Nomercy

There's no denying the LOAD versatility of the 12ga, go into any gunshop and you'll find two dozen loads for 12ga with ease.

You might get lucky and find 10loads in 16ga, but typically you're only going to find about 5 if you find any at all.

I personally prefer the 16ga, the old addage "the punch of a 12 with the kick of a 20" is VERY true. The ONLY downfall of the 16ga is the lack of exposure, and the low availability of guns and ammo. I'm DYING to find a new 870 16ga, haven't been able to get one in any store yet, so I've got to be satisfied with my current SxS and single shot 16ga shotguns.

I got my first 16ga on my 16th birthday as kind of a joke, it was an OLD Ward's Hercules SxS, my dad had bought it for $45, I cleaned it up, shot it for several years, then sold it for $120 and put the money to a new SxS 16ga Stoeger. I used it for geese, ducks, upland game, and small game, as well as for trap, skeet, and clay games. I REALLY appreciated it for clay games since it's such a light kicker, but still has a pretty good shot count.