By Nick Sisley
Within an hour of emerging from its factory box this little 28-gauge Franchi had already been involved in grouse success. In coverts as tight as typical of ruffed grouse a fast-handling, reliable scattergun like this 48 AL more than makes up for the smaller 28-gauge payload.
The gun arrived on Friday evening. Saturday morning I picked it up at the gun dealer and while the clerk was doing the paperwork I opened the box, removed the fore-end screw, took the fore-end off, attached the barrel and changed the screw-choke to cylinder. It was a 28-gauge Franchi 48 AL, one of the lightest smoothbores you’ll ever pick up. I shouldered the gun a few times in the shop and it felt good. My background check complete, I took the new little gun to my truck.
Hunting in rough country, like the Hells Canyon above the Snake River in Idaho, smaller, lightweight shotguns like Beretta’s Silver Pigeon S in 28 gauge will tire the hunter less, making fast shots on wary birds like chukar more feasible. The availability of screw-in choke tubes allows the hunter to tailor the gun to the terrain. |
A half-hour later I turned my setter, Sunnie, loose. An inch or so of new snow had fallen and clung to every branch—beautiful! Weather conditions were anything but enticing for grouse hunting, so I knew I’d have any cover all to myself. Twenty minutes into the hunt a grouse flushed fairly close, but it was one of those birds that didn’t make much noise getting airborne. The bird angled back behind me, so I had to pivot hard and swing fast. I thought I was behind when I hit the trigger because I saw bark blast off a tree. Much to my surprise and pleasure I hit the grouse, too.
In many shooting situations, a gun with a light, fast-moving barrel is a liability. However, when hunting grouse in thick cover, a quick gun can be a major asset. The little 28-gauge gun hadn’t been out of its factory box an hour and it had already accounted for a grouse.
An hour later I encountered a five-bird flush. Again, these grouse gave me the silent treatment with their escaping wing beats, so it was difficult to see them in time to bring the new gun into play. They were out of range by the time I spotted them. Some time later, Sunnie pointed beautifully; her nostrils aimed and quivering toward a tangle of vines, briars and such. I hurried in, the little Franchi at the ready.
This bird gave me plenty of notice, hopping onto a limb 6 inches off the ground. Despite the adequate warning, the bird only offered a minimal shot. I knew I had to be quick with this one. The 48 AL was up to the task. Two shots and two grouse (a limit in my state) with a brand new gun—at that a tiny 28 gauge.
A lot of guys are impressed with the little 28 gauge. There’s something about a 28 that seems to make it more efficient than it should be. When ranges are relatively close the 28 is becoming an increasingly popular choice. Some might suggest this newfound love of has more to do with cocktail-party braggadocio or stunt shooting than reality. But I shoot the 28 a lot, and a surprising number of excellent shotgunners do the same. One of my phone pals told me about a 52-yard shot he made on a big upland bird with the 28. He did have a full choke tube screwed into his Perazzi MX8—a 12-gauge receiver fitted with 31 1/2-inch Perazzi 28-gauge barrels. The 28 can certainly reach out, though its forte is more often with shots closer than 52 long steps.
Ruger’s Red Label also comes in 28 gauge and enjoys a good reputation for ruggedness and reliability. The author believes this model is better than its 12- and 20-gauge counterparts. |
Jim Buzzard is a guy with whom I often hunt grouse. He has quite a few grouse guns in his collection, but the one he relies upon almost to the exclusion of all his others is a 28-gauge Ruger Red Label. Another friend, Rich Drury, has shot a lot of grouse and other game with his 20-gauge Browning Superposed, which has been fitted with a set of Simmons 28-gauge barrels. Guess which barrels he hooks on that receiver most of the time?
John Schoen bought a 28-gauge Franchi 48 AL back in the 1960s. Most of you probably didn’t even know they were even available then. In 1991 I talked with Franco Franchi about this during a visit to the Franchi factory in Brescia, Italy. When I told him about Schoen’s 28-gauge 48 AL, Franco smiled. “Yes, we made about 200 of them,” he began. “Only about 20 went to the USA. The rest were marketed in Europe.”
A couple of years ago I wrote a story in Shooting Illustrated about chukar hunting in Hells Canyon of Idaho’s Snake River. The gun used there to great advantage was a 28-gauge Beretta Silver Pigeon S with 28-inch barrels. The friend I hunted with in Idaho was noted outdoor writer Ron Spomer. Like Buzzard, Spomer carries a 28-gauge Ruger Red Label almost exclusively on upland hunts. Believe me he knows how to connect with it consistently. A few weeks prior to using the 48 AL on my state’s grouse I had some great luck shooting a Sigarms Aurora, the New Englander model Sig made for L.L. Bean. That gun was also a 28 gauge, again with 28-inch barrels. All three of these over-unders have screw-in chokes.
So how much are you sacrificing going from a 20 gauge to a 28, or even a 12 gauge to a 28? One way to ascertain some statistical information is to look at the yearly averages of competitive skeet shooters. Like a lot of upland gunning, skeet is a close-range game—21-yards being the average distance to break the clays, but sometimes targets are even closer.
Built by Sig for L.L. Bean, the New Englander in 28 gauge has performed splendidly, according to the author. Even with 28-inch barrels it has proved to be very effective on grouse hunts in thick cover. |
In a recent Records Annual of the National Skeet Shooting Association the top 10 shooters in the country averaged 99.643 with the 12 gauge, 99.599 with the 20 gauge and 99.493 with the 28 gauge. Agreed, these are the top skeet shooters in the country, and they don’t shoot their short-range clay-target game with typical upland guns. Small-bore skeet guns are heavy and very specialized. But let’s skip down to the skeet shooters who were ranked 501 to 510 for that shooting year. These guys are still excellent shotgunners, but not the level of the top 10. Their 12 gauge averages were 96.597, in 20 gauge 96.291 and in 28 gauge 96.237. There’s hardly a nickel’s worth of difference in this close-range, specialized clay target shooting between not only the 20 and the 28 gauge, but between the 12 and the 28 gauge as well. It’s something of a wonder more people aren’t shooting 28s in the uplands; but there’s no question, the ranks of 28 devotees are growing.
Upland coverts, with their typical short-range opportunities, aren’t the only place a 28 can shine. I’ve been on numerous high-volume dove shoots in South America with gunners who only packed 28s for the trip. Most of these fellows had been on several high-volume shoots, so they had nothing to prove by racking up high kill numbers. They simply loved shooting their small-gauge guns, and I don’t think I ever shot with one of these gents who didn’t hold his own in shells-per-bird.
The list of fast-handling 28s is growing. The Ruger Red Label has been mentioned. I’m not the only gun writer who thinks that gun is head and shoulders above its 20- and 12-gauge Red Label counterparts when it comes to feel and handling qualities. Now that the Franchi 48 AL is so readily available in 28 gauge, they’re selling better than company bean counters predicted.
Although both the Beretta Silver Pigeon S and the Sigarms New Englander (recently discontinued) are more expensive than the Red Label, both represent excellent value, and even more value as a 28 gauge than as the same priced 12s and 20s. Beretta has a number of additional 28-gauge models. Browning offers 28 gauges in its Citori over-under line in several models like the new Feather, White Lightning, Lightning and others. Beretta has 28s in its higher priced over-under models. Browning also has a 28-gauge BPS pump gun, as does Remington, in the Wingmaster 870 and 1100 Sporting lines. Stoeger has a side-by-side made in Brazil in 28 gauge. CZ-USA offers side-by-sides and over-unders in 28 gauge, and these are very competitively priced. The above names and models don’t even cover them all. If you don’t have a 28-gauge shotgun in your rack, isn’t it time you started making plans to change that?