What is a 28 ga good for? (a.k.a. - Dad goes shopping)

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JohnBT

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First the background...

Here's my post in General Gun on the thread "What did you buy for National Buy a Gun Day?"
_______________________________________________________________
I went to 3 gun stores and then to the range with my dad. And two meals with mom and dad, and a trip to the nursing home to visit an aunt, etc.
No new guns....... yet.

When I called him 2 hours ago (Sunday evening) he informed me that he's going back to the local shop tomorrow to take another look at the 28ga O/U we both liked. I was just sort of fooling around when I started handing him little shotguns to look at.

The suspense is killing me.
_______________________________________________________________

Now the news...

I called home yesterday evening after I got in from work and son of a gun he went back and bought it. He claims he really went back to show a sales guy the handmade balisong he brought back from the Philappines at the end of WWII. Yeah, sure dad. Now, the man had a nice one and I'm sure my father wanted him to see the one he has with the blade made from a Mercedes spring, but I know better. Enough already! Bought what you say? A Caesar Guerini Woodlander 28 ga with 28" barrels and a Prince of Wales pistol grip (not the straight stock shown in the pic below from www.gueriniusa.com )

Woodlander.jpg


So, what is a 28 ga good for? :D

I need to find out soon, because I know for a fact that he isn't going to shoot it too much - he's 83. Then again he's fooled me more than once this week.

John
 
small game hunting? turning the squirrels near the birdfeeder into dinner?

~TMM
 
"Shh. Be vewy vewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits" - E. Fudd

What I wouldn't have given for a fast light gun when I was a kid, oh, about 30 or 40+ years ago. My grandparents had a large commercial apple orchard with a fair number of quail and rabbits around the edges.

Clays, birds, bunnies, tree rats we'll find something to do with it. :) It's much too fine a gun to sit in a corner.

Speaking of birds, it's a shame we can't hunt the grouse that hang out at the range my dad belongs to.

John
 
Drool!!!!!

I want one.

You didn't hear me...I really really want one. :D

Damn - that is really really nice!!

What is a 28 ga good for?
Click to expand...

Sometimes words and pictures do not convey. One has to shoulder one of these, then pull the trigger to fully understand.

I know , oh how well I do. ;)

It is my responsibilty to educate others about the 28ga.

. 28 ga is a dangerous thing if you have pocket full of money and Steve is "assisting". - Too many victims...err...folks I know. :p
 
Do not let your wife/girlfriend fire this gun. Ever.

You'll find that you'll be buying one for her before you know it.

At least you can get a Guerini. My wife took shooting instruction with a borrowed 28 gauge that was out of production. It was quite a search to find one like it. I eventually did it but paid a premium price. :banghead:

The 28 is a fine gauge. It most definitely "hits out of its weight" and will crush targets and drop birds as well as a 20.

Paul
 
My wife has a joint condition that prevents her from firing a 20 or 12 guage shotgun without risking damage to her shoulder. Fortunately for our budget, she is passing on shotgun rather than trying a 28 guage or .410 caliber.
Richard
Schennberg.com
 
Funny, I just bought a 28 gauge over/under today also. Though not in the same league as your dads I couldn't pass on the price. I got a Kahn with some nice detail work on NIB for $325 at a local gunstore. Even came with 5 different choke tubes. They had several. I had to decide between a side by side (by stoager) or the O/U, both in 28, and went with the O/U. But even the SXS was only $300.

I can't wait to get it out to the range and try it out. I don't understand why they don't make buckshot for them though. Heck, even the .410 has a buckshot round available.
 
I looked at a Kahn a couple of weeks ago at a gun show and it seemed like a nice gun, especially at that price. Let us know how it shoots.

Let's see, there was something else. Oh yeah, I can't give the Guerini away because I DON'T OWN IT. :D Whew, dodged that one without having to offend some people by shouting "No, no, a thousand times no."

As soon as he finishes showing it around I'm sure I'll get to 'borrow' it. It'll likely work out like the Cooper Custom Classic .22 I bought him - I keep it and drag it back and forth to their house. He's a revolver plinker these days - .22, .17 and his favorite - wadcutters in a Python.

FWIW, last week when I handled the Guerinis the 28 felt alive and the shorter-barreled 20 didn't. I imagine it was another case of me not liking short barrels. The 3 or 4 12s I looked at handled well, although I couldn't decide if I liked the steel framed ones or the alloy framed lightweight. This could get expensive. Duh.

I bought some cleaning stuff, clays and 'things' for the gun yesterday evening and saw a nice, used 12 ga. Superposed with 30" barrels. The wood might have been refinished, but the metal was good and the pad looked almost new - only $999 and the thing fit me just right.


One question about some of the ammo I bought. Is a little less than $7 a box a decent price for 28 ga. Winchester AA target loads (3/4 oz., 2 dram equiv.)? You can tell when you have too much money (not enough to retire on though) because you buy first and ask questions later.

John - a.k.a. Mr. Lucky

P.S. - "turning money into little pieces of broken clay" reminds me of the old joke that duck hunting is like standing in a cold shower tearing up $20 bills. :)
 
What is a 28 ga good for?

Impressing the other rich folks at the plantation quail hunt. :)
OK, just kidding. Around here most good ol' boys carry 12 gauges. My daddy carried a Browning 16 gauge ('"sweet sixteen"). That was about as uppity as it got.
I didn't even know 28 gauges were still being made until a lawyer friend of mine told me about hers. She uses it for quail hunts at our local game ranch. She claims its tight pattern is perfect for head shots on quail. Since there's not a multitude of shot from this gun, you're less likely to put lead in the "goody" parts when making your kill. Or something like that.
Daddy didn't have that problem with the Sweet 16, though.
-David
 
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After exactly 2 rounds, my 870 28 ga just sits in the safe.

I really should shoot it more. :p
 
Ha, I can tell you about some good old boys, and they're just the ones I'm related to. The family orchard was so far back in the mountains that you had to walk toward town to go hunting. Really. The property is still 1.5 miles off the last paved road and it's not 20 miles from Charlottesville.

Monday while my father was buying the 28 a cousin of his walked in to drop something off. He only stayed long enough to say the gun looked good, but it wasn't a 12, and then he walked out.

My dad's only shotgun, until Monday, was a 20 ga. Winchester Model 12 with a plain barrel and a full choke. Okay, and the pristine Win Model 37 .410 his brother gave him from his collection a couple of years ago.

Here're some of the shotguns I've owned:a Savage 24 .22mag/.410, Fox Model B 12 ga. full/mod, 870 Express 12 ga and a Wally World Special Model 1100 synthetic that cost $328. The loaners I've used generally weren't as nice, especially the bolt action .410 with a broken bolt stop. Every once in a while I'd get carried away and the bolt would go flying over my shoulder into the weeds. This was gun I'd pawn off on one of my camping companions as a kid - at least until they got wise. Thankfully my uncle unloaded on it somebody in one of his multi-gun trades.

I'm in the market for a plantation if somebody would lend me a couple of bucks. Hunting would be by invitation only and you'd have to wear bib overalls, work boots and a dirty hat. :)

John
 
One question about some of the ammo I bought. Is a little less than $7 a box a decent price for 28 ga.
Click to expand...

Not bad, but can be had cheaper usually at skeet ranges for AA, and Rem STS's. Save the hulls on the AA's and STS's, they can be sold for up to .10cents a piece to skeet shooter that reload. This goes a long way in recouping the initial investment.
 
Went to the range today with a couple of rifles and took the Kahn along to do a little function testing. The trap range was closed so I only put a few rounds through it just to make sure it went bang.

It did.

Actually, it felt nice. Swung well and recoil is amazingly absent. I've never shot a 28 before but I already love the feel of it. Seemed to pattern well based on my limited shooting. Kind of stiff opening and closing but it's new so I kind of expected that. The trigger has a little bit of play in it which could be annoying but I'm not sure if theres anything I can do about that.

So far, for a $325 over/under I'm impressed. For those interested it's made in Turkey and imported by Century Arms. They have them listed on their web site.
 
If you don't reload and are just looking for a cheap 28 shell that will shoot good take a look at what Estate sells. I'm able to get a flat (10 boxes) here for $50. They shoot great and only seem slightly dirtier then regular shells.
 
That sounds good, I'll keep an eye out. Thanks. I was pleased at paying under $7 at the gun store. I'd expected them to be a little closer to the $10+ list price.

I'm off to the Valley in the morning to visit the new shotgun (and my parents.)

I wonder what's new at the gun store - I have to drive by it to get to their house. :evil:

John
 
Range report => Handles, shoots and patterns like a dream. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate so we only shot about a box of ammo and went to lunch.

Pictures => I'm trying, I'm trying. The ones I've taken so far this morning were so bad I gave up and started searching Google for references to the Serengeti shotgun in the other thread.

John
 
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