Stuffing an ounce of shot through a 28 bore has no advantages, in my opinion, and drawbacks such as inferior patterns and increased recoil. Jack O’Connor used to shoot wild pheasants with his little Spanish 28 loaded with 3”, 1ounce loads. I agreed with most of what Jack had to say (especially about the .270) but could never understand his use of 1ounce loads. The 28 is no wild pheasant gun. I would have liked to see how his little gun patterned with his choice of loads. I doubt he ever patterned it.
On occasion, I used to play with a 28 bore loaded with ¾ ounce of shot on slough ducks in Saskatchewan. You can pick and choose your shots up there and I limited my shooting to 25 yards with no straight away birds. My little Holland did a nice job but the 28 bore is no all-around duck gun. I shot only the full choke barrel.
My regular loads up there consisted of 12 bore shells loaded with 1 ¼ oz at 1200 fps, the old pigeon load. Recoil was mild and patterns were great with 6’s on ducks and 4’s on geese. It was my go to load for years. I now use 1 1/8 oz. of Bismuth in a 12 bore for my duck shooting. No need or advantage to the heavy stuff. Nothing to be gained in my experience.
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