Another 28 ga!

[Milkmaster]

I went from famine to feast I guess. Found this yesterday to add to my 28ga resources. Beretta White Onyx. Used but you wouldn't know it by the looks. Dealer said it was a Beretta Demo gun from shot shows etc. I am very smitten by the 28ga bug. I am looking forward to every shot these days.

 

[cfullgraf]

Nice looking gun.

I have a fondness for 28 gauge as well. Shot my first pheasant with my Dad's childhood 28 gauge side by side. My first skeet tournament win was in 28 gauge although it was with a tubed 12 gauge.

You will enjoy the 686, I like mine.

 

[Milkmaster]

I love the 686. This will be the third Beretta 686 in my safe. Well, one of them belongs to my son. I gave him a Silver Pigeon I 12ga for his high school graduation years ago. It sits alongside my own 12ga White Onyx 686 while he is in the Marine Corps. He has made me very proud completing his officer training and graduates this week in Quantico, VA. We try to get a round of trap or something in when he comes home.

 

[George P]

Very nice! The 28 is one of those bore sizes, like the 16, that you either love or hate......I love it; it is perfectly adequate for upland birds including pheasant.

 

[Armored farmer]

Im not sure why i like the 28ga so well. It is so close to the 20ga.
It seems to span the gap between the poor patterns of the .410, and the unnecessary payloads of the 20ga for light game like doves and quail. My two favorite small game pursuits.

Every 28ga should be accompanied by a mec reloader. The 28 is very economical shooting if you roll your own ammo.

 

[cfullgraf]

Every 28ga should be accompanied by a mec reloader. The 28 is very economical shooting if you roll your own ammo.

Right!

 

[Milkmaster]

I have been looking at reloaders for 28ga. My knowledgeable neighbor across the street recommended a MEC-650. What say you? I need a list of things to start my reloading duties. I will have to get a good recipe and equipment. Anything special about reloading 28ga as opposed to 12ga or 20ga? I have watched reloading being done but have not performed the task for myself before.

 

[George P]

Nothing special at all; the process and components are the same . On a single stage, like a MEC Jr, you deprime and resize at station 1, reprime at 2, drop powder, then insert wad and drop shot at 3, precrimp at 4, final crimp at 5.

If you are going to be using an autoloader, you will need to ensure that the last crimping station adds that bit of roundness for jam-free feeding.
At 3/4oz, you will get 533 loads from a bag of shot. I like the Claybuster wads; a LOT less expensive than AA, STS, or BPI and work just fine. Win AA hulls seem to be the best of the brands for 28 and 410. I found I needed to slow down just a little when loading smaller bores like 28 and 410 to prevent spills or cocked wads (unlike 12 and 20). On a single stage, that meant loading 4 boxes an hour as opposed to 5-6 for 12 or 20. Now, if you're also going to start doing a lot of clay shooting with the 28, a progressive might be in order, and there are several good ones to choose from - from the least expensive MEC Grabber to the Rolls Royce of loaders, the Spolar

 

[kudu]

I have 4 Mec Grabbers lined up on my bench. Since I run a lot of different guns the Grabber resizes the base to factory dimensions. Some guns have tighter chambers than others. My 1100's in 20 and 28 gauge have very tight chambers and won't run reloads unless they have been resized, found that out early on in my reloading career.
I will second Claybuster wads, and buy AA shells to start with, they will give the best life expectancy of any small gauge hulls.

 

[Armored farmer]

I mainly just hunt with my 28. Maybe a round or two of sporting clays.
I get along fine with a mec 600jr.

 

[Milkmaster]

Does an O/U give you more uses out of the hulls since you don't have to worry about them cycling through a semi-auto? How many reloads could I expect out of the AA hulls?

 

[kudu]

How many reloads could I expect out of the AA hulls?

About 9-10 before the crimp starts cracking and petals fall off, but I have had as few as 6 and as many as about 14 reloads. I will reload until the case won't hold the shot in, but eventually you just have to throw them away, the worst ones I will run a final time through my 1100 and let them fly.

I don't think that there is any measurable difference between auto's and double guns on how many reloads you might save.

 

[George P]

Does an O/U give you more uses out of the hulls since you don't have to worry about them cycling through a semi-auto? How many reloads could I expect out of the AA hulls?

It gives you more reloads because you'll be able to retrieve every one of them!....

If you reload standard target-level loads, you should be good for about 10; the older CF hulls were good to 15 or more, but haven't been made in a while.

 

[Riomouse911]

Two 28 gauge threads this week, gotta love it!

You have one beautiful Beretta, those O/U's from Italy sure do look (and swing/shoot) fantastic.

Stay safe!

 

[Milkmaster]

Use a shell catcher and you won't have to pick them up with the semi-auto. I have a shell catcher for my 1100 and my 391. Just started looking for a shell catcher for my new A400 28ga. No luck yet. I have to say that a thick rubber band worked pretty good last week. Only dropped about 3-4 all day. I would appreciate a note here if anyone knows of a shell catcher source for my A400 28ga. There may not be one made for it. The bolt handle rides right down on the receiver surface pretty close. We'll see how it all works out. Just had it a week or two.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

My 28 is actually a 54 smoothbore flintlock. But I did get a turkey with it a year, or two, ago.
Congrats to you on your new shotguns.

 

[cfullgraf]

I mainly just hunt with my 28. Maybe a round or two of sporting clays.
I get along fine with a mec 600jr.

When I was shooting competitive skeet, I used 4 MEC 600jr for reloading shells in each of the gauges. Other presses can load shells faster than the 600jr but I was on a budget then and could buy 4 600jr's for less than two other presses that could load shells faster. Much of the time back then, I was on a TDY for my company so I reloaded shot shells for "entertainment" during the week while away from home and shot them on the weekend.

 

[Armored farmer]

I keep my 12ga needs met with a mec 650 grabber. It is set to load my light 3dr trap and sporting clays load. It is set up on the bench, ready to stomp out some ammo.

On the shelf is 600jr loaders in .410, 20ga, and 28. I would like yet another in 12ga for hunting loads like buckshot and slugs and turkey loads.

 

[cdb1]

In the second picture the gold colored screw isn’t indexed correctly. I’d sell the shotgun immediately.

 

[cfullgraf]

Does an O/U give you more uses out of the hulls since you don't have to worry about them cycling through a semi-auto? How many reloads could I expect out of the AA hulls?

In my tubed 12 gauge over/under, I'd get 8 to ten reloads from most hulls from the sub gauge calibers. I'm afraid that I cannot comment on shell life when fired from an autoloader.

When I was shooting competitive skeet, I'd shoot factory ammunition in tournaments and reloads in practice. If I ran short of hulls in a particular gauge for practice, I'd shoot some factory shells. Generally speaking though, I always had enough practice ammunition on hand.

I just joined a new gun club and plan to shoot more skeet. Of all the clay games, it is the one I like the most and maybe I can get my wife to join me at time. She has a 20 ga Citori fitted to her and enjoys shooting skeet a bit.

 

[Milkmaster]

In the second picture the gold colored screw isn’t indexed correctly. I’d sell the shotgun immediately.

That's my fault for not putting it back positioned exactly straight. I took the business end apart to remove the automatic safety link rather than butchering it up by cutting it out. Worked out just peachy and shoots like a champ now without resetting the safety every shot at the trap field. The safety still works manually of course.

 

[cdb1]

I obviously was kidding and would be proud to own your shotgun.

 

[DannyLandrum]

Beautiful - I would get a 28 again if ammo was the same price as 20 ga.

 

[cfullgraf]

Beautiful - I would get a 28 again if ammo was the same price as 20 ga.

28 gauge shells can be less expensive than purchased 20 gauge shells if you reload. If you pay attention to your misses when shooting skeet, it can help your averages with the larger gauges. 28 gauge points out some errors that are masked by larger gauges with more shot in the charge.

I have four Mec 600jr presses, one each set up for each gauge/bore for competition skeet. At my level of competition at the time (1990's), my 20 gauge averages were better than my 12 ga averages so I shot 20 gauge in the 12 gauge events.

But, I understand, reloading is not for everyone and component cost is not as advantageous as it was in the 1990's when I was shooting competitive skeet.

 

[cfullgraf]

Beautiful - I would get a 28 again if ammo was the same price as 20 ga.

If you do not "cheat" when shooting .410 bore, it can be very instrumental in pointing out problems when shooting skeet. With a tubed 12 gauge, the gun is heavy enough to not be adversely affected by the shooter unless the shooter does something that adversely affects the shot.

But, one can get too complacent when shooting .410 bore.

When I was shooting skeet competitive, I'd shoot .410 bore once in while to "adjust" my attitude. My general practice was limited to 20 and 28 gauge shells.

With 28 ga, one had to be a bit ore precise in their gun handling due to the slightly smaller shot load.