of the CSMC Foxes ever built. They all get used and run from just under 6 pounds to about 6.5 pounds. They are pretty, but it is the handling qualities that make them useful to me.

As far as availability of shells, all you need to do is get your wallet out and order up some RST's. Complaining is like owning a Bentley and whining about the price of gas.