28 gauge

Matt D said:
I don’t doubt if I had to go locally and find 28 gauge shells to hunt with $20 would be hard to find. I am pretty sure I have not paid more than $16 delivered to the house buying in cases. All summer I kept waiting for the usual good sales. I never saw them. Then about 4-5 weeks ago it seemed like the sales all happened and on top of it there were some really good rebates also. I think I had 4 cases show up and my buddy got 3. That has me pushing 25 cases of hunting ammo, maybe more as I don’t like to count it. Likely enough to last my lifetime unless I get to do a lot of hunting going forward. The next great sale though I’ll be on it and probably pick up a case or two, just incase. When SHTF in 2020 I didn’t have to buy any ammo at stupid pricing as I was more then set. I am getting low on 12 gauge clay ammo so will need to finally pay some of the new $75-80 prices for that. Will be hard to swallow for sure but I love to shoot too much not to. Maybe time to fire up the reloader again as I will have some additional time for that here in the future.

Here another way to look at it. If you hunted 10 days. Shot 3 birds each of those 10 days and used An average of 2 shells per bird they total cost difference of paying $15 per box or $25 per box comes out to $24 dollars TOTAL over the 10 days or $2.40 per day. Now let me tell you I am as tight as anyone when it comes to money but if $2.40 per day is your break point you may need to find another hobby. Also safe to say if you are not as good a shot and use 4 shells per bird it’s still a rounding error amount when you look at all the money we spend to do this.
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I'm not any good at math, but I do know that $10 or $12 for a box of Magnums is doable.
 
Goosemaster said:
Haha you want to see a video of me being chased by a grizzly 😮😮
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Goosemaster said:
I'm still not convinced that a 28 gauge is right for pheasant hunting. However, I have used a 20 gauge at times the last 50 years.
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I’m far from genius level, obviously, but isn’t an ounce of 5’s an ounce of 5’s? 28 or 20, those are the loads I use, with success. Heading to SD now, gonna use a 28 much of this hunt…I’ll report back…suspect MattD’s report and mine will be similar…
 
Yes, but the amount of powder behind it is the power. Like I mentioned before yardage and quality of the shot is what matters. Nothing wrong with a 28 gauge, as I have one. Just know the gun and your limitations. 👍
 
What's the reason to use a 28 on wild pheasants? Does lugging a 20 fatigue a guy that bad? Is it bragging factor, "oh yeah that 28 absolutely smokes birds." I can see if you inherit one giving it a go. But why go out and buy one for hunting? Birds will be shot and lost with any gauge and load. But man I would be sick if personal desire to do it with a fairy wand resulted in a bunch of cripples that ran off to die. I'm trying to make it easier for puppy. I'm guessing guys hunting w/28s are like people who hit the casino. They only talk about the time they won big, not all the times they lost the shirt off their back. I'll give goose credit here for being honest about all the cripples he lost last year w/a 28.
 
jmuller19 said:
Yes, but the amount of powder behind it is the power. Like I mentioned before yardage and quality of the shot is what matters. Nothing wrong with a 28 gauge, as I have one. Just know the gun and your limitations. 👍
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I’m no expert, but my 20 and 28 gauge shells with equal
Loads of 1oz have the same velocity, 1250 fps…
 
Bob Peters said:
What's the reason to use a 28 on wild pheasants? Does lugging a 20 fatigue a guy that bad? Is it bragging factor, "oh yeah that 28 absolutely smokes birds." I can see if you inherit one giving it a go. But why go out and buy one for hunting? Birds will be shot and lost with any gauge and load. But man I would be sick if personal desire to do it with a fairy wand resulted in a bunch of cripples that ran off to die. I'm trying to make it easier for puppy. I'm guessing guys hunting w/28s are like people who hit the casino. They only talk about the time they won big, not all the times they lost the shirt off their back. I'll give goose credit here for being honest about all the cripples he lost last year w/a 28.
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I shoot one of my 28’s 90% of the time for prairie grouse and Huns, and ruffs, too…have for a long time…I’ve only killed 5 roosters with my
Parker Repro 28, that’s the # I’ve knocked down. I shoot my 28’s very well, certainly not my go-to
pheasant gun….gonna use it on current trip…may let my empirical data sway me against it, or maybe I use it more? It’s a tighter choked gun than most of my other pheasant guns…again, it’s an infrequent mistress, could become my steady….
 
If one choices a 28 gauge. I'm find with it. I'm not arguing with anyone. Use what ever you like but the power factor is different from 12 gauge down through the ranks to 28 gauge. All is good 👍
 
If someone wants to disabuse my interest in the 28 gauge, 1200 fps load of #5 lead, because the 20
gauge load of an ounce of #5 lead at 1200 fps is superior, i’ll sure listen. I’ve shots lots with the 20 gauge version…works well. Pretty sure the 28 compares favorably…if my results suggest otherwise, I’ll behave accordingly. But I have another hunting buddy that’s been shooting a 28 virtually exclusively for years as well with great results. I’d say shot selection becomes a factor…something that doesn’t happen a lot with many hunters shooting 12’s, and lose lots of birds because of it. I’m enamored with this 28, gonna use it and see where things go..so far so
good.
 
I think it’s too easy to paint with a wide brush here and flatly say a 28 shouldn’t be used and will lead to more winged or wounded birds. If you are going to use 3/4 oz loads with open chokes then I agree, likely to lead to lost birds. After hunting 10 days this year with my 28 gauge I have a ton of confidence in using it on wild birds with the shells I used and tight chokes. My sample is somewhat small but I can tell you without doubt I had more stone cold dead birds shooting the 28 then I have had in the past shooting larger gauges with more open chokes. I am pretty confident I would see the same results in larger gauges with the tighter chokes also. Now I will say the 28 struggles, just like almost all gauges and loads, on straight going away birds. As to the answer of why use the 28? For me it’s getting to enjoy a gun that I own chasing birds. I am shooting a Joel Etchen 32” beretta combo sporting gun. Enjoy shooting this gun on sporting clays and have found that I shoot a long barreled gun better so made perfect since to want to hunt with it. It isn’t about weight of gun. If it was about gun weight I have a 20 gauge Beretta O/U that weighs just under a pound lighter then the 28 gauge. It has 28” barrels and is “whippy” to me. I feel very confident had I hunted with that gun for 10 days I would have had way more wounded birds to recover than I did with my 28 gauge. Would that have been better since I was hunting with a 20 over a 28??? In my mind it sure isn’t.

I heard the same thoughts and concerns from my buddy before the trip annd on the way out there. Not enough gun, gonna wound birds, bla bla bla. After day 2-3 days of hunting he never said another word about it and couldn’t quit talking about how it was stoning birds dead.

Again, I am not on here saying everyone should sell their 12 gauges and go buy 28’s. Shoot whatever the hell you want and can hit birds with and enjoy the sport we all love. To take the logic that has been shared by some of more is better why aren’t you shooting 3.5” 12 gauge or even 10 gauge?
 
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