After what you guys have been saying, I went out to the garage and dug around in boxes of my Father's old loading stuff and found the
Ideal Handbook No. 38 from 1951, and low and behold, it shows a 28-gauge load of 16 grains of Hercules Red Dot and 5/8 ounce of shot. Also on the bottom of the page it shows 7 grains and 5/8 ounce of shot for a 2 1/2 inch .410-bore hull. I'd bet that should really be 3/8 ounce.
Our old buddy "Long Range" down in Pocatello gave me this box of Red Dot loads several years ago --
