General consensus among gun magazine writers is the 16ga fell from grace upon the introduction of the 3in 20ga load. I have a 16ga Rem 870 I got when I was 16. I also have a 16ga 1100 still in the original box. Had a bunch of other 16ga guns , but sold them over the years. I have a good supply of 16ga shells. Used to grab any I saw at gunshows , no matter how old.


Years ago Walmart had shotgun shells on sale for $3 or 4 a box. They had a pallet of cases of 12ga game loads , a pallet of 20ga , and 3 cases of 16ga. Yep , I grabbed all 3.