Terminal columns, an unnecessary(!) max width limit set in 16.04?

CTRL+ALT+T and then
Menu: Edit > Profile Preferences > gives you this dialog:

NOTE: This defines the INITIAL size of the Terminal window.

With this settings (which is similar to what I used in 14.04) doesn't make the terminal be 160 columns, but in Terminal 3.18.3 I see:

Linux wkbx 4.4.0-34-generic #53-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jul 27 16:06:39 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux           
.bash_aliases executed in 0 seconds. tty has 113/64 columns/lines.

Note the last sentence, as output from.

echo "tty has $(tput cols)/$(tput lines) columns/lines."

NOTE: I have no trouble resizing but wish to have it way larger without the "mouse fiddling".
No setting above 113 is obeyed - I wish for a remedy.
Is there REALLY a legitimate REASON for the limit?

Whatever I google turns up non-relevant info, I'm out of ideas.

Dragging out for a larger window,

$ echo "tty has $(tput cols)/$(tput lines) columns/lines."
tty has 213/64 columns/lines.

maximizing window

$ echo "tty has $(tput cols)/$(tput lines) columns/lines."
tty has 283/83 columns/lines.

and smaller again

$ echo "tty has $(tput cols)/$(tput lines) columns/lines."
tty has 96/34 columns/lines.