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

Traditionally, since the mid-1950s, we've had the choice of 1, 1 1/8, 1 1/4 and 1 1/2 ounce loads in the 2 3/4 inch 12-gauge shells. We've had the choice of 1, 1 1/8 and 1 1/4 in the 2 3/4 inch 16-gauge shells. We've had the choice of 7/8, 1 or 1 1/8 ounce in 2 3/4 inch 20-gauge shells. Why is all of a sudden wrong to have the choice of 3/4 ounce, 7/8 ounce and 1 ounce in the 28-gauge 2 3/4 inch shell?

Even back in the early days of the 28-gauge in North America, when the "standard" 28-gauge load was 1 3/4 drams of bulk smokeless powder pushing 5/8 ounce of shot out of a 2 1/2 inch shell and the faster load was 2 drams of bulk smokeless powder pushing that same 5/8 ounce of shot out of the 2 7/8 inch shell,





gun cranks like Chas. Askins were writing about getting their guns chambered for the 2 7/8 inch shell and hand loading 2 1/8 drams of bulk smokeless powder and 3/4 ounce or a bit more of shot. Probably some really high pressure loads!!

Sometimes we just enjoy trying to get something to "over-perform", Miller. I do that with a .410. I have found that the conventional wisdom about big loads in small bores equalling poor patterns is not necessarily true. My 3/4 oz. loads in my Dickinson .410 are perfectly regulated, and throw beautiful deadly patterns.

Why drop down to a smaller gauge and then load it up?................Just because we can.

SRH

2-piper in my case I had one gun. A Winchester Model 12 in 28 gauge. With that gun I hunted everything except deer. Dove, quail, rabbits, squirrels, snipe, rail, ducks and the unlucky crow. One gun for everything.

I got two cases of shells for my birthday in late August. One, one ounce factory loads of 7 1/2 shot and one of 6�s. Back in those days those cases held 500 shells not the flats of 250 today. That was to last me all hunting season long because back then 28�s were not stocked at the Western Auto store or my uncles Southern States store. If I had money either would order them for me but most years I never saved up enough for a full case. There was no extra price for being a 28 like there is today. Most times 28�s were same as the 20 or a little less.

You could get 12, 16 , 20 or even .410 by the box. Heck my uncle would sell shells to poor fellows, colored hunters, a few at the time if they wanted them. I�ve seen many a box with four or five shells missing. A man could come buy maybe a shell for ten cents or three for a quarter, maybe four or five for fifty cents. There�s was no sky busting in those days by those men. A lot of ground scraping I suspect, creeping up close for a easy shot or waiting until two birds or squirrels lined up for a two for one shot.

When I was a kid I bought plenty of shotgun shells at a dime apiece. My allowance was 28 cents a week. When I got older I asked why my allowance was that odd figure, he told me that was all he had in his pocket the first time I asked. I never minded working though...Geo

I used to buy them 5 at a time from the general store about a half mile from my house. I can remember getting my mother to drop me off at the store to buy 50 cents worth of shells and then squirrel hunting in the woods between the store and my house. Times have changed.

I don't own a 28 gauge, but I know there are a lot of folks turkey hunting with them now. A popular load is a 1.5 oz. Gotta make those yourself.

Hey Geo. Did you save any of those Indian head pennies, V Nickles, mercury dimes or standing liberty quarter? That .28 cents went a lot further then than today. You could not get as much joy for 2.80 today. Maybe 28.00.

Jon, that 28 cents got spent so fast I'd never have noticed a collectible coin. Story of my life, money's good for nothing but to buy something...Geo

With the Blessing of a kind Providence those somethings might actually become wealth.

There was 28ga Belgian gun on Guns International that just sold that was proofed with 75mm (2 7/8") chambers. I think it was a 1929 gun. Last picture has a good look at the proof marks.

http://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-fo...un_id=101004942

Geo. Me too. I did spend some money I inherited to buy cutover timber land at tax sales. Of course cut over timber grows back a lot in 40-50 years. Some has been cut twice, some needs for timber prices to get a little higher. I did save a lot of those old pennies, nickels and dimes. Quarters got spent. Still have those old coins so they haven�t done me much good yet. Heck it�s hard enough to see the dates on them some days. I just tell myself some days the light is better than others.

Matt, looks like 1929 to me too. Back then, it wasn't all that unusual to find 28ga guns with 2 7/8" chambers, even in the US. And 2 7/8" shells were also available. But the ones to which I can find reference were still loaded with only 3/4 oz shot.