Who is Using a 28 Gauge, This 2025-26 Hunting Season

Melvin said:
28 gauge B. Rizzini small frame sxs double triggers. 28 gauge hammerless single shot Savage 220, Stevens 94c and a Cooey single.
Sometimes I take out a box lock AYA no. 4.
For some reason the 1939 vintage Savage is deadly with one ounce Winchester loads. It just fits me and points well with the 28 inch barrel. The 220 was only offered for two years in 1939-40.
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Nice bunch of 28 guns you have there.In the past I had a Savage Model 220 in 28 gauge.Beautiful gun.Probably should of kept it.

Did not know of the Stevens Model 94 C in 28 gauge.Looking them up on line.They appear to be a nice well made gun.Hard to beat the old 28 gauge Cooey guns.:)

I have an AYA Model 3A that I bought new back in 1976.Great guns .Never a bit if trouble with mine.In the past, I used it a lot.Not so much of late years.
 
iron cat said:
Oh jeepers, that eas a bit of an accidental thing for sure!
It all started when I bought a Tikka 412s with a set of 12 gauge barrels with a pair of Briley 28 hauge tubes plus a set of 9.3x74R barrels and a quick release scope mount , all in a hard case.
I bought a flat of.28 gauge AA and figured I could hand load for the 28 cheap enough so got myself a MEC 600 mk1V Jr press, and some shot and wads .
Although the 412S was a bit heavy with the tubes in it, it was a wonderful gun to swing and shoot, and any partridge that flew up I front of it was dead with the skeet load of Longshot powder and #9's.
Looking for a lighter 28, I then bought a CZ bobwhite which was oalsi an I credible shooter. I also owned Stoegar for a bitvwhich I gifted to a cancer survivor who was wanting to get back into bird hunting .

That would have been about 25 years ago I think.
Before that the only 28 I ever shot was a green's Iver Johnson Champion single shot in 1983 or so. I only shot it once and killed a Sharptail with it .
After the CC and Stoeger I also bought the Fausti , and special ordered another 28 gauge, thus one a Uggartechia which was totally custom ordered with thumb latch side locks, fixed chokes reversed from normal ( back trigger was the open choke), and drop and LOP to my specs .
Those guns however are long gone now , and whenever I want to use a 28 I simply drop my Briley Side Kicks into my 1878
12 gauge Westely Richards and have fun!😀
The pic is with the Tikka 412s
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Great story ,cat.I always enjoy hearing the story of how people got into the 28 gauge.
 
Melvin said:
I know a man in Montana that is enamoured with the Fausti’s. He has ordered many and some specially engraved at absorbent prices.
He keeps having to gun them fixed by a gunsmith after they arrive for various reasons. His latest was a custom 20000+ gun that he took out and patterned it. Terrible patterns and did not shoot to point of aim. He has sent it back to Italy. My other friend down there, his neighbour, can’t figure out why he keeps buying their guns and then has to get them serviced.??????
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That is very interesting for sure.
When I first got my Fausti I was so excited I ripped out at lunch time to shoot some skeet with t , but the left barrel would not fire!
I took the butt stock off and discovered that it was plugged up with sawdust!!
It was a non selective single trigger. I blew it out, and never had a single problem wit it afterwards.
Once I got my Ugartechea however, I decided that one high end gun was enough , and I sold the DEA to a person whom has become a very good friend who was also a bit of a 28 gauge fan, He is a memeber here , Browning 525.
He has since retired it, shooting it so much that he actually has wore it out in places!
That gun handles so quick and fast that one has to see it in action to believe it.
This rooster was spotted on the laneway as we were leaving his in law's place.
He and and piled out of the truck with his trusty Golden and I grabbed the Fausti , while my son and my other friend Hornhead were in the truck behind us, watching
The rooster disappeared where we saw it go into the weeds and was running, but when the dog flushed it, it came right at me , so close that I shot purely by instinct , I doubt if the bird was higher that 6 feet above me when I pulled the trigger.
The rooster hit the ground, and its head went flying off having been caught by the whole column of shot which hadn't even had a chance to get away from the wad!
It went flying towards Browning 525 ( the owner of the gun) and landed very close to him. pretty much intact ! LOL
Everybody laughed- except for the rooster of course! LOL
Cat
https://imgur.com/9gc2UAi
 
28 gauge 2 said:
Just wondering who is using a 28 gauge gun this 2025-26 hunting season .Also what 28 gauge gun are they using and what for?

Have been using a 28 gauge Franchi 48AL for partridge (ruffed grouse) and rabbits (snowshoe hare) this season myself.Have been able to bag three partridge,but no rabbits so far.
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I used to use a 20 gauge and found that to work very well. Right now though, I only have a .22 for grouse and rabbits. I may have to get a shotgun. The 20 gauge is fun to shoot as well.
 
28 gauge 2 said:
Just wondering who is using a 28 gauge gun this 2025-26 hunting season .Also what 28 gauge gun are they using and what for?

Have been using a 28 gauge Franchi 48AL for partridge (ruffed grouse) and rabbits (snowshoe hare) this season myself.Have been able to bag three partridge,but no rabbits so far.
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I used to use a 20 gauge and found that to work very well. Right now though, I only have a .22 for grouse and rabbits. I may have to get a shotgun. The 20 gauge is fun to shoot as well. Any recommendations for just a grouse and rabbit shotgun?
 
Munchkin2067 said:
I used to use a 20 gauge and found that to work very well. Right now though, I only have a .22 for grouse and rabbits. I may have to get a shotgun. The 20 gauge is fun to shoot as well. Any recommendations for just a grouse and rabbit shotgun?
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If one dose not hand load and wants a smaller gauge than a 12, the 20 is certainly the way to go.
Most automatically think because it's a 28, the gun would be lighter, but I have a Sabatti 28 O/U in the vault right now that weighs as much as some of my 12 gauge field guns!!
My son's 28 is built on a 20 frame and although light, it is heavier than a 28 built on a scaled frame.
Cat
 
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Am enjoying these 28g stories and have one of my own. First let me say I always thought in my youth that the 28 was a gimmicky gauge only for skeet and pigeons .I started hunting on big ponds where if you didn't kill the bird the chances of retrieving even with a good dog diminished rapidly if the cripple made the bank hence 12g or the occasional 20g but that was all I ever seen and or shot. That was in 1972 and the guys I hunted with were all in their 50/60 range so as a youth what they said was gospel. Fast forward to 2012 and going to Cordoba Argentina on a dove hunt one of my bucket list adventures. They had exclusively 20 and 28g Benelli's as their primary guns to use. Some nice o/u and sxs in the same but you could shoot 5 up the pipe with the semi's so that's the way I went. First afternoon shot the 20g roughly 700 birds using lead nice gun made some great shots with the full choke. Next day one of the group (16 of us) said try the 28 you will be surprised ,ok well surprise was not an apt description ,shot 2700 (yes that's right) birds that day, the 28 worked as good or better than the 20.Was it the gun ,pattern, shells, fit I don't know but that made a believer out of me, shot 6700 birds in the 3.5 days I was there almost all with the 28.Now have shot ducks ,pheasants grouse with the 28 as well. Seen an article about a guy shooting geese with 3" 28g ,don't know if I will ever do that but never say never.
 
reddog said:
Am enjoying these 28g stories and have one of my own. First let me say I always thought in my youth that the 28 was a gimmicky gauge only for skeet and pigeons .I started hunting on big ponds where if you didn't kill the bird the chances of retrieving even with a good dog diminished rapidly if the cripple made the bank hence 12g or the occasional 20g but that was all I ever seen and or shot. That was in 1972 and the guys I hunted with were all in their 50/60 range so as a youth what they said was gospel. Fast forward to 2012 and going to Cordoba Argentina on a dove hunt one of my bucket list adventures. They had exclusively 20 and 28g Benelli's as their primary guns to use. Some nice o/u and sxs in the same but you could shoot 5 up the pipe with the semi's so that's the way I went. First afternoon shot the 20g roughly 700 birds using lead nice gun made some great shots with the full choke. Next day one of the group (16 of us) said try the 28 you will be surprised ,ok well surprise was not an apt description ,shot 2700 (yes that's right) birds that day, the 28 worked as good or better than the 20.Was it the gun ,pattern, shells, fit I don't know but that made a believer out of me, shot 6700 birds in the 3.5 days I was there almost all with the 28.Now have shot ducks ,pheasants grouse with the 28 as well. Seen an article about a guy shooting geese with 3" 28g ,don't know if I will ever do that but never say never.
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I have shot geese with my 28 using 2 3/4" shells , and 30 grains of H110 with 7/8 oz of Bismuth .
Simply hammered them over the decoys!
Cat
 
reddog said:
Am enjoying these 28g stories and have one of my own. First let me say I always thought in my youth that the 28 was a gimmicky gauge only for skeet and pigeons .I started hunting on big ponds where if you didn't kill the bird the chances of retrieving even with a good dog diminished rapidly if the cripple made the bank hence 12g or the occasional 20g but that was all I ever seen and or shot. That was in 1972 and the guys I hunted with were all in their 50/60 range so as a youth what they said was gospel. Fast forward to 2012 and going to Cordoba Argentina on a dove hunt one of my bucket list adventures. They had exclusively 20 and 28g Benelli's as their primary guns to use. Some nice o/u and sxs in the same but you could shoot 5 up the pipe with the semi's so that's the way I went. First afternoon shot the 20g roughly 700 birds using lead nice gun made some great shots with the full choke. Next day one of the group (16 of us) said try the 28 you will be surprised ,ok well surprise was not an apt description ,shot 2700 (yes that's right) birds that day, the 28 worked as good or better than the 20.Was it the gun ,pattern, shells, fit I don't know but that made a believer out of me, shot 6700 birds in the 3.5 days I was there almost all with the 28.Now have shot ducks ,pheasants grouse with the 28 as well. Seen an article about a guy shooting geese with 3" 28g ,don't know if I will ever do that but never say never.
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Great story,reddog.Just wondering what they do with all those birds.Must be one heck of a plucking party.LOL Do not have a 3 inch 28 gauge,but hope to at some point in time.

I to ,have been enjoying all the 28 gauge stories.:)
 
Melvin said:
28 gauge B. Rizzini small frame sxs double triggers. 28 gauge hammerless single shot Savage 220, Stevens 94c and a Cooey single.
Sometimes I take out a box lock AYA no. 4.
For some reason the 1939 vintage Savage is deadly with one ounce Winchester loads. It just fits me and points well with the 28 inch barrel. The 220 was only offered for two years in 1939-40.
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How long have you had you AYA 4 and Rizzini?Do you favour one over the other?
 
28 gauge 2 said:
Great story,reddog.Just wondering what they do with all those birds.Must be one heck of a plucking party.LOL Do not have a 3 inch 28 gauge,but hope to at some point in time.

I to ,have been enjoying all the 28 gauge stories.:)
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Having been to Cordoba myself I inquired about what happens to all those doves that are shot everyday. First of all the birds that fall into the tall grass and standing brush are NOT picked up by the gun boys. Reason being unseen rattlesnakes have seriously injured boys as they are reaching around for dead birds with bare hands.

Some birds are plucked by staff and bbq for lunch for the shooters and some are roasted for dinner as appetizers. The remaining thousands are put into sacks and distributed to various villages. The premium birds are used for food and the balance is used to feed livestock(pigs). Nothing gets wasted. Many hungry mouths to feed and in parts of Argentina doves breed 6 times a year. Endless supply of birds. 12g to 410 is available and 20g is now becoming most preferred. By the second day of shooting massage therapists are brought in to deal with sore arms, shoulders and necks. The massive bruising of the flesh converts many of the 12g aficionados into 28 gauge lovers overnight. It’s a once in a lifetime experience that you will never forget.
 
All most interesting ,Mr Bill.Thanks for explaining what happens to all those birds.

Yes, I can well understand how someone would be a 28 gauge convert ,after firing that many shells from a 12 gauge gun,in warm weather, with light clothing.:)
 
Brutus said:
If I still have those Winchester 1 ounce lead shot #6s. My 28 Ithaca is coming along with its modified choke, next time.
Edit: 28 gauge. As I understand it, it's only one Ithaca employee with the task of turning out the 28 gauge Ithaca at Sandusky, Ohio. Initially year 2009.
They were never built at Kings Ferry. Pretty much hand built, near custom work.
Patrick, if you looked at the weight of there newest attempt at the 16 gauge, one can understand it suffered poor sales due to excessive weight. Not sure why they turned it out so heavy?? This was not a problem in 1973? Last year of production the old 16.
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Brutus, when the new Ithaca's from Ohio started showing up I was smitten. Their build quality is over the top, near custom. I have wood that is AAA, AA, and A grade. All have choke tubes, and my .12 has a ribbed smoothbore and a Deer Slayer full rifled barrel, the .16 is ribbed and a short modern smooth barrel. The .28 is a ribbed beauty. I also have a Supreme grade from about '73-'76 with a modified, ribbed barrel, and at least AA or AAA wood. I found a Deer Slayer barrel for that at auction at a good price.

I don't feel the weight of the .16, but you do make me think it is heavier than an original version. Of the three new variants, the receiver on it has no scroll engraving on the receiver. More likely than not a repurposed riot gun receiver, but I do not have one to compare it to. 16 gauge is a sweet gauge, and I have a couple of those in M12 variants. I could live with a .16 and .28 for most of my needs, .10 for geese.
 
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