28 Vs. 20 Gauge: Which is the Better Sub-Gauge for Duck Hunting?

28 or 20 Gauge? WILDFOWL’s Editor-in-Chief set out with Boss Shotshells and a pair of Benellis to find out which one is better for duck hunting.

By Skip Knowles – Waterfowl Magazine

The racy little 20 gauge SBE 3 I was holding was a proven killing machine. I’d clobbered seven huge late-season honkers with it in seven shots last year over a few mornings with a tungsten-steel blend. By comparison, my wispy new 3-inch 28 gauge in the same model felt puny, and so did the shells. Could a 28 even come close to the firepower of the 20? They are two of the loveliest little semi-autos ever, but was there a big difference in the field? I have been shooting a 28 gauge for 10 years now, taking one with me to the flooded timber, and various fast-action teal potholes. I have enjoyed smashing ducks with tungsten/steel blends, a murderous combo, but how would it perform with the larger shot sizes needed for Bismuth?

I was about to get a stern reminder that it is patterns, not payload, that put pellets on a target, and that is what kills ducks. It would be a simple test. I wasn’t keenly interested in what percentage of pellets a certain load could retain on a typical 3-foot patterning target at 40 yards. This is a hunting magazine. I wanted to compare hits on duck-sized targets, so I chose 8-inch round stick-on targets by Champion. I would shoot each with the same 3” BOSS load of #4s with the same Benelli CRIO IM choke at 30 yards, then again at 40; typical duck ranges. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE