.410 or 28 gauge?

S

spi

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I have the opportunity to purchase a nice little shotgun from a fellow. I had originally approached him about a SxS .410, but while we were talking about it, he said, "You know, this might work out better for you," and brought out a 28 gauge. We discussed the "square load" theory and the fact that the 28 can be loaded with up to 7/8oz loads. Both of them are delightful little shotguns, light and whippy.

Now, I've owned .410's before in single shot - this being a pretty popular little farm gun where I grew up - but I've never even shot a 28, so I'm looking for some opinions on it.

I'd mainly be using it for upland game bird, small game like rabbit, and sporting clays. I'd be handloading hunting ammo with it, but would prefer to buy ammo for shooting clays.

I like the larger bore size of the 28, but am concerned about the availability of commercial target and game load variety in comparison to the .410

Any thoughts?
 
The 28ga is an excellent choice. If you are going to be shooting anything in the air, your results should be much better with the 28ga.

28ga ammo can be low in supply and variety, but reloading can take care of this problem. Target loads can be found, check your your local skeet club for a source.

As much as I'd love to have a hunting .410, I'd take the 28ga instead.

Brad.
 
The 28 will perform like a 12 compared to the .410. I have a Rem 870 28 and I was shocked how hard that little round hits birds. Having said that I love the .410 also. The 28 will bag more feathers and clays than the .410. I own both.

cheers Darryl
 
bmcrae said:
The 28ga is an excellent choice. If you are going to be shooting anything in the air, your results should be much better with the 28ga.

28ga ammo can be low in supply and variety, but reloading can take care of this problem. Target loads can be found, check your your local skeet club for a source.

As much as I'd love to have a hunting .410, I'd take the 28ga instead.

Brad.
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.410 ammo would be my selling feature......plentiful
 
The .410 is only good for in the house...

Go with the 28 gauge. If you reload, it will cost about $2.50 a box.. no joke. It is ridiculously cheap.

My skeet scores with a 7/8 oz. #9, 28 gauge are just a fraction worse than my 1 oz. 12 gauge scores.

Just my opinion though.

- Brent
 
Most 28 gauge SXS are build on a lighter frame than the twelve gauge SXS guns and make a light, graceful and fairly powerful upland game gun. Post a make and model and picture if you can. My favorites are the English stocked style, to me ,in any gauge , that is what a SXS is supposed to look like.
 
It's looking more and more like the 28 gauge...

Bearman, they are both Aya's with the semi-pistol grip stock. Although they have some engraving, I am given to understand that they are the less expensive model. Sorry, I cannot get pictures at this time.

I'm also looking at what I can buy new as a result of this thread.
 
I own a browning bps in 28 gauge and will NEVER sell that thing, I love it, but wish they made slugs for it, thats the only think .410 has over it, IMO.

Buy the 28
Ben
 
I am not sure I buy the square load theory, but I am sure that the 28 has a better kill pattern than the 410. BTW the 28 gauge is available in 1 oz loads.
 
nickr said:
The .410 is only good for in the house...

Go with the 28 gauge. If you reload, it will cost about $2.50 a box.. no joke. It is ridiculously cheap.

My skeet scores with a 7/8 oz. #9, 28 gauge are just a fraction worse than my 1 oz. 12 gauge scores.

Just my opinion though.

- Brent
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Gotta' disagree with you there Nick! I've got a lovely Fox SXS .410 that is my goto bunny gun. I've killed hundreds, if not thousands of bunnies with that shotgun. It isn't a tool for a newbie, however, and you've got to learn to pick your shots since you aren't throwing an ounce or more of shot around. i.e., you can't shoot through that pesky alder and count on killing the bunny. It isn't that great a "generalist" shotgun, but then again, neither is the .28 ga.

If you want a lighter, faster handling shotgun, the best compromise is probably a 20 ga. Most are lighter than a 12, faster handling, shells are relatively cheap and much more available than .28 ga and you won't find yourself undergunned in any hunting situation or shooting sport.
 
Buy the 28!

If you're a fan of the .410 your either an old lady that wants to shoot rats in the garden or you're a damn fine shot who does a lot of quail hunting.

Last I checked, we didn't have either in Alberta.

There's lots of talk about the 28ga, and they all say the same thing, it's just about the perfect shell in just about the perfect gun. Guns in 28ga tend to be light, fast, and well balanced and easy for shooters of any size to handle.

The .410 holds too little shot to be forgiving of less than highly skilled aim. The 28ga will make for a more enjoyable trap / skeet gun and permit hunting birds as big as partridge at least.
 
jjackman said:
If you're a fan of the .410 your either an old lady that wants to shoot rats in the garden or you're a damn fine shot who does a lot of quail hunting.

or you allready have one of every other gauge and you want to shoot for the pure joy of shooting without getting beat up;) I use a 410 when I train pups and usually the largest bird I shoot is a pigeon. I use it for fun skeet and trap and still hit most of my targets, even though the breaks are not that great. Some of those cheap breaks count as a point on the score pad, but in the field they may be a wounded bird. Just for me, but I think that game birds deserve better! If I had rats in my guardan, I would use a 12!:evil:
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Take a look at the shot column of a .410. a big proportion of the pellets contact the sides and the ones at the bottom get rammed really hard before the whole thing starts to move. ( flat pellets=flyers!) the 28 is much more effective not because it has significantly more shot, but because the shape of the shot charge. Shot string on a .410 is very long, and some pellets are following far behind the leaders. So "paper patterning" or performance on rabbits is decieving, the .410 is not much good for quick crossing shots at fast flying birds. I really liked mine for rabbits, though. I think loading a 28 with 1 oz does not make it the same as a 20 ga, it makes the 28 suffer from the same problems as the 3" .410. Buy the 28 and use 3/4-7/8 oz loads of #6-#8 shot for close range bird hunting, and you won't be sorry!
 
When in doubt........buy both.

Thats the rule I live by.

I have a 410 but haven't shot it yet....never had a 28ga.
12 ga will kill anything
 
Longwalker said:
Shot string on a .410 is very long, and some pellets are following far behind the leaders. So "paper patterning" or performance on rabbits is decieving, the .410 is not much good for quick crossing shots at fast flying birds.

Actually I think that the long shot string is an advantage for quiick crossing shots, especially fast flyers as long as those crossing shots are in range. With the swing through method, that long shot string is very lead forgiving, and for any gauge a longer shot charge has certain situations where it has an advantage over the so called square load. BTW, the shot charge can be adjsuted in any gauge to conform to a square load! I think that square for a 12 is around 1 oz or maybe 1 1/16? You are right about the deceptivness of patterning in the standard way. I think that a very wide target, crossing at a predermined speed would better reflect the actual effective pattern of any shot charge! Actually I think that 28 is better than 410 and that 20 is better than 28 and that 12 is better than 20, but at this point recoil and gun weight may start to be a factor. My vote is get one of each:D, but shoot the 410 for pure fun:dancingbanana:
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Covey Ridge said:
My vote is get one of each:D, but shoot the 410 for pure fun:dancingbanana:
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One of each would be nice if not economical......

Most people I know who shoot the .410 do it for the pure hell and pain involved.:bangHead:

Brad.
 
bmcrae said:
One of each would be nice if not economical......

Most people I know who shoot the .410 do it for the pure hell and pain involved.:bangHead:

Brad.
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Gosh! Don't bring economics into this or we would all be stuck with the 12 gauge:mad:

pure hell and pain? You must be talking about tournament skeet shooters who must shoot and master this gauge or they will never win anything worth winning? They're like 2 hole trap shooters who would rather shoot their 100straights with the big gauges than try anything that requires discipline. Life is too short to put up with much pure hell and pain:bangHead: Not all are capable of having fun unless they're perfect. Most are just too untight! In spite of all this ####, if I could only have one of the two I would probably pick the 28! whoops!! change that to 410, because I allready have a couple light 20';s that will always out do any 28!
 
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