I Am Still Looking For A Good Affordable 28 Gauge Shotgun That Can Be Used For Sporting Clays And Quail Hunting. I Have Looked At All The Options, Especially The Brownings. I Can Purchase Them At About Wholesale Cost. This Week While Teaching A Course Called Instinctive Shooting, A Client Showed Up With A Ruger Red Label 28 Gauge With .410 Tubes. After The Class I Asked The Client If I Could Shoot A Round Of Skeet With His Firearm And Quickly Ran The Field With A New Box Of Winchester HS Loads. It Had The Shorter 26-inch Barrel That Normally I Do Not Care For. It Was A Joy To Shoot. The Client Informed Me That He Taken This 28 To Argentina Dove Shooting For The Last 5 Years And It Has Never Failed Him. He Also Has A Browning Citori Lightning In 28 That He Also Likes. However The Browning Had Mechanical Problems Last Year And He Still Did Not Have It Back From The Shop. I Asked Him How Many Rounds He Figures He Has Put Through His Red Label And His Answer Really Surprised Me. He Stated That His Ammo Bill Last Spring Was A Little Over 3,000.00 Or About 9000 Rounds. He Felt That He Had Shot About 42,000 Rounds In The Gun Over The Last 5 Years Of Dove And Pigeon Shooting. The Little 28 Still Looked To Be In Very Good Condition.After Listening To His Dissertation, I Showed Him My 12 Ga Red Label That Has More Than 20,000 Rounds Through It. The Bluing On The Back Of The Trigger Guard Is Long Gone. I Use It For The Class I Teach And Occasionally For Sporting Clays. Last Year After A Couple Of Rounds Of Sporting Clays A Crack Began To Run From The Tang Down Into The Pistol Grip. I Was Devastated As The Wood On This Particular Gun Was Very Good Indeed. Reluctantly I Called Ruger Just Before Christmas And Was Told To Send It Right After New Years. So Shortly There After I Packaged It Up And Sent It Off Wondering If I Would Ever See It Again. Well 13 Days Later It Was Back With New Wood And New Firing Pins And Springs. I Was Elated But The Best Part Was All The Work Was Done For Free. Hey Free Is Good; I Mean This Is A 10 Year Old Gun! So After Shooting Another Round Of Skeet With The Tubes Removed And Only Dropping One Bird, I Am Thinking That I Might Consider Going With The Red Label. However, I Will Look For A Gun With 28 Inch Barrels. I Am Not Sure If I Will Spring For The 410 Tubes But I Might In The Future. I Still Like The Browning But At Half The Price And Twice The Service, I Am Giving The Red Label A Closer Look.Over The Years I Have Seen Or Heard Lots Of Negative Feedback Concerning The Red Label. However, I Have Come To Realize That Most Shotgun Shooters Have Lots Of Opinions But Very Little Expertise When Comes To Choosing A Firearm. I Am Just As Bad As I Sometimes Read Articles About Firearms Written By People Who Really Have No In Depth Experience With That Particular Firearm.Last Saturday I Happen To Run Into The One Of Presidents Guides On The Range And Guess What He Had In Hand, A Ruger Red Label In 28 Gauge. It Had Lots Of Field And Handling Marks On The Receiver And Wood. I Asked Him If He Liked It, He Just Looked Down At It Shrugged His Shoulders And Said Well Its No Longer Pretty But Always Works I Guess That Kind Of Says It All Doesnt It.
