Anyone shoot a 28 ga. here?

[Little Buck]

I'm really intrigued by the little 28. I had a CZ Woodcock and it was a delight to carry and shoot.

I'm keeping my eyes open for another, but this time the barrels will be horizontal rather than vertical (just a personal preference).

Any 28 aficionados here?

LB

[Bayrat]

There are quite a few old timers who speak lovingly of their 28's, but have given up using them for a number of reasons.

Ammo choices pretty well dried up. If 28 field loads can be found, they're expensive.

A few diehards reload for 28, but the lack of component choices and the higher cost of 28 reloading components made life alot easier to just switch to the 20 ga.

There has long been debates about the 28 vs the 20 and how the 20's are just as field handy, shoot more efficient loads, and have better ammo choices at more reasonable prices.

And some of the 12 ga-or-nothing crowd, think that if you want to challenge yourself with a small gun, use a 410. :D

Bayrat

[Greg Rodriguez]

I love my 28s. I use a Beretta Silver Pigeon V O/U with 20 and 28 gauge barrels for dove and quail. I also have a side-by-side AyA No.1 round action 28. It is my absolute favorite gauge and the AyA is my favorite gun for walking up wild quail behind dogs. It is a soft-shooting, efficient little killer.

[Herne]

Was lent for a long time a matched set of 3 with consecutive serial numbers by Greener, with the unusual Greener side safety.

Nice guns, but I'd still rather the 12 for walked up partridge, and for driven game like pheasant and grouse or partridge you want that reach on the first barrel, if you are going to fire one, load 1, one in front one behind. I remember one drive in Suffolk, with driven partridge out of sugar beet. I was in a slight gully, and every bird in creation swung down that ravine. With that habit of the covey exploding as soon as they see movement, I was very glad of that long first round. I was mad keen on shotgunnng then - before I took up stalking deer professionally, so I could actually use a shotgun. Good drive!

We don't shoot doves, only woodpigeons, and they are a much bigger bird. A lighter shooting gun is an advantage, and I always used a 20 over decoys. Flighting into tall trees you need the reach again, because they have the habit of circling very high, and then dropping steeply in. I shot over 150 with a 12 one afternoon, and the headache was considerable even though it was only a 1 1/16 oz game load. Still one wants a hot barrel day every once in a while.

Both side by side AYAs, but pre the round action No 1.

28 - lovely looking guns, and very delicate of line, but as an effective all rounder....If I was going light I think I'd take a nice 12 and use 7/8 oz loads, or even a lower velocity 1 oz load. The square charge has certain advantages, and the pattern density will be better for smaller game. As it was I followed the Ruffer approach - a lower velocity load, using smaller shot UK7, which I think equates to your 71/2. Load 1 1/4 oz and have very open chokes - mine were improved left and true right. Ie a big spread well filled to give the most strikes on a target. Worked well, and as it happened, in Ireland we shot a lot of snipe, and of course that recipe worked well on such small jinking targets, driven or walked up.

Would the smaller bore be better - possibly with jinking snipe, but its difficult to beat that big spread. The game birds don't jink much walked up, even if they curve a bit in the wind, so for me, pattern density and spread would seem to be more of an advantage over handling, but then a good light side by side 12 like the AYA, or a Churchill or whatever is a pretty decent handling gun.

[Bayrat]

Herne,

were improved left and true right.

I assume that's what we Yanks would call 'improved cylinder' (IC), and 'cylinder bore' (cyl.) ?

Agreed the larger bore gives more versatility, but those 28's are good looking field guns. If we still had birds to shoot here abouts, and 28 ga ammo wasn't almost as rare as the game byrds, I'd probably be talked into one in by now.

Bayrat.

[Sabre]

Herne,


I assume that's what we Yanks would call 'improved cylinder' (IC), and 'cylinder bore' (cyl.) ?

Agreed the larger bore gives more versatility, but those 28's are good looking field guns. If we still had birds to shoot here abouts, and 28 ga ammo wasn't almost as rare as the game byrds, I'd probably be talked into one in by now.

Bayrat.

Hey Bayrat, we've still got birds here. I shot 8 partridges and 5 pheasants last season. There aren't as many as there used to be and it takes alot of walking sometimes but they aren't quite extinct yet.;)

[Herne]

I imagine- Improved is a bit less choke than 1/4 but not quite a True cylinder (no choke at all).

Generally the smaller bores carry a little more choke than a 12 bore would just to keep the shot pattern together for a little longer.

I can see that for upland game walked up over long distances, like our walked up grouse, a light gun would be a help. So is a good dog that doesn't run in and flush when the birds are way out!!! If your dog isn't so steady, then a 12 might be useful!

The only thing about a 28 or even a 24 is that you are in the area of diminishing returns. Its not a lot lighter than a 20 S/S but you are really getting well down the effectiveness scale unless you are always dead dead accurate. So I think a 20 is probably as small as one would usefully go and still retain grown up effectiveness? Is a 28 much more than a 410 extra long? I don't think so.

The other one that never gets mentioned these days is a 16 - used to be quite popular as a good boys gun, in the days when people were rich enough to have a pair made for the lad at teen-age!

[Sabre]

16 is perfect in scale for a side by side. Anything smaller looks like a cork gun and the 12 looks like a blunderbuss.

[Bayrat]

Saber,

I remember Doug, the hunter safety instructor from the Bainbridge club talked of doing quite a bit of bird hunting down your way.

Not much up here though. So few that if you mention you've seen a bird, the other bird hunters start treating you REAL nice in hopes they get invited along!:rolleyes:

Some years back two friends and I spent a morning covering the 300 acres of hay fields and woods we hunt - nothing !!!!!

We couldn't even find the grouse that I would hear drumming almost every morning near my deer stand.

A few weeks later I came home and there was a Pheasent in my back yard ..... and no discharging firearms within the village limits ! :mad:

The past couple of weeks we've spotted one pheasent while glassing some hay fields and wood line for woodchucks.

That's been it in the 17 years I've lived here.

Local family that hunts pheasent alot said forget it around here - they go just west of the finger lakes, or even further to some State out in the midwest. :confused:

Bayrat.

[Bayrat]

I don't know of anyone birding with a 16, but quite a few old timers still have, and use, the 16 ga Ithica deer slayers they got as kids.

A trap shooting friend still not-to-fondly talks about being pounded by one as a kid ! A light 16 shooting deer slugs ...some fun !!! :D

I aways made sure we had some 16 ga slugs on hand for our gun club's slug shoot.

Bayrat

[Sabre]

Bayrat, That would have been Doug Smith. I bet he did do alot of bird hunting. He would have known right where to go for pheasants. The Bainbridge sportsman's club gets several hundred pheasants from the state pheasant rearing program every year and releases them all over around the Bainbridge/Coventry/Guilford area. They've been doing it for as far back as I can remember. There are two farms about a half mile up the road from the club where they release a bunch every year. I've shot alot of pheasants off of those farms. BTW now you know someone from the area who uses a 16 gauge SxS for upland bird's....... ME !

[Bayrat]

Sabre,


That would have been Doug Smith. I bet he did do alot of bird hunting. He would have known right where to go for pheasants.

Yeah, I can believe it !!!! He used to get that 'far away' look in his eyes, and the corners of his mouth would slowly turn up at just the mention of bird hunting. I kinda figured from that look that folks don't see much of him during bird season !:D

Great guy and an excellent instructor. As I remember, he was one of the few State instructors qualified to teach the other hunter safety instructors.


BTW now you know someone from the area who uses a 16 gauge SxS for upland bird's....... ME !

Cool !!! Must be fun finding shells though....... or do you role your own ?????

Bayrat

[Sabre]

Nah, 16 gauge shells aren't hard to find. K-Mart in Sidney carries Winchester Super-X high brass in #4 & 6 and low brass game loads in 6 & 7 1/2. The Norwich Wal-Mart carries the Remington Express and low brass game loads in the same shot sizes, and Stevens Hardware in Oneonta stocks Winchester in both high and low brass. I usually just use the Super-X high brass sixes for pheasant and the low brass game loads for grouse.

[George Foster]

Sabre,

How long have you lived in or around Bainbridge? I grew up there but haven't been around there much for 45yrs or a little more.

[Sabre]

Sabre,

How long have you lived in or around Bainbridge? I grew up there but haven't been around there much for 45yrs or a little more.

I actually only moved here two years ago after being flooded out of my old home in Delaware county in june '06. However, With the exception of a couple years in Montgomery county, I've lived "in the area" {Delaware, Chenango and Otsego counties} most of my life.

[Lars]

I have two Beretta Silver Pigeon V O/U 28" barrels. Loved it so much when I hunted Mearns I purchased one for my grandson when I got home. Very nice light weight gun which is required when your humping those steep canyons in southern Arizona fo Mearns quail. When you get older like me it's easier getting on those tight holding quick shooting birds.

[howdydoit]

I have an old Winchester 101, well I gave it to my dad. But love that little 28 ga. its a dream to shoot and light enough that my dad can cart it around dove and quail hunting. Its not an expencive pcs but it does work. I shot a little bit of trap with it and id take it over a 12 anyday.

howdy.

[AK-49]

i can't imagine anyone would want a 12 ga except for ducks, geese and turkey... I suppose trap shooters use a 12 ga for the most part.

I think a 28 ga would be pretty sweet except for ammo availability. 28, 20 or 16 but the 20 wins out due to ammo being readily available

[30-338]

When Rem came out with the small action (410/28gr)for the 1100/870 they made some sets got me a nice set of 1100 and I use the 28gr opening of dove season here. Nothing fancy but have a model 12 16ga.

[pepaw]

I also have my grandfather's Rem. auto 28. It is pleasure to shoot.
I took it out for quail over dogs last year instead of my Red Label 20 and only fired 3 shots, but I killed 4 quail.
Shooting clays at camp proved how well this thing shot with a mod. cylinder.
Wish shells were as cheap as 20's.

pepaw

[OKShooter]

I'm really intrigued by the little 28. I had a CZ Woodcock and it was a delight to carry and shoot.

I'm keeping my eyes open for another, but this time the barrels will be horizontal rather than vertical (just a personal preference).

Any 28 aficionados here?

LB

The 28 gauge is my favorite for skeet, dove, and quail. I have used it on pheasant, but I do prefer the 20 gauge for these larger birds. One can load the 28 gauge with up to 7/8 ounce of shot (Lil'Gun in combination with a wad sold by Ballistic Products), but unless one has a 28 gauge they are especially fond of, I don't see the utility of it.

On the other hand, I think it is virtually impossible to beat for a youngster starting to learn about shotgun shooting. It is also difficult to beat skeet for training youngsters to knock down flying birds, and with the light-recoiling 28 gauge they can break birds. The .410 bore is, in my opinion, best suited for those who are already proficient shotgunners. (Yeah, I use the .410 quite a bit at skeet but do not hunt with it.)

Factory ammo for both the 28 gauge and .410 bore is, of course, quite expensive, but they are relatively inexpensive to reload. In both the 28 gauge and .410 bore, the best hull seems to be the Winchester HS, although a shooting buddy of mine is getting good case life out of the .410 bore Remington Premier (Gold) hull. It remains to be seen if he can get 10 or more reloads from this hull, which is the norm for the HS hull.

For dove and quail, the 28 gauge is, indeed, hard to beat. On these little birds, even a standrd 7/8 ounce 20 gauge load can tear them up badly, but the 28 gauge with its 3/4 ounce load will drop them handily without tearing them up.

As one might infer from my comment above, I am a handloader which makes the 28 gauge and .410 bore attractive to me for economic reasons as well as shooting satisfaction. If one must depend upon factory ammunition, the economic attracton for both of these doesn't exist.