doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 1oz 28 gauge shells

I exclusively use only 1 oz loads in my three 28 gauge shotguns. Not much into "clay" pigeon shooting, but live birds like turkeys, crows and barn yard pigeons they are just deadly and I have a lot more fun shooting a 28 than a 20 gauge. I have about 25 boxes of #7 1/2 and 25 of #6 shot in stock at the moment. I mostly use my SxS and single barrel for turkey hunting, but my "go to" pigeon & crow gun is my Benelli Ethos 3" 28 gauge. And at 5 lb 5 oz, it is easy to keep up with those diving and darting black devils coming to the owl/crow decoys and a lot more fun than shooting the "orange birds" that always seem to me to be on a more predictable course and I don't have to pay anyone for a few hours of shooting each time I go out.



SxS Only

Thanks Larry.

SxS only: I have a 28 gauge Benelli Legacy. It is so light I can't shoot it worth a crap. Swings about like a broomstick. And, out of a gun so light, the 1 oz loads kick a lot more than one would think.

When I used to shoot 28ga Ruger Red Label the load was around 3/4 oz (about same as original 20ga one) and it worked ok for me. What you show there has power of at least 16ga "Walmart Load". Not bad if one wants to make modern 28ga all around gun. Italians load 28ga to 1&1/8oz 'Low Noise'
65mm case and 1&1/8oz Magnum "Bruiser" in 76mm one.

That's odd. Broomsticks are fast and accurate for me. A 28 gauge kicks more than what, a 410, yes it does. Love everything about it, just miss the second barrel, a little!

SxS Only

Recoil is of course based on the payload, velocity & gun weight. If you propel 1 oz of shot @ 1200 fps it really does not matter what gauge it is fired from as far as the recoil is concerned. If you fire it from a 5 lb gun it will kick harder than if fired fired from a 6 lb gun. I fired some regular 3/4 oz loads from a 28 gauge single which weighed a couple of ounces over 4 lbs. It kicked harder than a 12 firing 3�-1 1/8 oz loads. Of course the 28 Carried a lot lighter. A 28 weighing around 5 to 5� lbs using 3/4 oz of shot is a nice handy little gun for many purposes. or me if I want more i'll take a bigger hole down the barrel.

To fire heavier loads "Just Because I Can" does nothing for me. When I visited Niagara Falls I "Could" have jumped in & gone over the falls but this held no attraction for me. Likewise Souping up a nice "Little" gun, thus having to make it heavier to handle the increased recoil hold no attraction for me. Others of course are free to do as they please. Just wanted to out in the Flip Side of the coin.

Whatever. To each his own. I shoot heavier guns like my 28 ga Red Label and 1100 better than my Legacy. You love your Ethos more power to ya.

As I posted earlier here in North America for the first three decades of the 20th Century the factory 28-gauge loads were 5/8 ounce whether put up in the 2 1/2 inch or 2 7/8 inch case.





Western Cartridge Co. introduced their Super-X, high velocity, progressive burning powder, 3/4 ounce 28-gauge load in early 1932.



Ithaca Gun Co. chambered their NID 28-gauge doubles, that reappeared in their 1932 catalogs, for this 2 7/8 inch shell,



as did Winchester when they introduced their Model 12 pump in 28-gauge in 1937. Just before WW-II our ammunition companies began offering a 3/4 ounce 28-gauge skeet load put up in a 2 3/4 inch case. Shortly after WW-II our ammunition companies did away with the 2 1/2 and 2 7/8 inch 28-gauge hulls and from then on all 28-gauge loads have been put up in 2 3/4 inch cases.

I certainly have no desire to persuade any other person on earth to try 3/4 oz. loads in a .410. We're just wired differently in that regard, Miller. Your reasoning is absolutely sensible, and I ascribe to it with my guns about 90% of the time. But, I just like to see what level of performance I can get any tool to reach. You probably wouldn't see the sense in trying to make an inline 6 cylinder run with a V-8, either. But, 30-40- years ago there was a subset of rodders who went to great lengths to see what they could make a 6 do. There were even companies selling products developed to help people do just that. No sense in us debating the "reasonableness" of 3/4 oz. loads in a .410, or of 1 oz. in a 28. There are those of us who, for our own reasons, just enjoy doing that.

As to recoil, I cannot see for the life of me how anyone would find a 3/4 oz. load of shot at 1100 fps unpleasant out of a 5 Lb.+ gun. Not referring to you, Miller, but this preoccupation with recoil is mind-blowing to me. Recoil is cumulative ............so all the experts say. I guess they know what they are talking about, but the whole subject is extremely subjective. I have gone through over 1000 rounds of 7/8 oz. loads in a 6 1/4 lb. doublegun in a day, for several days straight, with no issues. I'm no superman, either. I've seen men burn over 1000 rounds of 1 1/8 oz. loads in three hours with no recoil problems. It is just beyond the pale, to me, that a grown man is bothered by a few 3/4 to 1 oz. loads, while hunting or shooting clays, in anything over 5 lbs.

We're all different, and I appreciate other's perspectives when well stated ...............especially yours, Miller. I hope you and yours have a blessed Easter. "Sunday's coming."

All my best, SRH

Little guns are fun. Some big guns are fun too. Just not as much fun. I seek fun when shooting, like most of the small bore shooters in this thread. I don�t see or seek practicality in small bores. But then I don�t see or seek practicality in any sport shooting. Amarillo Mike captured that about as well as could be stated when he said something about tossing out rational thinking once you pass the fried chicken joint on the way out of town to go hunting.

Whether you shoot an eight bore or a .410, muzzleloader or auto, or analyze the recoil effect of 20 grains of �ejecta� I am pretty sure you are trying to have fun. Have more fun.

Stan, along the lines of your 6 cylinder story, in the 70s, my brother and ran a 122 c.i. 4 cylinder Pinto, turbocharged to over 30 psi. That small bore would leave many large bores in the dust.