New 28ga over/under. Now what?

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With the buddy I hunt with's dog, I'd definitely take a 28 gauge, she is the best dog I've ever hunted with. I am eating pheasant in bernaise sauce as I type this, courtesy of Bob, his dog, Lucy, and my 1100 Competiton. The gun performed fine, but it is very heavy for a day's hunt.....a light 28 would have been nice!
 
CoalTrain49 said:
I'll have to disagree with that.

It isn't magical enough to the point that you will ever see a used 28 in the gun rack at the LGS around here. 28 is an upland gauge which limits it usefulness. You can load a 12 ga up or down depending on the game. Back before steel was a thing people were using 1 1/4 oz loads for ducks and geese, 1 and 1-1/8 oz loads for upland and 7/8 oz loads for clays. All patterns perfectly delivered by a 12 ga.

12's are the most versatile, 20 a close second, and 28 way down the list. If all I did was hunt upland I might have a lightweight 28 but I doubt it. More than likely a 20 ga. In England, where they more or less perfected the game gun, 28 was considered a gauge for women and children. Not a gauge for the serious adult male shooter.
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Kinda like the 20 gauge shotgun and .243 rifle were considered "kids guns" over here for so long...while the 28 ga and .264 caliber rifles was territory reserved for the expert or the eccentric. :)

It's not a do-all/end-all like a 12 ga, which to the reloader is truly the mega-versatile .30-'06 of shotgun gauges, but a 28 ga has its place for those who aren't one-gun types or who like shooting something a little bit different. :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
Well, I decided to keep the 28 gauge and shoot it. So now I am looking for information on where to get supplies and any other information for reloading 28 gauge. I already reload for handgun but reloading for shotgun is a new adventure for me. Where do you buy your 28 gauge reloading components?
Thanks
 
IF you will be shooting in volume, buy in bulk. I always bought my wads, shot, primers and powder from my local shotgun club as they ordered targets by the truckload and reloading components were put on the truck so no freight or hazmat. Check there first; otherwise, Graf, CAC Associates, Gamaliel/Brownell's, among a host of others. Look for a used MEC Jr in your area on your local Craig's List
 
I use a MEC 600 Jr. to reload my 28ga. hulls. I buy my supplies from Graf and Sons by mail.

You'll be surprised at how much more "relaxed" shotshell loading is compared to metallic cartridge reloading. Decide what loads you want and try to standardize your hulls, wads and primers. I would recommend Winchester AAHS hulls. They can be used for clay target and hunting loads. With Winchester 209 primers, Winchester WAA28HS wads, a couple of sizes of lead shot and some Alliant 20/28 or Hodgdon Longshot powder, you'll be good to go. Or you could standardize with Remington hulls and components, or Federal... etc.

28 is an easy gauge to load because the majority of loads use the same 3/4 oz shot charge, so that also allows you to use the same wads in most cases. One type of powder will usually cover all the loading you'll likely do as well.

I start off shooting factory loads that use the hulls I plan to reload with. If you do any skeet or trap shooting, you can build up a supply of hulls quickly by buying and shooting, or by picking up hulls at the club, if it's allowed. You can also buy once-fired hull easily... check the classifieds here on the forums.
 
Oh yeah... and pick up a copy of the Lyman Shotshell Handbook. You'll never have to ask another question here! It's a thorough book with all the information you need on shotshell reloading plus plenty of recipes you can use.
 
Thanks for the information. I had planned to use Win AA hulls. One other question, what is the difference between the AA target load and the AA super sport load?
 
Wing Rider said:
Thanks for the information. I had planned to use Win AA hulls. One other question, what is the difference between the AA target load and the AA super sport load?
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The speed. Same hulls. A guy might use AA Target (1200FPS) for skeet, but AA Super Sport (1300FPS) for sporting clays or even hunting. I buy Super Sport loads for ruffed grouse hunting if I don't have any of my reloads handy. They have the speed and payload of a lot of game loads, but also have very hard shot. Winchester's Super-X game load hulls can be reloaded with the same data and components as the AA hulls, by the way...
 
desmobob said:
I use a MEC 600 Jr. to reload my 28ga. hulls. I buy my supplies from Graf and Sons by mail.

You'll be surprised at how much more "relaxed" shotshell loading is compared to metallic cartridge reloading. Decide what loads you want and try to standardize your hulls, wads and primers. I would recommend Winchester AAHS hulls. They can be used for clay target and hunting loads. With Winchester 209 primers, Winchester WAA28HS wads, a couple of sizes of lead shot and some Alliant 20/28 or Hodgdon Longshot powder, you'll be good to go. Or you could standardize with Remington hulls and components, or Federal... etc.

28 is an easy gauge to load because the majority of loads use the same 3/4 oz shot charge, so that also allows you to use the same wads in most cases. One type of powder will usually cover all the loading you'll likely do as well.

I start off shooting factory loads that use the hulls I plan to reload with. If you do any skeet or trap shooting, you can build up a supply of hulls quickly by buying and shooting, or by picking up hulls at the club, if it's allowed. You can also buy once-fired hull easily... check the classifieds here on the forums.
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The only difference to the components above would be not using Win AA wads as the OEM wads are very expensive............there are excellent clones from ClayBuster and Downrange.
 
As said, buy ammunition and components in bulk to save money. Buy good quality shells to generate empty hulls. I still have a bunch of the old Winchester AA hulls from the old days but will be transitioning to the newer Winchester AAHS hulls as I wear out the old AA hulls. I shoot mostly skeet so I buy the skeet loads.

Ditto with components. As George P said, savings can be had buying the equivalent, interchangeable wads from folks like Claybuster.

I load my 28 gauge on a MEC 600jr. They are a good press and I can get 100 to 125 rounds loaded per hour at a comfortable pace. If you plan to load other gauges, get a MEC 600jr for each gauge. While you can change over a MEC 600jr to a different gauge, you will only do it once and understand why you need a press for each gauge. The 600jr is not very expensive, cheaper if you find used. Note, converting a used press to a different gauge is worthwhile if you get it at a good price.

I mostly use MEC's 3/4 oz charge bar and powder bushings for 28 gauge but you can get a universal charge bar that allows for infinite adjustment of the shot and powder charge.

Enjoy 28 gauge.
 
Thanks again for the great info. I was looking at the MEC sizemaster vice the 600jr. Reason being is because placing a primer in the hole each time seems time consuming so by the time you add the primer tray to the 600jr, it turns out to be about the same price. But also, the sizemaster has a hull resizer built in where as the 600jr does not. Would that mean I would have to buy a seperate resizer? I know my metalic cartridge press resizes. Is it necessary for shotgun shells?
Thanks in advance
 
Wing Rider said:
Thanks again for the great info. I was looking at the MEC sizemaster vice the 600jr. Reason being is because placing a primer in the hole each time seems time consuming so by the time you add the primer tray to the 600jr, it turns out to be about the same price. But also, the sizemaster has a hull resizer built in where as the 600jr does not. Would that mean I would have to buy a seperate resizer? I know my metalic cartridge press resizes. Is it necessary for shotgun shells?
Thanks in advance
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I have four MEC Grabbers. They deprime and resize on first stage, automatically drop primer and prime and drop powder on second stage, you add wad cup on third stage as it drops shot, fourth stage starts crimp, fifth stage finishes crimp, sixth stage puts a tight taper on the shell so it feeds reliably like a factory shell. You rotate manually and getting in a rhythm can easily run 300 per hour. I use strictly AA hulls for 28 gauge, but I do still have a batch of Remington Premier hulls but they don't hold up quite as well as AA.

The resizing fingers on a Sizemaster/Grabber are great if you shoot different shotguns in the same gauge. I found out long ago that collet type resizing rings that push over the brass leave a very small unsized ring at the base of the brass that would jam up some of my auto shotguns, MEC sizers use fingers that come in from all sides and don't leave any bulge or ring and bring it back to almost perfect factory size. If you happen to get any once fired shells from another persons shotgun, their chamber may be slightly bigger than the one in your gun, they will need to be run through a resizer like the Sizemaster or Grabber.

The amount of shells that have gone through my MEC Grabbers is in excess of 300,000, and one of them I bought used from a guy that probably had close to 100,000 just through that one alone. I have replaced a couple springs and the plastic drop bottles and a couple bolts, but nothing major.

Some people prefer the slower pace of a MEC Junior or Sizemaster, but I want to get them done and be on to something else.
 
desmobob said:
Right. I sure wouldn't pick a 28ga. as my only shotgun, but I have a place for one in my shotgun lineup.
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A 28 on a 20 gauge target frame will do great on vlay games with some serious panache. in a 6# field gun, not too many upland birds will get away.
 
kudu said:
Some people prefer the slower pace of a MEC Junior or Sizemaster, but I want to get them done and be on to something else.
Click to expand...

When I was shooting skeet competitively in the early 1990s, it was on a budget and I could buy 4 MEC 600 jr for less money than two of the MEC progressive presses (650's ?).

Since I was on temporary duty at another plant with my employer, I had time in the evening to load shot shells during he week to allow me to practice on the weekends. Just a circumstance of my situation. So, 100-125 rounds per hour worked well for me as I had the time available. I could load 300-400 rounds in an evening. Over a couple days, I'd keep up with my needs for practice on the weekends.

So, reloading depends on your time, budget, interest in reloading and so forth.

I'm a fan of 28 gauge as I have mentioned before. I recently bought a Browning Citori 725 Sporting in 28 gauge and am very pleased with the gun. Both my Citori and my 28 gauge MEC 600 jr will get a work out in the coming months.

When I was shooting competitive skeet in the 1990s,. I found shooting more 28 ga practice rounds helped with hitting more targets with my 20 gauge rounds in tournaments.

I'll admit that I am looking at buying a new progressive press to make some of my shot shell reloading less time consuming.
 
I prefer the Grabber progressive over the 9000; the only difference is manual indexing, but as anyone who has ever loaded shotgun before, especially the small bores, it isn't a matter of IF you have a spill, it is a matter of WHEN. The Grabber gives you the opportunity to prevent a ot of spills.
 
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