Introduction

You don’t need to be a shotgun connoisseur to understand a nice shotgun when you pick it up. I am neither a connoisseur nor even a serious shotgunner, but I’ve shot enough of the finer ones to know what it feels like. Today we’ll venture into to another story about a handsome double, the Browning Citori 16 Gauge.

The Citori Quail 16 Gauge

The Browning Citori line of shotguns has long been famous for its quality and performance. A beautiful match of attractive wood and steel are the basis for the gun, matched with a pair of 28-inch sixteen-gauge barrels. The receiver has beautifully engraved patterns to match its clean and smooth lines. Like most over & under shotguns, the gun is opened with a lever on the spine of the action. The Citori features a full-width tapered locking bolt, this makes for additional strength in keeping the gun closed. The locking mechanism is also tapered, allowing it to seat ever deeper with the wear that will occur over decades.
Behind that, is the safety selector. Again, like most over & under shotguns, the safety doubles as a barrel selector. You can slide the safety left and right to choose which of the two barrels to shoot first, and fore and aft to select safe or fire.

The mechanical intricacies are beautiful, the ejector system utilizes a spring to drive up the impact of the ejector upon opening the gun fully. This ensures that spent hulls are thrown clear of the breach, allowing for fast and unobstructed reloads. The ejector springs are only actuated upon firing that chamber, so unfired shells are easily retrieved from the chambers.
This gun featured two and three-quarter-inch chrome-lined chambers, and an elevated rib for better sighting picture against the bead at the end.

Sweet Sixteen

I’d never been fortunate enough to play with a sixteen-gauge gun. I’d shot countless twelve gauges, twenties, .410’s and ten gauge shotguns. But the little sixteen was new to me, and new things are usually a little bit exciting. Being a little bit bigger than the twenty gauge, I figured the sixteen would be great for wing-shooting small birds like those portrayed in the little Browning’s engravings. Doves and quail seem like an obvious choice, but ducks and pheasants would also be a perfect target for this gun.
The first issue I ran into was ammo related, turns out that in our current ammunition situation, sixteen-gauge ammo is a little more difficult to find than others. But I was lucky enough to land a couple boxes of Federal ammunition, one was a fairly standard trap load of 1 oz 8 shot. The other was a hunting load, ideal for a pheasant hunt loaded with #4 shot loaded a bit quick at 1425 fps. I was going to shoot it all to see what I did and didn’t like about this little gun. Continue Reading Here…

A BOX OF ‘BIRDS’

With a box of clay birds in the back of the truck, I took the Citori into the beautiful green Rocky Mountains. Hand-thrown clays seem to be the most fun for me, surprises and challenges are much easier to present to the shooter. We began throwing targets among some aspen and pine trees to help add in a little bit of a hunting feel.

The first shots from the Browning were smooth and easy – It is after all just a shotgun. There was a noticeable difference between the two different types of ammunition, which was expected. The slower load was very pleasant shooting, and it would have been great for a young shooter learning the art of shotgunning. The faster load carried some more pep but still felt just like a normal shotgun push to me.

We hammered through the targets, scattering clay all over. The Citori was as smooth as could be, easy to open, and it fit me well enough to hit a pretty good percentage of birds. Everything about the way it worked just seemed so refined, from loading and shooting to ejecting empties. It all felt like it was on an assembly line timed with a chain.

The Invector choke system, like most others, is easily understood and quick to change for whatever your shooting regimen might require.

HUNTING REAL BIRDS

The upland game hunt had recently started here, so my next mission with the Browning was to find some upland birds. The cool air of a September morning always gets me excited, but I was even more excited as I crested the tops of the mountains and began spotting birds. It was a surprising number of birds, to be honest.

I worked my way into a little bowl where I had seen some large blue grouse working along a tree line. As usual, the birds are near invisible unless they move or pop out right in front of you with a startling outburst of feathers and noise. The Browning and I responded in kind, making our own outburst of feathers and noise. 

We managed to take a couple of grouse and one dove during the hunt that day. The Citori was an excellent companion for such a hunt and granted a touch of extra class to it as well. 

 

CONCLUSION

Just as I suspected might be the case, I was quite enamored by this little shotgun. Despite not being a shotgun aficionado, I still greatly enjoyed my time shooting it. The 16-gauge chambering might be a little extraordinary for my high-volume taste, so perhaps another Citori with chambers for 12 gauge would better fit my shotgun needs. But if you like something different, this would be an easy bet to win on.

The flawless function of the gun, paired with the beautiful manufacturing and finish, make it an outstanding choice for those looking for a quality double. If I keep getting guns like this one, I may have to become a real shotgun aficionado.

-CBM