The "old" Hatfields bear very little resemblance to the "new" ones. I also owned one of the old Hatfields, a 2-barrel set (20/28). The curly maple stocks were pretty, but mine started to crack behind the top tang. I sent it back for repair; it cracked again after I got it back. Other than that, it did always go "bang" when I pulled the trigger. Those guns were made in Italy (both the actions and the barrels) and stocked by Hatfield in this country.
Not sure about the new Hatfields, but the new Kimbers, as far as I know, are not available in 28ga as of yet. I've seen both 16 and 20ga sxs. Like Jim, I'd like to hear from someone who's actually bought and shot one. There was a review in a fairly recent issue of Shooting Sportsman on the Kimber Marias, their OU. As I recall, at least a couple items in that review struck me as being pretty negative: 1. Weight. It's a 20ga field gun, but it tips the scales right around 7#. 2. Reliability. The author commented that one brand of factory ammo, plus his reloads, had occasional failures to fire. Those factors would give me serious pause before I'd pay $6,000 for a shotgun.
