Two 20-gauge, 3-inch shells deliver 1 5/8 or 1 7/8 ounces of shot. Except it isnt square. We shall see.. Hoobilly The deformity mentioned in the research above by professional ballistician all refer to it as a square load in relation to only the shot column. One expert calculated the effects of shooting a 12 gauge in a 100-target competition with 1-1/8 ounce loads and concluded that, by the end, you will have soaked up nearly a ton of cumulative recoil energy. A 2014 study conducted by Moser and his team showed a direct correlation between the efficiency of a load and this square load ratio. I think they proved the 28 gauge way back before the 28 became a cartridge ! Not all antiquated gauges were lost to history; finding something like a 32-gauge is not completely impossible. The Parker has very little choke in either barrel and that along with a few other things makes it the very best ruffed grouse gun I have ever owned. Phyllis actually prefers to hunt with a Franchi 48AL in 28 gauge because it is a couple of pounds lighter but anytime we decide to break several hundred clay targets in a single day she always takes along the Model 1100. The heaviest .410 load contains less shot than the standard 28, and it won't pattern as well. This is not at all unusual since most hunters are more accurate more often with a gun they love to shoot than with one they dread shooting. Its also safe to shoot through the barrels of older guns, which has brought more 28s back into the fold. At every trigger pull, the dark shoot-and-see turkey target turned neon green. But the true popularity of the 28-gauge came later. My two favorite 28s are side-by-side doubles, a Parker with a Miller trigger and a No 1 grade AyA. There are myths of its origins, a collective misunderstanding of the square load, and a devout following by some of the greatest shotgun experts and writers. The bottom line is the 28 gauge mopped the floor with the 410. Those are a lot of ifs, and they offer clues where the real magic of the 28 gauge may be found, and why some people break more clays or put more game birds in the bag with a 28 than they do with larger gauges. 7.5 through five. To find out, we put both shells head-to-head in a shoot-off. Other reasons could be that our shells didnt like the choke we had in. Its also a pound heavier. I found the article interesting. The maximum effective range of the 28-gauge shotshell has long been debated and I don't expect to end the argument here and now. After a comparison using identical speed, lead size, and chokes, the 20-gauge pattern appeared to open much faster than the 28. Join F&S+ to read exclusive stories by your favorite writers. 2023 Outdoor Sportsman Group. People smarter than me have pointed out that all shotgun ballistics apply except when talking the 28-gauge. | Or, if youre talking about blackpowder, it means equal volumes of powder and shot. Under certain circumstances I too am inclined to ignore tradition and pick 28- gauge guns that are heavier than my Parker and AyA doubles. Ive never experienced a failure in the four years Ive owned this gun, shooting target and duck loads through it. The 28-gauge is favored by older demographics with good taste; baby boomers come in at 12.12 percent listing it as their preferred gauge. Join F&S+ to read exclusive stories by your favorite writers. Loading the 28 up to an ounce offends 28-gauge purists. Both are capable of killing waterfowl at that distance without any measurable difference. Steel is too hard for older barrels, and bismuth or Kent Tungsten Matrix are the only shotshells safe for them if youre a duck hunter. It was a common player in that regard. They dont need the pellet capacity or charge weight a 12-gauge round is capable of holding. The 28 gauge covered the target, averaging 152 hits in a 10-inch circle while remaining precise and controllable. The light weight and easy swinging ability appear to make me a better and even quicker shot. Also nice to carry if one is in the field [sorry, the alders] for the day 8 shot they are loaded with, they are also excellent choices for use on the smaller birds such as quail and dove. There, we will find a much different spread of gauges than one would today. Ive been shooting my Weatherby 28 for 35 years, even when a few others scoffed a bitfrom quail to pheasants, its clearly an awesome gauge and the weight of the gun is a major bonus! And as far as taking gauges seriously, the 28-gauge appeared in a lot of writing of the time. Grassroots conversations regarding the 28-gauge feel more like the passing on of old fantasy stories rather than true, hard facts of ballistics. The 3/4 ounce target load at 1200 fps generates 12.8 ft. lbs. Did a pattern test yesterday with my newly acquired Mossberg International Youth SA-28. Thats been my experience with the 28 on wild pheasants, too, so long as I keep my shots to 30 yards or less. Loading a 28-gauge load up to 1 ounce will offend puristsbut it will put more pellets on your target. Thanks to the rising popularity of the 28, theres something to suit everyone now in guns and ammo, and theres never been a better time to go afield with a 28 gauge. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. John Gordon More than 40 years ago, a Texan named Bob Brister published a book revealing results of extensive testing on crossing targets towed behind an automobile. Phil Bourjaily Most fans of the 28 probably reload the bulk of their ammunition. . (More on that below.) A square load for 28-gauge would be around 7/16 oz for small lead shot like #7.5. Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. That translated into 85 percent and 88 percent respectively. The best hit out of three for the 410 was 195 pellets on target. A square load is an equal amount of powder and shot by volume. Published Apr 10, 2023 12:00 PM EDT. The rarity, demand, and modern manufacturing of the 28-gauge is making this rising star even more accessible. I had brought my 28-gauge Red Label and my favorite load for itFederals premium ounce of copper-plated 7 s. Weight savings arent limited to the guns. When she informed me several years ago that her 16-gauge double was no longer fun to shoot, I suggested that before shopping for a new gun she shoot sporting clays with several of mine in order to get some idea of what she was looking for. | Matthew Every So far, Mossberg has answered with their SA-28 turkey shotgun (its chambered for 2-inch shells only), and manufacturers like Kicks, Carlesons, and Jebs are making 28-gauge turkey chokes for many brands of guns. Maximum between flyer pellets was 54 inches, but almost all the pattern was concentrated within a basic spread of three feet. Read Next: 8 Upland Bird Hunting Shotguns That Wont Break the Bank. New for 2020 is the Kent Elite Target load with a ounce payload of No. Appreciate this hard info. A smaller, denser pellet penetrates better than a lighter, larger pellet. Subscribe to OL+ for our best feature stories and photography. Listen to more articles onApple|Google|Spotify|Audible. There is also checkering on the pistol grip and fore-end for better handling. In fact, the 28 gauge's .550 bore is much closer in size to the 20 gauge's .615 than it is to the .410 diameter of the-duh-.410, which would be a 67.5 gauge. This variation happens in three chokes related to the 12-gauge, as you will see in the skeet II and modified chokes. They are about the same weight, though the 410 has a longer barrel, making it a bit more cumbersome. But inside 35 yards, I have noticed little difference between a 28- and 12-gauge as long as Im shooting bismuth or tungsten. Read Next: The Best New Shotguns from SHOT Show 2020. Many people tend to lump both into the same sub-gauge category without giving the differences much thought, but the 28 gauge, with a nominal bore diameter of .55 inch, is much closer in size and performance to the 20 gauge and its bore diameter of .615 inch. Guns. With 1/8 oz #9.5 TSS 54 pellets, total is 149 pellets. It was shot string that was the final evidence Brister needed to make a case for the 28-gauge. Sign In Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. 3/4 oz at 1200 fps.in a gun around 7 1/2 lbs is very light recoil.so its a great gague for new or young shooters. At a bore diameter of 0.55, a oz lead payload column height is about an inch (1/.55 = 1.8); not very square. Mar 31, 2021. Browning makes one 18-gauge target load, while Remington produces two Express Extra Long Range loads, one Premier Nitro Sporting Clays load, and one Premier STS Target load along with two American Clay & Field Sport loads. When I asked the engineers at Federal to test the 28 gauges efficiency against the other bores, what they found instead was an almost linear relationship between bore size and pattern efficiency. All loads are using either steel powder or 800x with TPS wads and load data from Ballistic products ITX 13 manual. 30-yard pattern shot through the cylinder choke of the Yildiz .410 using the Gamebore ".410 Target" 14g/#9 shell. Its small wonder that many people prefer to shoot 20- or 28-gauge guns for skeet, despite the fact that theyre throwing fewer pellets at the target. A collection of factors make up the 28-gauges uniqueness and attractiveness. 4 or 5 lead. The Benelli Ethos 28-gauge semi-auto weighs just 5.4 pounds, while Benellis Ultra Light semi-auto takes weight all the way down to five pounds. 28 Gauge vs 410: Pattern Test What Happened at 30 Yards? You can now kill ducks inside 35 yards with smaller bore shotguns that shoot denser patterns. My two favorite 28s are side-by-side doubles, a Parker with a Miller trigger and a No 1 grade AyA. I dont feel under gunned at all. It scored an average of 210 pellets in a 10-inch circle. 9s inside a 10-inch target at 40 yards through the Remington 870. . There are shooters who definitely can put more birds into the sack with a lightweight 20 or 28 gauge than they can with a heavier 12, wrote Brister, But this is not due to gauge but to balance, weight, gun fit, recoil, speed of swingor maybe how well a man likes his gun., The History and Revival of the 16-Gauge Shotgun. While we had to use binoculars to spot our 410 patterns from the bench, we could see our 28 gauge patterns with the naked eye. You bet. I once received a call out of the blue from Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, himself a quail hunter, encouraging me to write about the miraculously efficient patterning properties of the 28 gauge. Its complicated. Its chambered for 2-inch shells, and also sports the Kick-Off system, which is a series of springs in the stock that tames recoils. Fiocchi lists no fewer than 22 loadings in 28 gauge, ranging from a high-velocity ounce and one-ounce hunting loads to 11/16 ounce and 7/8-ounce Golden Pheasant loads in shot sizes No. Ive tried several steel loads over the years and have had mixed results. And you can tote a lighter gun to the blind and experience the same results (with less recoil) as you would with a 12-gauge. Turkey loads for the 28 gauge were scarce during our test, and we could only come up with ammo from Apex. A six-pound 28-gauge shotgun pushing a ounce load of lead at 1,200 feet per second (fps) generates less than 13 foot pounds of recoil energy, which is considerably less than the level considered to be the maximum most shooters can comfortably tolerate. I enjoy early-season pheasant hunting with the 28 gauge and the Improved Cylinder and Modified chokes of the AyA make it a better choice for that. 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