Chris hit the nail on the head. No one knows why Rhett chose the mini, but I suspect he thought they would sell better as a mini. You have to remember, when Rhett made the deal for the 1500 (IIRC) knives, he was obligated to purchase them all.

The 28 is the drop point hunter with a border patrol handle. When Gary decided to bring the model back, he nixed the SFG handle as too time consuming, the same reason RMK quit making it originally back in the early to mid 80's. A four fingergirip handle. the earliest style of handle, was assuredly not gonna happen as it was the sole reason for the Griffin or single finger grip handle design, an effort to save time.

On page 114 of his book Wickersham says someone in the shop, perhaps Dave Griffin, put the axe on the drop point hunter because it looked too much like a Loveless drop point hunter. I don't know where he heard that nonsense, but it is patently false. As I stated above, it simply took too much time to make with the four finger groove and tapered tang, and the same with the SFG.

The only people in that shop that have ever determined what models are made or not, are Bo and/or Gary Randall. Period.