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I was hoping you’d chime in Grouse! Knowing you’re a 16 fan, I was thinking that if you didn’t know, you’d find out! 
Anyway, thanks for doing so. When you say “repeater”, is that including pumps? From what I was told the Browning BPS was no longer available in 16.
Great story about your dad! Sounds like our paternal experiences may be similar! My dad does the same kind of things from time to time. Gotta love ’em!
Yes, by repeaters I mean pumps and autos.
I thought the BPS 16 went out of production years ago. Browning had tended to do 16 gauge guns like the BPS, A5, and Citori in limited runs, so it’s hard to tell what’s in “production” currently because modern production was sporadic to begin with.
I have a friend who has the Citori in 16 gauge. Awesome grouse and pheasant gun and beautiful besides. The only detractor, to my eye at least, is that it has the Browning high-gloss finish, which I think makes te stock look plastic.
Remington did a limited run of 16 gauge 1100s back in the 1990s and aparently they were (are?) available from distributors well into the 2000s. They also have done runs of 870s at various times, again I think he last one was in the early 90s, but that’s from memory so there may have been more recent ones.
If you want a 16, there are still plenty of choices in the used market. I think a lot of people think the 16 was always rare, which is absolutely not the case. The 16 was far more common than the 20 until it started to decline after the 1960s.
So what caused the decline? Did the 16 gauge leap, or was it pushed out of favor?
I’d say all evidence points to the 16 being pushed. The decline of the 16 gauge tracks almost perfectly with the implementation of steel shot requirements for waterfowl.
There is no point in calling it “non-toxic” shot, the only option when the rules came in was steel. And the 16 suddenly was out of favor because it simply didn’t have the payload and there was no 3 inch magnum offering. Game, set, and match to the 12.
I think a lot of younger guys don’t realize how tramatic it was for hunters who went through the transition from lead to steel for waterfowl. My father hunted with a 20 gauge Model 11 since the age of 8 and for jump shooting ND and western MN pothole ducks, he always used the 20 gauge up into the 1970s! And that would be a 20 gauge with 2 3/4 inch shells. According to him, there was no point in shooting ducks up by using a “big” gun like the 16 when the were so close.
Suddenly, almost 30 years after he learned to shoot, steel is the law and, man, I can remember some of those early “cursing sessions” trying to come to terms with the faster, lighter steel. It was like learning to shoot all over again.
There will always be plenty of 16 gauges on the market for those who are interested. For example, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the Remington 48 and 58 models. They were recoil operated autos, and Remington made plenty of them in 16.
Also, there were hundreds of thousands or millions of Browning A5s made in 16 over the years. Of all the 16s, outside of higher-end doubles, the A5 is the gun I see the most of and in the best overall condition. You can have a NRA VG grade gun for $800 in an A5.
Grouse
I have an old 28 gauge single shot, looks like hell but it still shoots 