# The 28ga is all you need....Part II



## toasty (May 15, 2008)

Here was Saturdays shoot with the little light 28ga. Couple mallards in the morning and a couple of ECDs for the afternoon. Mallards were taken from 20-45 yards with 7/8oz of Heavyweight 15g/cc Tungsten #7 shot. Doves fell to 3/4oz of #8s lead shot from 10 to my longest shot of about 45 yards. Little guns work better with open bores, these are all shot with a skeet I choke. 









When I go for geese I step up to my big gun, a 20ga. These geese were taken at about 35 yards with a 20ga 1 1/8oz of Heavyweight 13 #6. Also used a skeet II choke for these geese. The big goose did require a finish shot and weighed in at 12.6lbs. I was going to put bands on their legs for pics, but I borrowed my 3 bands to Hammernhonkers for some pics he is going to post up in a week or two.









You can definitely kill ducks with steel shot, but tungsten shot in smaller bores gives better performance than any 12ga steel shell you can buy including all of those 3.5" shells. For the guys thinking about taking your 20ga or 28ga out, put an open choke it, buy some high density no tox and have at it. Warning, it will be hard going back to your heavy 12ga guns after packing a light small bore.


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## Stimmy (Sep 10, 2007)

Nice. I use my 20 gauge exclusively for ducks and geese. I don't know that I will ever go back to a 12 bore...the 20 is pure enjoyment. My next gun will be a 28. what type/model is that?


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

I wouldn't mind picking up a Browning B2000 in 20 gauge. My son uses my dad's 12 and I swear that is the lightest recoiling shotgun I've ever shot. Would love to have a 20 with a spare 3" barrel. I have some 1100's and that B2000 doesn't kick anywhere near as hard or sharp as the 1100's. It's amazing.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

Nice! I'll be using a 12 gauge tomorrow, hopefully for some mallards and geese. I'll probably just stare at empty sky all day. 

I'll be using a 20 gauge O/U soon, though. I agree with you about the Skeet choke. That's what I had in for that goose last week. I only shoot steel, though. At close range 3/4 ounce of 4's are fine, and even 6's are devastating.

Haven't had a 28 out yet this year. It's been so poor I may not get the chance.


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## outdoorser (Jan 14, 2013)

Wow thats a mess of birds there! Good job.


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

paddler213 said:


> Nice! I'll be using a 12 gauge tomorrow, hopefully for some mallards and geese. I'll probably just stare at empty sky all day.
> 
> I'll be using a 20 gauge O/U soon, though. I agree with you about the Skeet choke. That's what I had in for that goose last week. I only shoot steel, though. At close range 3/4 ounce of 4's are fine, and even 6's are devastating.
> 
> Haven't had a 28 out yet this year. It's been so poor I may not get the chance.


Wouldn't be a typical ice up year on this forum if you don't post some pics with your 28 and some pretty drake GWT.


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## bug doc (Apr 19, 2008)

Hope you're making dove poppers for the family Christmas party. 

Very nice!


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

toasty said:


> Wouldn't be a typical ice up year on this forum if you don't post some pics with your 28 and some pretty drake GWT.



Yep. This isn't a typical year. I saw a total of 200 ducks last time out, and never fired a shot. Not sure it'll improve.


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## hamernhonkers (Sep 28, 2007)

All lies Toasty. There is no way a 28 could kill those big old mallards. 





























Nice work!


By the way I'll get those bands back to you soon, hopefully tomorrow some geese will get in the way of my HW15 6 shot and I'll get a good hero shot with your bands on them.


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## Mojo1 (Sep 8, 2007)

I left the big guns and took my 410 out this morning, 4 gadwalls and 2 green heads never realized the difference, although I had to smack my goose twice. Probably wouldn't had to do that with my 28.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

toasty, where are you buying your shot? RSI's website didn't list a price, BPI sells ITX. Is it available in loaded shells? What do you figure it costs per shell to handload?

Interesting thing about 28 vs 20 gauge. My two 28 gauge Beretta O/U's each weigh 6# 4oz, while my SP I in 20 gauge comes in at 6# 1oz, and my old BL-4 in 20 gauge is just 5#14oz. Also, the 28 gauge steel is ~double the cost of 20 gauge steel, yet has just 5/8 ounce of shot vs 3/4 ounce for the 20 gauge loads. I'll take the 28's out occasionally for waterfowl, but the 20's will get a majority of the work.

Personally, I view using the sub gauges as a self-imposed limiting factor in hunting. So, I only shoot steel at waterfowl, and only 2 3/4" shells. Holding shell length and shot type constant just means you need to be increasingly selective as you go smaller. Or, maybe I'm just to cheap to spend money on those specialty no tox shells.


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

paddler213 said:


> toasty, where are you buying your shot? RSI's website didn't list a price, BPI sells ITX. Is it available in loaded shells? What do you figure it costs per shell to handload?


These are all handloads and price per shell is about $1.30 for my 20ga shells and $1.65 for the HW15 #7 28ga shells. I get the shot anywhere I can find it. The HW13 #6s you get at bucks run sports, $210 for 10lbs. It is cheaper and better than hevi shot.

If you limit yourself to a max of 25 yard shots, there is no need to go with tungsten shot, steel does the job. My problem is if I can see the bird, it must be in range.:grin:


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