Good points, Dean. I kind of pictured heavy 12 and 10 gauge as waterfowl guns, I hadn’t thought about pheasant or deer use for them. I was leaning toward the idea a 7-7 1/2 pound 12 gauge was probably what pheasant/prairie hunters used because of all the walking and carrying vs. a duck blind. Vintage guns offered for sale now likely don’t represent actual production/use back then.
One exception to heavy/tightly choked vintage guns I’ve run into is that a higher percentage of 12 gauge Colt 1883 shotguns offered seem to have light barrels and be light guns, even if tightly choked.
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