Description
The Retay Ace-R Bottomland 28 Gauge is an unusual gun on purpose: full timber camouflage on a small bore semi automatic with a 28 inch barrel and the rounded receiver of the R line. It is for the hunter who has decided a twenty eight is enough gun for ducks in timber and would rather carry five pounds than eight.
What the Retay Ace-R Bottomland 28 Gauge Is Built For
Mossy Oak Bottomland has outlasted every camouflage trend since the mid eighties, and it works because it is built around bark, mud and shadow rather than around leaves. In flooded timber and along field edges it disappears, which is exactly where a small bore belongs.
Retay applies it across the whole Retay Ace-R Bottomland 28 Gauge, stock, fore end, receiver and barrel, so there is no bare metal catching light when the gun is resting on a knee or across a blind rail. Full coverage matters more on a gun that gets handled in the open than the specific pattern ever does.
The Retay Ace-R Bottomland 28 Gauge receiver is what separates the R line from the standard Ace. Retay calls it a streamlined profile, which rounds off the squared lines into something closer to a traditional shotgun, built from alloy with no polymer components inside. That is how a 28 inch small bore stays this light.
Action, Barrel and Practical Notes
The Retay Ace-R Bottomland 28 Gauge action is inertia driven. The Inertia Plus bolt uses a rollover torsion spring to rotate the bolt head positively into battery, solving the old problem of inertia guns being jarred out of lockup. With no gas system there is nothing to foul after a wet morning, which is worth more in a blind than anywhere else.
The Retay Ace-R Bottomland 28 Gauge barrel is deep bore drilled from straight stock with a factory lengthened forcing cone. On a small bore that matters more than it would on a twelve, because you have fewer pellets to work with and every one that survives the transition into the barrel shows up on the pattern board.
Twenty eight inches of barrel on a Retay Ace-R Bottomland 28 Gauge is a deliberate choice. It puts enough weight ahead of your hands to keep a swing moving on crossing birds, which is the shot that defines decoy hunting, without turning a light gun into a heavy one. The trigger group comes out at the push of a button with no tools.
Specifications
- UPC: 193212030061
- Gauge: 28, 3 in chamber
- Barrel: 28 in, deep bore drilled, factory lengthened forcing cone
- Action: Inertia Plus rotating bolt with rollover torsion spring
- Receiver: Streamlined alloy profile, no polymer components
- Finish: Mossy Oak Bottomland camouflage, full coverage
- Trigger group: Push button removable, no tools
- Sight: Single fiber optic bead
- Stock: Synthetic with shim kit
- Recoil pad: AIRY air pocket system
- Length of pull: 14.5 in with shims
- Receiver: Not drilled and tapped in 28 gauge
- Warranty: Retay USA limited lifetime
Who Should Buy It
Hunters who want a light camo gun for ducks in timber are the audience. A Retay Ace-R Bottomland 28 Gauge is not a pass shooting goose gun and does not pretend to be, but for wood ducks in flooded oaks and mallards feet down in a hole it is enough and then some.
It doubles as an upland gun without complaint. Twenty eight gauge and five and a half pounds is a combination made for walking, and Bottomland hides just as well along a fencerow as it does in timber.
Be realistic about the limitations. Twenty eight gauge non toxic shells are expensive and not always easy to find, and range discipline matters more with a small bore than with a twelve. Pattern the gun, know your distance, and pass on the long ones.
A few practical notes before ordering a Retay Ace-R Bottomland 28 Gauge. Fit the stock with the included shim kit before the season, because a light gun rewards good fit and punishes a bad one. Break the action in with standard field loads rather than the lightest target shells, since inertia systems need recoil energy to cycle reliably when new and a small bore has less of it to give. Pattern the gun with the exact non toxic load you intend to hunt, because small bore steel is very choke sensitive.
And use the push button trigger group removal after wet days. Full factory specifications are published on the Retay USA product page, and you can compare it against the Ace Bronze Bottomland or browse our other shotguns.
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