Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns You're favorite 28ga

Only have one 28 right now. AyA Matador. It's my go to gun!

I only have one it's a Ruger Red label. Got it for a song at a shop in Redding Ca. It was a trade in from a guy that used it as his skeet gun and it was worn out. Took a chance that Ruger would work on it.

When I got it the lever at closed was at 6:45 and considerable play in the action and the rib rattled worse than any other Ruger and they're all bad.

I called Ruger customer service and asked the nice lady if they would give me an estimate for repairs if I sent it in. She said sure thing and emailed a shipping label and would call me back after they got the gun.

A couple of weeks later the rep from Ruger called and asked me if I would talk to the tech working on the gun. Sure thing I replied but had a sinking feeling the gun was toast. The service tech sounded like a nice young girl and said work was progressing well on the gun and chided me for complaining about the rib but she would fix it.

I thanked her and asked to direct me back to the cust service gal. Kinda freaked out because I wanted an estimate first before approving the work. Jaw dropped when she told me no charge and they were happy to do it. I reminded her that I bought it used and worn out and would compensate them for the work and parts. She wasn't having any of it.

Happy Ruger customer, must be why I have so many. Sorry so long winded here it is with completely new internals.

Hard to not like a company that’s takes good care of its customers.

Thanks for sharing. Nice shotgun.

DF

I think the Mossberg is closer to a Beretta in design. Both Weatherby and Mossberg have marketed them under the SA designation

And if I remember correctly, the bottom barrel was choked Improved Lawyer.

I think that ruger red label is just what I am look for haha. That is really a beautiful shotgun.

And speaks a lot for ruger.

Never have had an 1100 and I like their looks, but in my dotage have become fairly dogmatic about the gauges and their approximate weights and scale for game guns. 6 1/2 lbs for a 28 is at least 3/4 lbs too heavy and arguably a whole lb or more.

A 28 SA doesn’t need a recoil mitigating gas system. In the game fields, IMO, a gas-operated 28 is an anachronism. Fo me, same goes for the 20 mostly.

Clay target competitions are a different story.

I like my 28 ga. 1100. It handles well, kills above its weight class...

DF

Don’t tempt me. 🙂 As I said I like their looks.

DF, I’m a lefty and learned to not buy “left hand” shotguns because I’m a trader and a re-seller. So I pay attention to safeties on SA’s and if they are the plunger type, they must be fairly easily reversible.

Remingtons were until I think maybe 15 years ago. Now you have replace them with an aftermarket safety — at least that’s the case with the 1100’s.

I’m sure our litigious culture has a lot to do with it but Benelli still makes it easy-peasy. I applaud them for that among a lot of other things.

George, Benelli is a great design, hard to beat.

I just don't have one in 28 ga. I do have a 12 ga....

Those who have them really seem to like them, me included.

DF

The 28 G. does not get the respect it deserves. It is hard hitting often very light, and fast.

I have several , Including a Merkel , Al 48 Deluxe with a straight stock, simliar to one posted earlier , couple older Berettas . The Berettas trigger

guard jams my hand when firing. A couple Berettas in 20 G. do this also..

Pic is a Merkel 280 EL in a true 28 G. frame. I try to be careful dragging it through the brush Grouse hunting. I will use it and enjoy . My heirs can deal

with any history the scatter gun accumulates.

Very nice double gun there, cisco.

I like it. Bet it shoots as good as it looks.

DF

That's what I shot a gobbler with 28 ga 1 3/8 9s Apex TSS. They weren't working well, so had to do a 200 yard sneak across open pasture to get a long shot, but it worked. It was far enough my brother thought I was nuts, but he's dead!

How on earth do you get 1 3/8 oz in a 28 gauge shell?

It's tungsten super shot, it's about 70% heavier than lead if I remember correctly. You shoot 9's on turkeys, they weigh almost the same as lead 5's except there's a lot more of them! A 2 oz load of lead 5's has 340 pellets, a 28 ga load of 9's TSS has I think almost 500. They weigh the same so penetration and energy are pretty much identical. Unfortunately they aren't cheap, but you don't fire several hundred a year at gobblers.

By the way, I currently hunt mostly with a Ugartechea 28 sxs, and have another Beretta A400 28 ga.

Can you load TSS rounds, or do you have to buy'em?

DF

You can load them, but it doesn't save much money. the 28's are about 7 bucks a pop, but the shot costs $220 for 5 pounds. You have about $4 a round just in shot, no wads, no powder, no primers, and assuming you never mess up one. I shot a 24 pound gobbler with the 28 ga and factory full barrel at exactly 80 yards. I know it sounds nuts, but keep in mine the energy per pellet is the same as a 5 and there are 150 more pellets than a 2 oz load of 5 lead.

Have you broken a tooth yet, biting down on one of those small, very hard pieces of shot...?

That would be my concern, using TSS on game that I'm going to eat.

DF