Caribou Gear

Recommendations for 16 gauge shotgun

Puglisi's is a real interesting place. A bit more long in the tooth than I expected, but the frescoes will still pretty interesting for contrasting with the firearms. His prices seem pretty darn high, but he may deal. I've never tried to buy from him.

Watching Cabelas in Owatonna isn't a bad idea either.
 
Charlie at Hills has bent three stocks for this southpaw. Two CZ's (one a Bobwhite 16) and one Browning O/U (my other 16) - he's not only a snobby high end guy. He's always done right by me, he's a lone small businessman, and I've ran into him out in the field where we talked dogs, guns, and birds. He's the real deal. fyi....
 
onpoint, thanks for that. He consistently has 3-4 guns that are really interesting to me, but slightly out of reach usually. That said, I don't think his prices are characteristically high - just my wants.
 
Don't bet on it going over your limit. Prices are soft on doubles these days. Bid low (and beware of the hammer price that the house adds as a percentage). The worst that can happen is that you do not get it.

In my one experience (a vintage 03 sporter that I later blew up) I found this auction house to be quite honest. Email them and ask about any specific guns you find interesting. They will answer any questions as best as they can. Ask for more pictures (be specific) and so forth. I would ask to see the proofs and to have them measure the chambers. If proofed for 2.5" shells but opened to 2.75" then you might want some barrel wall thickness measures ahead of the chamber. Perhaps those 0.022" measures were in this area. But checking the proofs against the actual chambers would be a good idea.

I would not hesitate to open chokes. This is not a collector gun. It's a user and shooter. I would open up the right barrel to Improved or so, and leave the left at light full - but I am mostly a pheasant guy.
 
You're making this more difficult than it needs to be. There are some very good SxS 16s on the market. It's not a big deal to have to the stock bent, and you can open chokes. My Sauer was F/F and it cost me about $150 to open those to IC/Mod. I paid $1100 for the gun. It shoots all modern 2 3/4" ammo, but I tend to shy away from the heavy field loads because 1) they are unnecessary and 2) mine is a light gun that I want to put a lot of rounds through.
 
Heck, making it difficult is synonymous with making it fun :)

But bending stocks, is not always a small deal. American black walnut, guns with through bolts and some grain patterns matter a lot. Perfect slab or quartersawn European walnut or California english is different that way and easier. But if bending is in play, some care is needed. Also, lengthened chambers can cause issues with safety.
 
I recently picked up a Franchi Instinct SL in 16. It carry's like a dream with great fit and finish. I'm lucky enough to find shells for it where I live. Lively yet manageable recoil for being such a light gun.
 
no, but I've heard about it many times..

now that the gun library at Cabelas has gone to crap, I need to make a concerted effort to get there when I pass through.
 
Looking for recommendations on new production (or high quality used) 16 gauge shotgun for upland hunting. Biased towards semi-auto, but O/U also is a possibility. Pump, breach and SxS are not of interest for this purchase. I want to use choke tubes, not fixed. Would like to keep the price under $2,000 with chokes. Guns that lend themselves to adjusting for heavy cast-off are a plus.


When I hear 16ga I think...I'll take my 20. :D

I do believe the new style Browning A5 comes in a 16ga. Give that a look.
 
I love my 16's but you might not. One is a mod 37 Ithica. Had it for years and finally used it this year, shot a dove with it! I started out with ump's and the cream of the crop for me was the mod 37. Ya might consider guage. If you reload, I thing 12ga is probably the way to go. When I shot a 12ga I loaded target loads with heavier shot in them. Favorite all around load was 1 1/8th oz 6's at 1200fps. Favorite load in my 16ga is 1 1/8th 6's at 1200 fps! My other 16gs is an AyA 16ga SxS. I love SxS's. If it was an auto there's some on Guns Iternational I like the looks of but maybe not in 16ga. Going 16ga you limit what you can get. For upland a 20ga would probably work just fine, has for a lot of people. For my self my go to gun is a 28ga SxS. Draw back is price of field loads, expensive! Rather than buy field loads I bought a flat of target loads and a 28ga loader! Found that in it target loads with the shot size adjusted also works fine. I'm not a fan of recoil! I'm not a big fan of O/U's but I had a Savage in 20ga I really liked. Had a Citioa in 20ga that did nothing for me but most people with them think they are great, I sold mine!

 
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