28 GAUGE PERAZZI

Bruce:

I remember reading that you bought a set of 28 ga. 32" barrels for
your(a) Perazzi. Was it a 12 ga. frame? What were the barrels bored?
Comments/observations. Several years ago I bought a 20 ga. UK Game
gun from our friend Andrew Litt built on the MX20 frame. It is a
superb gun. I dearly love the 28 since I no longer am thrilled about
being beaten to death by recoil and wanted your thoughts on these long
Perazzi 28 barels.

Thanks.
Shep



Dear Shep,

The Perazzi that I got from the estimable Mr. Litt four years ago is
an MX8/20 fitted with 31.5" 28 gauge barrels. If you wish to duplicate
it, you need only add similar barrels to your 20 gauge.

My barrels have fixed chokes of .016" in each barrel. Perazzi bores
chokes in .004" increments. I'd felt that .016" would be a good
modified in the 28, but was wrong. They may measure modified, but they
pattern full. If I were to do it again, I'd probably get a pair of
.012"s for a little more mercy on the closer shots. Still, at 35
yards, (incoming dove distance) those chokes are miracles.

My trigger is removable with leaf springs, but is non selective. As I
built the gun for dove, there really isn't time to so all that
selecting stuff. You just sort of jam the bullets in and let her rip.
In driven situations I prefer paired chokes, rather than staggered
ones. In sporting clays, paired fixed chokes take all the anguish out
of shooting. There are no choices, so you don't worry about it.

Every now and then I think about sending the barrels to Briley for
flush screw chokes, but the gun shoots so well with what it has that
I'm reluctant to tempt fate. By the way, barrel convergence is
perfect- not always the case with double barrel guns no matter who the
maker.

The fixed choke patterns are remarkably consistent and are among the
best patterns I've ever gotten from a 28. It may have something to do
with the fact that the chokes have almost half a foot of taper.

The rib I chose is a flat, tapered one with a single brass bead in
front. I've never seen any reason to regret this choice and would do
it again. You'd probably want your 28 bbls to have the same rib as
your 20 bbls.

My 31.5" 28 ga bbls are stamped with a weight of 1.490 kg. I think
that this is about right for the gun, but if the barrels had been an
ounce heavier, I wouldn't have minded. The gun is definitely not
whippy, but is very responsive. With those lazer chokes, it's a real
aimer, not a snap shooter. In return, it is an awesome gun at
distance.

Perazzi makes screw choke barrels for the 28. I passed those by
because Perazzi screw chokes do not have as good a reputation as their
marvelous fixed chokes. On the plus side, their screw chokes do add a
bit of tip weight to the barrels which will make the gun feel even
more steady.

My total gun weighs 7.5# on the button, but it's centrally balanced so
it has a good bit of speed. I wouldn't get the barrels any lighter,
but not too much heavier either.

Now here's the odd thing about the gun. I had the stock made exactly
to my dimensions. That included a slight relaxing of the pistol grip,
a length of 15-3/8 with 3" pitch and zero cast, plus relatively high
dimension because I felt a long barreled sub-gauge gun would be a very
flat shooting gun. That turned out to be true.

These stock dimensions certainly shouldn't suit everyone but everyone,
and I mean everyone, who has shot that gun shoots it well. Some shoot
it marvelously well. I could have sold it a number of times. In fact,
most people shoot it better than I do because I tend to aim with it
and that's never a good thing. It's easy to aim a gun like this
because the barrels are so long and thin.

The only mechanical problems I've had with the gun have been in broken
leaf spring and a broken ejector. The latter was expensive and
inconvenient. Other than that, I've shot the gun about 14,000 rounds
with no problems.

I have an acquaintance, who liked my gun so much that
he had Litt get him a three gauge set on the MX8/20 frame with the
same 31.5" length barrels. He likes his gun as much as I like mine.
His 28s are just an ounce heavier than mine.

Bottom line: definitely get a set of 28 bbls for your MX8/20 frame.
You are going to love it. There is something magical about the 28 and
Perazzi certainly does it right.

Best regards,

Bruce Buck
The Technoid for Shotgun Report, LLC