Browning Citori 825 Field 28ga 26in – Superb Walnut Over Under

Description

Ask a room of experienced bird hunters which gauge they would carry if nobody were keeping score and a surprising number say 28. The Browning Citori 825 Field 28ga 26in is why, a gun that patterns far better than its payload suggests, weighs almost nothing on a long walk and is a genuine pleasure to shoot.

The Gauge That Outperforms Its Payload

The 28 gauge has a long standing reputation for patterning better than the shell size implies, and the reason is geometry rather than folklore. A short, wide shot column deforms fewer pellets on the way out than a long narrow one, so more of the payload arrives in the pattern instead of scattering as fliers.

Twenty six inch barrels make this the quickest handling gun in the Field range. In thick grouse and woodcock cover where birds flush close and disappear fast, a short barreled gun that comes onto the target instantly beats a longer one that swings more smoothly but arrives late.

At 6 pounds 7 ounces the gun essentially disappears on a long walk. Combined with a payload that produces very little recoil, this is a shotgun that can be carried and shot all day without the fatigue that accumulates behind a heavier 12 gauge.

Field Hardware On A Scaled Frame

Browning builds the sub gauge 825 on a receiver scaled to the smaller shell rather than sleeving a 12 gauge frame. That is what keeps the weight honest and the proportions right, and it is the difference between a real 28 gauge and a 12 gauge wearing small barrels.

Chrome plated chambers and Vector Pro forcing cones do the same work here they do on the larger gauges, easing the shot column out of the chamber to cut pellet deformation and resisting the corrosion that comes with damp mornings and delayed cleaning.

Three Standard Invector flush chokes ship with the gun, covering Full, Modified and Improved Cylinder. Note that the 28 gauge and 410 models use the Standard Invector system rather than the Invector-DS tubes fitted to the 12 and 20 gauge guns, so tubes are not interchangeable across gauges.

Browning Citori 825 Field 28ga 26in Specifications

• Browning item number 018346014
• Gauge 28 with a 3 inch chamber
• Barrel length 26 inches, gloss blued
• Overall length 43 and three quarter inches
• Weight 6 pounds 7 ounces
• Forcing cones Vector Pro lengthened
• Rib ventilated, one quarter inch
• Sights ivory bead front
• Point of impact 50 50
• Trigger Fire Lite 2 mechanical, gold plated alloy
• Chokes three Standard Invector flush tubes, Full, Modified and Improved Cylinder
• Stock Grade II and III black walnut with a gloss oil finish
• Grip pistol grip with a palm swell
• Inflex II recoil pad, large size
• Length of pull 14 and one quarter inches
• Drop at comb 1 and 5 eighths inches
• Drop at heel 2 and 1 half inches
• Receiver steel, silver nitride with game scene engraving
• Chambers chrome plated
• Action over under, break open

The choke system is the one specification that catches people out. Browning fits the Invector-DS system to the 12 and 20 gauge models in this family but uses Standard Invector tubes on the 28 gauge and 410, so a shooter who already owns Invector-DS tubes for a larger gauge cannot move them across. Order 28 gauge specific tubes if you want to expand beyond the three supplied. The 3 inch chamber is a genuine advantage on this gauge, since it opens the gun to the heavier non toxic loads that have appeared in recent years without giving anything up on standard field shells.

Fit and finish on the Browning Citori 825 Field 28ga 26in match the larger gauge Field models, with the same wood to metal fit and the same lockup on a frame scaled to the smaller shell.

Why Buyers Choose The Browning Citori 825 Field 28ga 26in

Upland hunters choose the Browning Citori 825 Field 28ga 26in because it is the most pleasant gun in the range to carry and shoot. Light weight, almost no recoil and a pattern that performs above its payload add up to a gun people look forward to using.

Short barrels suit the cover this gauge is usually carried in. Grouse, woodcock and quail flush close and vanish fast, and a 26 inch gun gets on them in a way a longer barrel cannot.

Citori lockup has decades of hard service behind it, and the 825 receiver refines that with a full width hinge pin rather than replacing what already worked. This is a gun built to be handed down rather than replaced.

Game scene engraving on a silver nitride receiver and gloss oil walnut make this a handsome gun in its own right, and a walnut stocked sub gauge over under holds value better than almost anything else in the safe.

Upkeep on the Browning Citori 825 Field 28ga 26in is routine, with a hinged action that strips without tools, flush choke tubes that back out with the supplied wrench, and a walnut stock that responds well to an occasional oil wipe.

Who Should Buy The Browning Citori 825 Field 28ga 26in

This shotgun suits the upland hunter who works close cover over dogs and values carry weight and low recoil above raw pattern density. It is a fine choice for grouse, woodcock and quail, an excellent gun for a smaller framed or recoil sensitive shooter, and a genuinely enjoyable skeet gun for casual rounds. It is not the right tool for pass shooting waterfowl or long range pheasant, where a larger payload does real work, and 28 gauge shells cost more per box than 12 or 20 gauge, so high volume shooters should factor that in.

Full manufacturer specifications for the Browning Citori 825 Field 28ga 26in are published by Browning on the official product page. Browse more shotguns and clays gear in our shotguns category.