
	Bill Hanus

Fueling Your Passion for the 28 Gauge

by Bill Hanus

You're a big-time beneficiary of a nifty new trend . . . the explosive growth of the 28 gauge in shooting sporting clays has led ammunition makers to offer great new 28 gauge loads.

Sporting clays’ shooters are writing the book on hitting small, fast-moving targets -- so here's your chance to go to school on their dime. And the first lesson is that clays’ shooters use the smallest pellet they can get away with. It's a judgment call, of course, with wind and target distance factored in, but they get to choose from No. 9, No. 8-1/2, No. 8 and, rarely, No. 7-1/2 shot sizes. Generally, No. 9 shot gives "the biggest bang for the buck." There are 439 pellets in a 3/4 oz. load that works well on close targets -- 18 to 25 yards. The compact shot string of the 28 gauge load offers bird hunters chances for multiple hits on soft targets like grouse and quail, as well as dead-in-the-air head/neck shots on close range dove and pheasant.

No. 8-1/2 shot (368 pellets to the 3/4 oz. load) thins out the pattern some but the heavier pellets are effective at 25 to 30 yards. Mike Jordan, a championship shooter, longtime spokesman for Winchester, says that Winchester's new SUPER SPORT™ Sporting Clays load with a 1300 FPS velocity extends the effective distance of No. 8-1/2 shot to 35 yards! By way of comparison, competition Skeet loads are limited to 1200 FPS and designed for maximum performance at 21 yards, usually with No. 9 shot. Here's another instance where the technology that goes into sporting clays shooting directly benefits the bird hunter. Winchester acknowledges this debt by making the bottom flap of their ammunition box into a membership application form for NSCA -- the National Sporting Clays Association.

Winchester packages their 28 gauge ammunition in a new, high strength HS Hull with special new HS wads and a new HS powder that assures a higher performance level -- and far better reloadability -- than their old AA hull.

Grist for our mill -- Target loads are where ammunition makers put their best foot forward. And nowhere is this more important than in the 28 gauge where, because of its relatively small 3/4 ounce load, each pellet is precious. Target shooters are big-volume users of 28 gauge ammunition, so ammunition makers really go all out to persuade them of the merits of their products. This is grist for our mill. What's good for target shooters is great for bird hunters.

Remington and Federal, for example use the back panels of their ammunition boxes to make their case for product excellence showing cutaway diagrams of their 28 gauge shells. Extra hard shot (high antimony content) graded for roundness, wads that cushion and protect the shot and present optimum patterns, plus powders that provide consistent performance, are the same properties hunters want. The extra hard shot used in target ammunition insures that the maximum number of pellets will get to the target area -- and be less likely to be deflected from their course by leaves and twigs on early season grouse and woodcock. Federal's Premium® Hi-Brass loads are copper plated (which reduces feather-draw) hard shot and go out the door at 1295 FPS and is available in Nos. 6, 7-1/2 and 8 size shot. Their Gold Medal® target has a velocity of 1230 FPS and is available in Nos. 8-1/2 and 9 shot. Remington has Premier® STS® Nos. 8 and 9 target loads with 1200 FPS and an Express® 1295 FPS "Extra Long Range" 3/4 ounce load of Nos. 6 and 7-1/2 shot.

Baschieri & Pellagri often runs an advertisement with a testimonial from Michael MacIntosh commenting upon B&P's low pressure 28 gauge load. The big benefit of low pressures is that it is less likely to deform shot at the instant of ignition, hence present better, fuller patterns in the target area. B&P's standard load has a chamber pressure of only 8750 PSI (11,000 to 12,000 PSI are the industry norm). B&P combines low pressure with 5% antimony (very hard) shot that is polished smooth by tumbling in a media, then dry lubricated. It's said to rival nickel plated shot for performance and is available in No. 7-1/2 and No. 8 shot sizes. B&P has a high velocity load (1300 FPS) also with a low pressure of 9250 PSI which uses the same ingredients as their standard load and is available in Nos. 6, 7 (boy, do these do a number on barn pigeons!) and 7-1/2.

With more and more public and private upland hunting land coming under non-toxic shot requirements, it's important to note that Bismuth Cartridge Company offers a 28 gauge 3/4 ounce @ 1250 FPS load in Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7-1/2 bismuth shot, which is as close as you can get to lead-like performance. Dan Flaherty of the Bismuth shop says his favorite load for quail is their No. 7-1/2 size shot.

The 28 gauge and the one ounce load -- there are two companies that offer one ounce 28 gauge loads. So when talk turns to wild bird shooting among 28 gauge shooters, the one ounce loads offered by Winchester and Sellier & Bellot enter the discussion. Winchester's SUPER X High Brass Game Loads come in Nos. 6, 7-1/2 and 8 shot sizes that push the target envelope out to 40 yards -- ideal for loading in your second barrel or third in battery in your pump or semi-auto for follow-up shots and/or doubles. For western quail -- which seem to need a 30-yard runway before they get airborne -- and late-season birds that flush well ahead of the dog -- one ounce loads can help cut down on your involuntary contributions to conservation.

Ed Grasso, the Main Man at Sellier & Bellot, USA in Shawnee Mission Kansas tells a curious story about one ounce loads that bears repeating. As you might suspect, anybody in the ammunition business who lives in Kansas is likely to have taken a pheasant or two -- so when he was invited to the factory (in the Czech Republic) and driven bird shooting was one of the scheduled activities, this figured to be entertainment, not education.

Typically, European driven bird shoots have you positioned at the bottom of a hill, with the birds flying toward you from over the tops of the trees from the top of the hill. Low hills where you have maybe 40 or 50 yards to track the incoming birds, are the easy ones. Steep hills mean high, fast birds and short, overhead shooting opportunities before the bird is behind you. Ed drew a steep hill. Ed also drew a 28 gauge shotgun and a supply of one-ounce ammunition loaded with No. 9 shot! "What in the world are these people thinking -- issuing me a load we don't even import for the U.S. market?"

Think this one through. Incoming pheasants present 100% certain dead-in-the-air head and neck shot opportunities -- except they are 25 yards straight up. No. 9's are just as lethal as No. 6's in this situation and there are more than twice as many of them in the air! Yep, there are 585 No. 9 pellets to the ounce, vs. only 225 No. 6's.

Another case history of how a poor but honest lad who through diligence and hard work found new respect for the 28 gauge and small shot. Sellier & Bellot, USA, by the way, now imports that 28 gauge one ounce load of No. 9's (now improved with higher FPS numbers) -- in addition to their other target and field loadings -- so that you can enjoy the same learning experience that Ed Grasso enjoyed without going to the bottom of a wooded hill in the Czech Republic.

In the final analysis -- the reason why the 28 gauge is so effective is that it has a shorter shot string -- shorter than either the 12 or 20 gauge. Building on the great 28 gauge hull design (invented by Charles Parker in 1916), then utilizing today's technology to give you hard pellets of equal size and weight (the result of precision manufacture and grading), then guarding them (with special protective, cushioning wads) from being deformed in the ignition process and out the barrel -- ammunition makers have minimized the distance from the first pellet to the last pellet, thus providing a very short, compact shot string. In practical hunting terms, most experienced bird hunters have found that high quality 28 gauge ammunition will outperform 12 or 20 gauge "promotional loads" every time. Plus, you can carry a lighter 28 gauge gun and a pocket full of ammunition all day, without strain or pain. No wonder 28 gauge hunters are always smiling when they unload their hunting vests.

Today's 28 gauge ammunition is shooting excellence in a small package. This is "rocket science" as applied to upland hunting. You're going to fall in love all over again.