Anyone hunt or shoot clays with a .410 or 28ga?

For Doves and Sporting Clays, what are the best "loads"

I'm toying with getting one or the other

I shoot an 1100 Skeet in 28 and use Estate Super Sport 7.5s for clay and dove.

28 Browning BPS for dove and skeet and use Estate and Win AAs in 7.5 and 8 shot.

I really like shooting the .410. Makes me focus on what I'm doing and a better shot. 3" 7.5's

Buzz, you'll love either one. The 28 gives up very little in pattern size compared to the 20, the .410 a little more.
As long as you're choked properly for either one they make great dove/quail guns. Lately I've used Estate in my dove hunting with the 28 but pretty much anything in 7 1/2 to 8 will do the trick.

P_102

Absolutely love my Stoger Condor O/U .28ga

7 1/2

Just a bit partial to my old Savage 311 410 double. Does everything I need it to do.

"Back in the Day" the Winchester Model 42 was the bees knees. I was looking at them last night on the various auction sites, all well over $1000. I love the BPS and even looking at a Yldiz.

That savage 311 is cool !!!

I always think I want a tiny bored shotgun but when I get to the dove field. I always grab the Benelli SBE II, afraid I wont get a limit. I need to forget the limit and enjoy the sport. If they are flying good, the .410 would be fun!!

Now try pricing an original Mod 12 in 28!...

Buzz, since your new to smaller bores I'd go with the 28. I used to compete and the 28 was, by far, my favorite! Crushes targets like a 20, feels more like a .410.

P_102

Have a Citori Gran Lightning 28ga that has become my go to dove gun. Fiochii and Rio make excellent ammo for the 28

I have the Yldiz in 28, love it

I use 28 gauge with my 7-1/2 7/8 oz hunting load for all of my shooting.
XS, BPS and red label all shoot the same load very well.
I used a .410 for awhile and the shells are expensive and never got good results with my reloads.
Bought a 28ga and never looked back.

The 28 gauge is a thing of wonder IMO.

The .410 is basically a popgun. Fun to play around with, but a marginal to useless game crippler unless shots are kept to extremely close ranges. .410 is really a caliber, not a gauge. To put things in perspective, converted to a gauge, the .410 is a 67 gauge. That shows the true comparison to the others.

I used to shoot skeet competively, for years in the skeet field. I would shoot modified in 410 and usually hit about 23/24 consistently,I felt it made me a better shot. When I shot my 12ga skeet and skeet I could then hit 100 out of a hundred. When I would go hunting with my buddies they would get pissed off because I never missed.
In my later years I went to just shooting my 28 ga because I got tired of getting beat up by my 12 ha
If you reload the 28 ga is the way to go
Ps Rio makes a excellent 1oz loading for the 28 ha
I tried all the different o/u out there and settled on the Citori Lightning, but the Tilden came in as a close second, the beretta just didn't fit me ,and it seemed like the tiger kicked harder.

Gotta disagree with you NP, the .410 can be plenty deadly at ranges far beyond "extremely close". Depending on your load of choice the shot size and velocity is the same as a 12 gauge or any other gauge, just less of it. As long as you are choked properly they work fine. I've killed a limit of 4 pheasant (Kansas) while 'blocking' and never lost a bird.

P_102

I have both in multiple guns. Shoot both gauges at targets and birds. I love hunting ducks with my Benelli 28ga.

I reload, and both are cheap to reload target loads once you have the hulls.

Winchester is currently running a deal right now for $20 off/case up to 5 cases on their AA loads. Makes factory ammo really affordable. It comes out at $6.80/box for me after the rebate.

Congrats. That might be the dumbest thing I've ever read on THF. A #7.5 pellet out of a .410 at 1200fps is the same as a #7.5 pellet out of a 12ga at 1200fps. The only difference in a .410 and 12ga is the amount of payload and the shot string. Both with the same size shot at the same velocity have the EXACT same effective killing range. I've killed ducks at 35-40 yards with a .410!

Here we go again. "The dumbest thing I've ever read. I've killed (insert animal) with (insert caliber/gauge) at (insert yardage)." As if that proves anything.

A .410 has half the shot payload as a .12 gauge. It doesn't and can't compare to a 12 gauge. Thats why most .410s are choked full. That's physics. You blow that off as if it means nothing.

You can't escape physics. It's just like the 800 yard shot threads. A .410 is an expert's gun for hunting. If one is an expert, fine. Go for it. Otherwise, most folks have no business using a .410 unless shot ranges are kept within a very limited range.

The only reason many consider the .410 an "experts" gun is because, as you stated, most are choked 'full'. Screw the proper choke in and it's a different story altogether. As you pointed out, "you can't escape physics", and you can't escape the fact that a 7.5 pellet at 1200 FPS has the same effect whether it's from a 12 gauge or a .410. Check the charts on Brileys site (I'll try to show some here) and you'll find that the .410 puts plenty of 'payload' out there.

P_102

After a quick search to help my memory. Chokes: With some exceptions, a Cylinder choke will put 40% of your pattern inside a 30 inch circle, Modified 65% and Full 75%. Shot: There are 175 #7.5 pellets in 1/2 oz. of lead shot, 262 in 3/4 oz...all traveling at the same velocity as from a 12 ga. Do the math!

Well, heck, it's a wonder they even make bigger shotguns then.

The reason they are choked "full" is that's the only way to concentrate the shot patterns for any hope of reasonable effectiveness at (still) limited ranges. When the chokes are opened, so are the patterns. On a gun that delivers a marginal pattern to begin with. A shotgun ain't a rifle. The proper analysis is not what one pellet is doing - it's what patterns/strings are delivered.

If one is working with half the pattern, one must be twice the marksman. At ranges of 35-40 yards, one must be must more than twice the marksman with a .410. Why? Because there are simply not enough pellets in the pattern/string to do the job consistently. Again, physics.

None of this is ground-breaking or new.

I own and shoot both........do you? I have a degree in physics........do you?

So now you show me by physics how the same EXACT pellet at the same EXACT speed out of a .410 and 12ga is different?

Again, the difference is payload........more shot in the 12ga which is a bigger shot string. It has ZERO to do with effective range using the same size shot at the same speed. SMFH!

After a quick search to help my memory. Chokes: With some exceptions, a Cylinder choke will put 40% of your pattern inside a 30 inch circle at 30 yards, Modified 65% and Full 75%. Shot: There are 175 #7.5 pellets in 1/2 oz. of lead shot, 262 in 3/4 oz...all traveling at the same velocity as from a 12 ga. Do the math! One is NOT working with half the pattern (in size), one is working with half the amount of payload within the pattern.

Your math is correct - and proves the point. There are 350 7.5 oz pellets in a one ounce 12 gauge load. That's twice as many as 175. Therefore, the same % of shot in the pattern of a .410 delivers half the number of pellets as the 12 gauge. That's the math, alright.

Focusing on individual pellet velocity and % of shot in the pattern is an entirely misleading analysis in this discussion.

You seem to have strayed from the point, NP.

"The .410 is basically a popgun. Fun to play around with, but a marginal to useless game crippler unless shots are kept to extremely close ranges."

Were are not trying to show the .410 is comparable to the 12, just that you are incorrect in the above statement.

P_102

I stand by it. It is a gun with very limited effectiveness - for short ranges only in the hands of non-experts. For slightly longer ranges in the hands of an expert.