doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com the pros an cons of 28 ga guns...

It's been my favorite caliber for many years. When I discovered it, I thought it was a smaller caliber. When you start with this caliber, you go through moments of great satisfaction and disappointment for not hunting or shooting with larger calibers. Pieces that you think you could have charged with the 20 or 12 are missing, but the key is that you have to know this caliber, its benefits and limitations. So far I've owned six 28-gauge shotguns: parallel, juxtaposed, and semi-automatic. Now I have my companion for life: a very special hammer shot from the 19th century.

Once you go through the first stage with this caliber, when you go from a larger caliber to this delicious caliber and in which you still don't know it well, the days of hunting and enjoyment arrive. Every cast is a bigger challenge; Each piece charged is valued much more and, in the end, what matters is the quality and not the quality. It is a caliber that I consider the younger brother of the 16 caliber because of its forcefulness and great punch, even with fewer grams of pellets.

ADVANTAGES: The cartridges weigh less, shotguns usually weigh less than those of larger calibers, the casts and the pieces charged are much more valued and the enjoyment of hunting and breaking targets is, for lovers of this caliber, much greater. In addition, there is a wide variety of cartridge models.

DRAWBACKS: The price of cartridges, although now in Spain the price of other larger calibers has skyrocketed.

P.S. I'm sorry I didn't know how to write all this in English.

P.S. 2: Long live the 28 caliber!

Red Label!! Its a shame they didn't keep making those. I have seen a few Gold Labels recently in really nice shape that I would love to have, but a $5000.00 price tag is a bit steep for me. Glad to hear that your son does so well with his, Bob. Good luck!!

My affordable solution to the 28-gauge question, a Turkish "Dickenson" (their 28-gauge version on the .410 frame). Not a "fine" gun but decent-enough just the same and a good introduction to the gauge for me. I have a now-older buddy that uses it when he flys up to visit me in the North Country in October and he simply loves it. At 14 3/4 LOP, 28-inch tubes and 5 1/4 lbs it fits most adult males and the shells look more-like .410s than 20s. A pocket-full of them weigh almost nothing and should carry you all through a full day of hunting. I had to have the heavy triggers lightened (by their service rep who balked a bit at the weights I wanted) and I then had to add some oil to the original finish (which was pretty thin) but otherwise, it's quite serviceable now. This one even has .410 tubes (which I've yet to really use.)

Upon delivery...


When a 6-lb gun becomes too-much for me...

I hope the translation is about right. You sound a lot like Bill Hannus when he was trying to convince me to hunt pheasants with a 28 gauge. I've never tried it. I'm sure it works for those that are very good shots and very patient to wait for the best opportunities. But I feel more comfortable with more lead in the air.

Maybe someday, I'll take the plunge. Until then, I'll admire the enthusiasm of the 28 gauge guys.