Last weekend I picked up a Rem 870 express 16ga. While not a pretty gun (black synthetic/matte finish) the price was right. I think they are supposed to retail for around 300. I got mine for $160.

Anyway what is your load of choice? Great Falls area has a limited selection for 16 gauge.

I like to keep 'em under an ounce, 7/8ths is good.

Link to a 16 ga site.
http://www.16ga.com/cartridges.html

16 ga is a wonderful round.

I have 4 shotguns in 16. They throw a nice slug also for deer or hogs.

quote:

Anyway what is your load of choice?

For what?

Loads for upland and small game. I managed to find 1 box of Remington express (yellow/green box) in 4 shot.

Mthuntr:

Randy Wakeman asked the right question. #4s are not necessary on any upland birds. Using a 16 gauge doen't mean that shot size has to be increased. Also (just to nail the point down) field loads do just fine from a 16. Enjoy your shotgun. This old man used a 16 for many years on pheasants and ruffed grouse and never felt the slightest bit handicapped because it wasn't a 12. Fact.

1 oz. is the std. 16 ga. load and always has been. 1 oz. of 7-1/2 shot for dove, 1-1/8 oz. of #5 for pheasant.

16 ga. shells are inexpensive compared to 28 ga. and .410, and are easy to come by. Fiocchi has the line well-covered. Loaded shotshells are not Haz-Mat, so a phone call to Graf & Sons gets you what you want.

Am guilty of owning three 16 gauges. Ballistic Products has a good selection of 16 ga loads if you have to mail order, Grafs might be a bit cheaper, UPS is expensive. Wal Mart in Bozeman had a pretty good selection of 16 ga last time I was there. 1 oz works on pheasants, chukar,etc.

art in wyoming

The 16-gauge, it feels like a 20 in the hands, but kills like a 12.

Since buying a 16-gauge, I only hunt with a 12-gauge when non-toxic shot is required.

I use 1-ounce loads of #6 for pheasant, chukar, and grouse. I use 1-ounce loads of #8 for quail and dove.

well mt you've already have the answer with just go with the proper shot for your game you are taking i've been hunting with the 16ga for 24yrs and i presently own 4 16ga shotguns and of all my shotguns i have to die before someone else gets the 16's i shot my first deer with a ithaca mod 37 at over a 100 yds

Loud-n-boomer:

I loved that remark of yours that a 16 feels like a 20 but kills like a 12! You have said in one sentence what a lot of us old 16 ga. lovers (Yeah, we loved the 16) want to say. For the benefit of younger shotgunners let me say that when the 16 was in its heyday, we never looked much at the 20. The 20 began to push out the 16 because of a decision by the gun companies to start beefing up the 20's loads -and to sell more shotguns by offering another worthwhile gauge. ( I hasten to say that I have shot wild pheasants with a 20 and do not deny its effectiveness. I'm just defending a grand old gauge as the 16)

I managed to take my new 16 on three grouse/partridge hunts this season so far (since I'm guilty of chasing deer and elk until the season was over). It performed flawlessly. I decided to shoot 6 shot in the Federal variety. I found that Big Bear had two boxes in stock and they worked wonders. Killed three grouse and two partridge on a piece of Block Management that has been hunted really hard.

Two words about the gun "Killin Machine" God bless the 16 gauge.

Welcome to the world of a 16ga. I like 7/12-8 shot for quail and dove with 1oz loads. I go to 1 1/8 #6 shot load for pheasant. I have two Browning Citoris' and plan on getting a couple more in the 16 since they are making limited runs on them again.

I am a fan of the 16 ga, and use a 16 for all of my upland hunting, but hese statements that a "16 ga feels like a 20 ga but kills like a 12 ga", etc. are nonsense, and just serve to show how uninformed many hunters are about shotguns and loads. It is true that a 16 'can' feel like a 20, but that's ONLY if the 16 ga barrel(s) are mated to a gauge-proportionate frame. A 16 ga barrel(s) on a 12 ga frame feels like a 12 gauge, and is one of the reasons why many people over the years have failed to see the point of the 16 ga (in other words, if I'm going to have to carry a 12 ga, then it may as well actually be a 12 ga). The fact is that 20, a 16, and 12 gauge guns, when shooting the exact same loads (for example 1 oz of #6 shot at 1250 fps) all hit EQUALLY hard, with the EXACT SAME amount of pellets, of the EXACT SAME size, and arrive at the target at (more or less) the EXACT SAME time. Same loads, same "killing power". The only thing that will vary among these gauges is the patterning, since the ONLY VARIABLE is the diameter of the tubes that the loads are forced through. Now here's where the 16 gauge shines for upland hunting. The 1 oz load that's so much favored is, in fact, "perfect" for the 16 ga, and the 16 ga is "perfect" for it, because since 16 ounces make up one pound, and because the gauge of a shotgun represents the number of balls of a given gauge that make up one pound, that means that a 1 oz load is about as wide as it is deep, meaning that it's the "perfect" "square" load. Shotgun ballistics disctate that the "square" load delivers optimum patterns, and therefore also mean that the 16 gauge shooting a typical 1 oz upland bird load will deliver the optimum shaped pellet cluster at the point of impact. THAT, combined with the fantastic lightweight feel of a properly built 16 (especially in a properly built double) is the reason why the 16 gauge is so great. It has NOTHING to do with "killing power". That's just misinformation.

Muggles:

Don't be too hard on Loud-n-Boomer because of his remark about a 16 killing like a 12. I took it (and I'm sure most of us did) to simply be saying that a 16 was doing what a 12 would do -because, let's face it - the 12 is the premier bird killer among shotguns and he was making a nice descriptive remark. He was not saying that in all circumstances that the 16 would do what the 12 does. I do have to say that despite your figures and math that the difference in "killing power" among gauges is also measured in the number of pellets in the pattern at a given range - and the 12's superiority at long range on big birds is unquestioned - unless you feel perfectly comfortable shooting at a crossing Canada at 40 yards in wind with anything less than a 12. Mathematically it can be proven that a bumble bee can't fly (ratio of wing span to body mass is insufficient) So it is with "killing power" of the gauges. Each of us has his own personal experience as to what works and what doesn't.

Gerry,
Thanks for the reply, and nice to hear from a fellow NY guy. I agree that the 12 is superior on long range shots at birds, but the key to that is that the 12 can properly accommodate (better than the 16 gauge can) the particular loads that cause that fact to be true. The longer range shot that you describe might be best made using a 3" shell loaded with 1 1/4 oz of #4 shot and a high pressure/high velocity charge. In such a case, the 12 gauge is far better suited than the 16 would be. The point is that the 12 is better suited to the situation precisely because it involves use of a load that the 16 is not well suited to fire, and so the 12 gauge can better accommodate the particular shooting situation. If this weren't true, then a single gauge would be ideal for everything, and that's clearly not true. Have a great new year.

Bass Pro carries a lot of 16gauge, if there's one near you.

You can also order it online for under $4.00/box before shipping.

Steve