28 Bore cartridge help

[johnnytheboy]

Need a wee bit help please, we lost out wee farm where we shot pheasants, they weren’t tall and mostly jumping hedgerows, so my 410 was perfect. Now we are on to another shoot with slightly taller trees but nothing massive I was going to change to 28g 

I just need cartridge recommendations please, hoping to get a cartridge that has game shot size and clay shot size so I can use the same load to practice then on live game. 
 

Any help appreciated! 

[Poor Shot]

I've used Eley VIP 24g 6 shot this past season and had some good birds out to about 25/30 yards driven. I didn't get a chance to use them as walking gun or rough shooting this year but I'm sure they'd have been more than adequate. At around £90 per 250 they were a reasonable cost for a 28g cartridge. 

I also used them quite a bit on clays the autumn before in preparation for the season and they did quite well. Worth checking the maximum shot size with the ground though as some won't allow anything larger than a 6.5 or 7. 

[Mattheius]

I use Hull High Pheasant 23g 6's and they also do a 25g 5 for anything a bit higher. I find them a really nice cartridge to shoot with a good pattern in my gun (Beretta Silver Pigeon) I use the same carts - 23g but in 7's for clays too.

100% recommend the 23g 6's - I used my 28 bore and these carts for all my days game shooting last season.

[markm]

Express do a nice 25gm cartridge. They jump up quite a bit to 28gm. I can’t tell the difference. 

Edited April 5, 2023 by markm

[Whitebridges]

The best pheasant load i ever used in 28 bore was the Bornhagi  semimag ,  24g of no 7. shot.

I bought a slab from Just Cartridges a few years ago. I don't think they stock Bornhagi anymore. 

 

 

 

[nacnud]

4 hours ago, Mattheius said:

I use Hull High Pheasant 23g 6's and they also do a 25g 5 for anything a bit higher. I find them a really nice cartridge to shoot with a good pattern in my gun (Beretta Silver Pigeon) I use the same carts - 23g but in 7's for clays too.

100% recommend the 23g 6's - I used my 28 bore and these carts for all my days game shooting last season.

Totally agree though now I load my own, mostly 21g #8 for clays and 24g #6 or #5 with cork wads for game.

[Wilts#Dave]

6 hours ago, Mattheius said:

I use Hull High Pheasant 23g 6's and they also do a 25g 5 for anything a bit higher. I find them a really nice cartridge to shoot with a good pattern in my gun (Beretta Silver Pigeon) I use the same carts - 23g but in 7's for clays too.

100% recommend the 23g 6's - I used my 28 bore and these carts for all my days game shooting last season.

This, 100%. Used a good few thousand of the Hull High Pheasant 23g 6’s and 5’s on pigeons mainly and they kill unbelievably well for a light load (again silver pigeon, I only use 1/4 and 1/2 choke). 

[London Best]

23 grams out of a 28 bore is not a light load, it’s a standard 20 bore load.

[Dave at kelton]

I have tended to stick with Eley vip.

[Stonepark]

If you don't mind the plastic wad, Fiocchi F28 24g 2.4mm (7.5it or no7 uk) are a decent cartridge, designed for clays but also really good on live game as well.

[222mark]

I always thought 21g was a standard 28 bore load. As London Best said 24g is a 20 bore load. Why overload a small bore. I've always had best results with the .410 with 14g loads. You don't have to throw as much lead as possible at something for best results.

[Wylye]

From all the messing around we have done with 28gauges, Hull High Pheasant 23gms 6 through half or three-quarter chokes consistently give the best results. No question.

[London Best]

1 hour ago, 222mark said:

I always thought 21g was a standard 28 bore load. As London Best said 24g is a 20 bore load. Why overload a small bore. I've always had best results with the .410 with 14g loads. You don't have to throw as much lead as possible at something for best results.

21 grams, ie 3/4 ounce is the standard American 2 3/4 inch 28 bore load. 
 

British 2 1/2 inch standard loads were 9/16 to 5/8 ounce.

.410 guns perform very well with 14 grams.

Edited April 6, 2023 by London Best

[Fellside]

3 hours ago, London Best said:

21 grams, ie 3/4 ounce is the standard American 2 3/4 inch 28 bore load. 
 

British 2 1/2 inch standard loads were 9/16 to 5/8 ounce.

.410 guns perform very well with 14 grams.

Yes good point. The 28 bore was first developed in the UK and 18 gram loads were the norm. The Americans later mass produced this gauge and popularised the 21 gram (3/4 oz) load. So if you think about it, the 23 or 24 gram (7/8 oz) loads are quite big relative to the original 18 gram. The strange thing is, that these bigger loads actually pattern quite well. I suppose they won’t please the 28 gauge purist, but if they work….?! I have personally had good results with them using the Hull offerings for game and their 18 gram ‘clay and game’ in 7s for sporting clays. 

(P.S Express now make a 28 gauge dedicated clay load with size 8 shot. Haven’t tried them so can’t comment on performance) 

[London Best]

2 hours ago, Fellside said:

Yes good point. The 28 bore was first developed in the UK and 18 gram loads were the norm. The Americans later mass produced this gauge and popularised the 21 gram (3/4 oz) load. So if you think about it, the 23 or 24 gram (7/8 oz) loads are quite big relative to the original 18 gram. The strange thing is, that these bigger loads actually pattern quite well. I suppose they won’t please the 28 gauge purist, but if they work….?! I have personally had good results with them using the Hull offerings for game and their 18 gram ‘clay and game’ in 7s for sporting clays. 

(P.S Express now make a 28 gauge dedicated clay load with size 8 shot. Haven’t tried them so can’t comment on performance) 

Never actually owned a 28 myself. My mate refused to sell me his Army&Navy, which was a perfect match for my .410 of the same make. Then he became a Granddad and passed it down, so, no further chance of that one. Mate uses nothing but 28’s himself now, but has gone over to the ‘dark side’ with a pair of Caesar Guerinis. He also has a McNab Highlander which I have shot now and then, and it is a lovely thing to use even though it only weighs 4 ounces less than my 12. The Guerinis are actually heavier than my 12.

[Fellside]

1 hour ago, London Best said:

Never actually owned a 28 myself. My mate refused to sell me his Army&Navy, which was a perfect match for my .410 of the same make. Then he became a Granddad and passed it down, so, no further chance of that one. Mate uses nothing but 28’s himself now, but has gone over to the ‘dark side’ with a pair of Caesar Guerinis. He also has a McNab Highlander which I have shot now and then, and it is a lovely thing to use even though it only weighs 4 ounces less than my 12. The Guerinis are actually heavier than my 12.

A lot of O/U 28s are built on a 20 bore action. Some therefore end up being heavier than their 20 bore equivalent - requiring more steel around the chambers to fill the action. A true scaled 28 with good balance is a joy. 

[Gas seal]

Hi Johnny the boy I have used 28gauge as my main gun for twenty years. I loaded my own cartridges and found sixteen grams of lead seven 2.4mm lead or twenty one grams of lead six 2.6mm is all that is needed. The shot count and pattern of the two cartridges are roughly the same. It’s about the shot count with small gauge cartridges the bigger the pellets more are needed for the pattern. You could try a twenty one gram load of six shot for game and the same cartridges in seven for clay and see how it goes. 28g guns are now steel proved and some have seventy six mm chambers . Some guns are on a twenty gauge action . One on its own action is a different gun to shoot. 

[Fellside]

1 hour ago, Gas seal said:

Hi Johnny the boy I have used 28gauge as my main gun for twenty years. I loaded my own cartridges and found sixteen grams of lead seven 2.4mm lead or twenty one grams of lead six 2.6mm is all that is needed. The shot count and pattern of the two cartridges are roughly the same. It’s about the shot count with small gauge cartridges the bigger the pellets more are needed for the pattern. You could try a twenty one gram load of six shot for game and the same cartridges in seven for clay and see how it goes. 28g guns are now steel proved and some have seventy six mm chambers . Some guns are on a twenty gauge action . One on its own action is a different gun to shoot. 

Hi Gas seal. What sort of reasonable range do you achieve with 21 gram 6s?

[Gas seal]

Hi Fellside with 21grams of 6 shot I would say 35yards . I have used 16grams of 7shot at 35yards for pigeons I found them soft shooting, my gun weighs 5 pounds. With the right cartridge and chokes 40yard range should be possible. I once bought different brands and shot weight  and shot size 28gauge cartridges from my local supplier and single boxes from just cartridges to try. I didn’t find a bad cartridge but some had more recoil or crack to them. I still have some half boxes of them. I have some home loaded cartridges to test I should put them over the chronograph with them. if I remember some of the European cartridges had a fair crack to them.

[TOPGUN749]

There has been a tendency for manufacturers to make small bore cartridges heavier in recent years,the standard load in the 1960’s and 70’s was 9/16 oz, 16 grams. 3.5 grams more than a .410. I don’t see the advantage really,it’s cheaper to buy light load 12 bores at 21 grams.

Edited April 7, 2023 by TOPGUN749

[Gas seal]

Using a 28gauge can be an advantage, but it would be a preference for a lot of users just like using a .410. . Cartridges have come a long way since the 60s and 70s. Like myself a lot of shooters use a smaller gauge of shot gun in later life. My gun weighs 5lb that’s an advantage for me. I can load my cartridges with tss and match any 12 gauge to kill geese. That’s a big advantage I couldn’t do that in the 60s or 70s . The 28gauge is used more in the USA and a lot more cartridges and loading data is available. 

[Wilts#Dave]

On 06/04/2023 at 10:36, Wylye said:

From all the messing around we have done with 28gauges, Hull High Pheasant 23gms 6 through half or three-quarter chokes consistently give the best results. No question.

Those particular shells kill unbelievably well through mine too. Whether or not it’s considered a ‘heavy’ load, they’re very smooth shooting with little felt recoil through my silver pigeon so certainly don’t feel it! 

[Stonepark]

On 05/04/2023 at 13:32, Whitebridges said:

The best pheasant load i ever used in 28 bore was the Bornhagi  semimag ,  24g of no 7. shot.

I bought a slab from Just Cartridges a few years ago. I don't think they stock Bornhagi anymore. 

 

 

 

North Ayrshire shooting ground are now stocking Bornaghi....

On 07/04/2023 at 21:54, TOPGUN749 said:

There has been a tendency for manufacturers to make small bore cartridges heavier in recent years,the standard load in the 1960’s and 70’s was 9/16 oz, 16 grams. 3.5 grams more than a .410. I don’t see the advantage really,it’s cheaper to buy light load 12 bores at 21 grams.

The square load for the 28b is 21g, hence a lot of the reason the USA settled on it for 2 3\4 inch 'modern' guns from the 1920's onwards, whilst UK older\traditional guns were chambered in 2 1\2 inches.

 

With the advent of antimony hardened shot, the square load became almost irrelevant and as long as recoil is not significant, using the full case volume is feasible.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Stonepark

[Gas seal]

Hi yes use a cartridge that suits you. There’s no rule to say you have to use x weight of shot or x size shot through a 28gauge . It’s the proof of the gun. I would say that a heavy load for a 28gauge was a commercial (rouge or viper ammunition)  2 1/2 cartridge with 1 and 1/2 oz of tss or 2 3/4 cartridge with 1 and 5/8 oz of tss and fired through extra full chokes. If a (modern) shotgun is made to shoot (modern) cartridges I would choose any of them to use and enjoy the shooting. That’s what I do and always have done. 

[Fellside]

On 07/04/2023 at 19:52, Gas seal said:

Hi Fellside with 21grams of 6 shot I would say 35yards . I have used 16grams of 7shot at 35yards for pigeons I found them soft shooting, my gun weighs 5 pounds. With the right cartridge and chokes 40yard range should be possible. I once bought different brands and shot weight  and shot size 28gauge cartridges from my local supplier and single boxes from just cartridges to try. I didn’t find a bad cartridge but some had more recoil or crack to them. I still have some half boxes of them. I have some home loaded cartridges to test I should put them over the chronograph with them. if I remember some of the European cartridges had a fair crack to them.

That’s alright - 35 yards is plenty for most situations. I am tempted to give these lighter ones a try.