Truth is, if you can put the load in the right place, you'll most likely always have a dead bird. Whether a 1 oz. load is coming out of a 28, 20, 12 or 16, it probably won't matter so much in results even though you might see some differences on a patterning board, most likely due to some added deformation of pellets in those smaller gauges.
The problem with all this is that there are no good, rock solid definitive tests that prove anything for sure concerning shot string. You would need 3-D imaging to project the effective "shot cloud," etc. I would agree that a 1 oz. 28 load isn't optimal, but it still probably would be sufficient in that it still throws enough lead pellets out there to do the job.
I tend to think that the worst shell in the world still outperforms 99 percent of all shooters.
With all of that said, I still like shorter shot strings, especially on longer range targets. Think of the buffered shot examples......
