Australian Adventure

The Return of the 28 Gauge

By Bill Harding

When I began hunting, shortly before we had hunted the wooly mammoth to extinction, the existence of a 28 gauge shotgun seemed to be a myth. It was sort of like a leprechaun, people told me about them, but no one I knew had ever seen one.

Those were the days when real men carried a 12 gauge and kids were relegated to single shot .410s. No one bothered to tell us that the tiny .410 was really a gun for an expert shot; it took a small shell and we were small kids. What about that didn't make sense?

The gauges of that era were 12, 16 and 20. The .410 is not a gauge, but a bore. When the 20 gauge started to be chambered for a 3" shell, even the 16's popularity began to fade.

I am not certain what prompted the return of the 28 and 16 gauge shotguns, maybe it was nostalgia, but both of these classics are fantastic bird guns. This article is about the 28, but I am fortunate to own a 16 gauge L.C. Smith double that is light and shoots hard and straight.

Much of my interest in the 28 gauge came from knowing Nick Rukavina. We both hunt our birds over Airedales, so maybe we just march to a different drummer. I was planning to buy a .410 and Nick advised me to get a 28. I didn't listen…then.

The .410 was fun to shoot, but setting up my reloader was a nightmare. The small size case demanded that everything go just right. Loading 11/16 oz. of shot over 17 grains of 296 powder did not leave much room for error in the tiny hull.

Eventually I got the MEC loader adjusted to where I could get a decent crimp and turn out shells that would feed through my Mossberg 500. But the research I had done into the 28 intrigued me.

Nick, and every other experienced shotgunner I talked to, told me about how hard the diminutive 28 hit a target. To understand this, you need to stop thinking of a shotgun pattern in 2-dimensions. In fact, the shot string makes it a 3-dimensional entity.

There are ballistics here that a non-engineer like me will never understand, but here is how it has been explained to me. A 12 gauge shot string can stretch out as much as 14 feet. In theory, that should help with your aim, but it is not likely that the full load of shot will hit the target.

On the other hand, the 28 gauge shot string is closer to 5 feet, which means that a larger percentage of the charge will hit the target, provided you put the pattern where it is supposed to be. This puts a lot of pellets in a bird in very short order.

How good is it? While shooting quail at a preserve, I missed with my first shot. By the time I took the second shot, the bird was a good 40 yards away. He dropped like a rock!

While you can get 28 gauge shells with a full 1 oz. load, I advise against it. The heavier load does not seem to hit as hard as a lighter load of 3/4 oz. shot. Again, I'm no engineer, but I feel it has to do with velocity.

I have been handloading AA hulls with 3/4 oz. of #7 1/2 shot over 13.5 grains of 800X. This load chronographs at an average of 1215 fps. That's moving along pretty good.

Why handload? Have you ever seen 28 gauge on sale at Wal-Mart's? I can buy Winchester AA loads at Gander Mountain, but they are at least two bucks a box more expensive than 12 or 20 gauge loads. The fact that they use less shot and powder than 12 gauge loads makes handloading that much more appealing.

Hulls are hard to find and I save everyone I can find. Ballistic Products is a source for Fiocchi hulls, but the ones they sell are just 2 1/2" rather than 2 3/4". They also sell primed Cheddite hulls and I intend to give them a try.

Another problem facing those of us who like the 16 and 28 gauges is that manufacturers tend to build these guns on large frames. A 16 gauge on a 12 gauge frame or a 28 on a 20 gauge frame results in a gun that is heavier than necessary.

A notable exception is Ruger's Red Label in 28 gauge. This little beauty is a true 28 all the way. It weighs less than 6 pounds and does not seem to be whippy for its size. With a set of screw-in chokes it makes a great bird gun for quail and grouse. A good shot could use it on close-flushing pheasants with the proper size shot, say #5.

Another excellent 28 gauge is the Remington 1100 in its Special Field Edition. I have not seen this particular model advertised by Remington recently so I suppose it is no longer available. If you can find one at a gun show or in good, used condition from a private owner, it will make you an excellent firearm.

The nice thing about the Remington 1100 in 28 gauge is that there is so little felt recoil that you will probably never feel it. My wife, Barb, enjoys shooting mine when we step out into the back forty to bust a few clays.

Of course there is a nice selection of 28 gauge models available in the higher price brackets. If you have the money and want a prestigious shotgun, go for it. On the other hand, I doubt that a shotgun that requires a mortgage will hit any harder or shoot any better than my Ruger and Remington. Besides, an expensive gun might keep me from beating my way through some of the tough grouse coverts that I love to hunt.

The 28 gauge is not for everyone. It is not intended to throw steel shot at high flying geese, and wild turkeys are best left to heavier loads. However, for rabbits, squirrels, and birds up to and including pheasants, it is a very viable gauge.