RA mentioned What He had Read, concerning the 28. I have been reading on things concerning guns for more than 60 years. It is absolutely amazing how many different opinions one will read on the same subject. It is often put forward that shells loaded to a lower velocity pattern better than Hi-Vel loads. This would appear to be the case with the 3¼-¼ pigeon load but is the opposite in the 3/4 oz 28 load which has traditionally been loaded to a rather high velocity.
Many, many times I believe a comparison is made of "Premium" 28 loads versus "Promo" type loads in the larger gauges, thus not truly an equal comparison.
I once read an article by a well-known gun writer who was lauding the 28. He proclaimed it as giving an extraordinary performance with the 3/4 oz load because it was a perfect "Square Load. This he "Proved" by stating a square load was one in which the shot load was equal in weight to the round ball that fit the bore. He rightly stated this weight could be found by dividing 16 by the gauge of the gun, thus the 3/4 oz was a "Perfect Match".
Do the math 16/28 (which he did) = .57 rounded to two decimal places.
3/4 = .75. It is noted the two numbers have the same digits, but .57 is obviously not equal to .75. I know not if he was truly that dumb or just if one was foolish enough to buy that mag they were that dumb.
So basically my question is "WHAT" determines a "Good Match" for the shot weight in any given bore.
Don't get me wrong, I love a 28 for a "Little Gun" but there is absolutely Nothing Magic about it. If you put 3/4 oz of shot through both the standard 28 & the 2" 12 chances are I would guess about 95:1 the 28 would show a higher central thickness to the pattern with the 12 having a more uniform distribution. Which is "Best", a lot depends on what the shooter is looking for. "IF" he is looking to find the absolute longest range that something can be killed then the 28 is apt to have the edge. "IF" on the other hand the largest killing area from 3/4 oz of shot is desired then the 2" 12 has the edge.
Take your pick as to which road you prefer to travel, just don't expect it Both ways.
One thing that surprises many is that "Range is not proportional to shot weight. If this were true then, assuming near similar patterns except for the amount of shot, then a 1¼ oz load would have a 67% range increase over 3/4 oz. Thus what 3/4 oz would do at 35 yards 1¼ oz would do at 58 yards.
In reality, they are more proportional to the Sq Root of the shot load, thus the 1¼ oz load is only 29% longer range than 3/4 oz. Using these figures then the comparison of 3/4 oz with 1¼ oz is like 35 yds to 45 yds. This accounts for the vast amount of that "Smoke", people just expect the larger loads to increase range by much more than they do in actuality & do not want to believe the comparative effectiveness of the lighter load. The fact that the 3/4 oz load happens to be fired through a .550 " bore diameter has virtually "NOTHING" to do with the end results.
A shotgun is, in fact, a rather inefficient arm & ranges much beyond 40 yards take a load out of all proportions as to what can be achieved at the shorter ranges. As range increases shot size has to go Up for adequate penetration thus reducing pellet count for an adequate pattern density.
