Why didnt they create a 3 inch for a 16 gauge?

[BIGCOUNTRY01]

I have always wondered why the never created a 3 for a 16 gauge. I have read that they did make one years ago. The first shotguns i ever owned was an old sear roebuck 20 gauge with a poly choke that was my dads. Then after my grandpa passed my dad gave me my grandpas old savage semi auto 16 gauge it has some real nice engravings on them of bird dogs. I have killed a lot of doves rabbits and squirrels with this shotgun but i have always wondered why not a 3 inch or even a 3 and a half? Any ideas?

 

[Dawico]

While the 16 gauge is a good round, it is also a dying round. The 20 and 12 pretty much have it covered up in performance and price. It just isn't needed.

Don't get me wrong, I know many shooters that swear by the 16 and they will never give them up.

But a longer round requires a new gun or atleast a new barrel. Not many makers are even making a 16 guage as it is now.

Simply put, apparently there isn't a market for it or somebody would do it.

 

[arpuff]

cool

 

[Texasjack]

At one time there was a pretty wide range of gauges commonly available. Of course, there wasn't nearly as wide a range of loads available as there are now. 10 gauge fell out of favor until steel shot came along and kinda resurrected it for goose hunting. 28 gauge is really only popular for skeet shooters. Everybody else settled in on 12 and 20 gauges as the most popular "heavy" and "light" shotguns. 16 gauge is a great size that falls right in between, but somehow it's become the Edsel of the shotgun world. Don't look for any manufacturer to go out of their way expanding a poor selling diameter.

 

[Jon Payne]

The 3" 20 gauge doomed the 16. I still hunt with the 16, it was meant to have almost the payload of the 2 3/4 12ga without the recoil. It s excellent for dove and quail. Some like it for pheasant. I got my first limit of dove with the 16 and continue to use it. It's more nostalgia than sense, but I like Rolex and Omega over Timex too.


The two most dangerous places in today's world:
1.) a gun free zone
2.) your comfort zone

 

[TX69]

I had a 16 pump when I was a kid and loved that gun. I was super accurate with it shooting skeet and brought down many ducks and geese with it. I think my father still has it? It has some blonde beehive furniture and some nice bluing. Its technically still my fathers and I think it was from the 50's and I do not know the model. After that we go into Beretta 12ga Semis and never have had anything else.

 

[Charlie]

I had a 16 ga. Winchester Model '97 (what the "trench" gun was made from). It was an exposed hammer pump with a 28 or 30 inch barrel. If you held the trigger down and pumped, it would fire upon pushing the slide back to the front. I grew up hunting dove in central Texas and loved that gun. I'd still have it today if some sumbitch hadn't stolen it out of our house many years ago.

 

[Acera]

I think they did make a 16 gauge in 3 inch. It did not get popular and there is little on the web about it, but there are references to it. Might check with a cartridge collector to find out more.