This is a very helpful thread full of factual information.There are a few other things that come into play on 16ga. Smith guns that can greatly increase recoil and abuse on the stocks.The earlier guns had bores that were .010-.015 smaller in diameter than the later ones.Some of the newer plastic wads used from across the pond are much larger in diameter than our domestic ones for 16ga. and also bigger than what was loaded years ago.I have tried driving some of these newer wads thru my older smith with a wooden dowel rod and it took a great deal of force from hammer blows.If you have a gun with a small bore,large wads and the shell being too long for a given chamber,don't be surprise if it has lots of recoil.Hence I find many of these old 16ga.guns with cracked stocks.I am an advocate of cutting cones and chambers,but that's my opinion.Charlie.