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Aaron,
Those sound like nice rifles but I still hold the opinion that the 12 gauge frame is better for building the larger sized conversion guns on. One area that many people never consider is strength through the wrist area of the stock. If you shape these areas the same way on a 16 gauge frame and a 12 gauge frame, the 16 gauge stock will be more apt to fail in that area than the 12 gauge will.

These larger calibers produce substantially more free recoil than any 12 gauge would normally put out. I purposely build up this area on new conversion stocks just to help handle the recoil. When you look at the amount of wood in contact with the action of many of these shotguns, it is no wonder that some of them fail after a few years, especially the sidelock guns. Constant pounding, even with the lighter shotgun loads will cause them to fail after a few years, then you add in oil into the head of the stock due to poor cleaning and storage techniques, and you have a gun that is certain to fail.

That alone is reason enough for me to go with the larger 12 gauge frame and stock. The 12's don't have to weigh that much more than the 16 gauges do, nor do they have to balance that much differently, all that is done during the barrel profiling. Depending on caliber used, you can have a gun that balances on or near the hingepin and weighs as little as 7.5 to 8 pounds. The recoil and your shoulder will tell you if and when you have gone too far. Your bigger calibers are better off weighing 9 to 11 pounds anyway. 577's should weigh at least 12 to 15 pounds, but those need to be built on magnum 10 gauge frames only. Bob

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