.410 Shotgun use in the military?

N

NINEX19

New member
I was talking to someone last weekend who said something that I am trying to confirm. He is 84 years old and was drafted during the Korean War. He did basic training (army) at Fort Ord, California and was eventually stationed in Hawaii for his service.

He told me that his unit was issued .410 shotguns with slug loads for routine training and use. I found this rather surprising.

I can tell that his mind is slipping a small amount on other topics, so I am not sure if this statement about the .410s is true or being remembered incorrectly.

Can anyone confirm this statement?
 
An uncle of mine trained for aerial gunnery using every gauge of shotshell they could locate, in early 1942.

I've only heard of the 12-gauge being issued for security and combat use, though, but during a war, sometimes equipment isn't readily available or shortages develop, and stopgap measures need taken for a while. During the Korean War, there was a shortage of rifle and artillery ammunition for a few months, due to labor issues in the States, units had to ration their daily allotments. M1 Carbines were also in short supply, due to their loss rate in the South Korean Army. That may or may not have something to do with shotguns being used in Hawaii for a while.
 
Interesting about the shortages. I did not know this.

He did not mention any arms shortages, but he was drafted toward the end of the conflict. He did say that he was also issued an M1 carbine and a .45 sidearm (he could not remember anything more specific than that). I was always under the impression that sidearms were only for certain ranks of officer, though he did make sergeant.
 
I was always under the impression that sidearms were only for certain ranks of officer, though he did make sergeant
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They were also issued to folks with specific positions that required them to carry weight or needed the use of their hands. Radio operators, those soldiers that carried the extra MG barrels, Mortar ammo, etc. They were also the standard issue of MPs I believe. The M-1 carbine was originally meant to be the replacement for the .45 auto 1911. So, if your old army buddy was issued one or both, I assume he had one of those positions. This may be why he was issued a .410 shotgun.
 
If your friend was aircrew in the Air Force I'd say his story has some credibility. The only military .410 shotgun I know of was the M6 Scout Rifle/ Shotgun issued to aircrew in the 1950-70s. There were a few made in civilian version but the original M6 had a 14" barrel making it much handier, the civie version had an 18"+ barrel. It also fired the .22lr out of a rifle barrel.
 
the b52 crews had the m6 rifle that was .410 / 22 hornett .I gott some boxs of the wwc60 and ra59 m-65 22 hornett rounds. :D
 
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He could be remembering a shotgun but the wrong caliber.

Many service members only contact firearms during their enlistment and never touched one before or after service.

I had been given pistols for certain tasks as early as PFC, later on as an NCO, I would sometimes carry a pistol, usually when standing in as platoon SGT. That was a very small percentage of my time. Most of the time, it was M16/M203/M4 variants.
 
Anything is plausible during a war.

In Afghanistan in 2003, we (USAF) were short on M9s and M16A2s (no M4s yet). Our OIC (actually an Senior NCO) asked for temporary assistance from the Marines (their base), and they produced a handful of Mosin-Nagants for us.
There was no expectation that the things would ever have to be fired, and they all got stashed in lockers, mobility containers, or vehicles; but we did have 4-5 NCOs 'issued' Mosin-Nagants for about 5 weeks.


Generally speaking, though... Our unit only issued M9s to persons qualified on the weapon, AND on active flying status. Everyone (including M9 recipients) got an M16 variant. It was M16A2s for everyone until the M4s started to arrive in about 2006, or so. Then the M4s went to people on flight status and/or people that were likely to actually fire them if we were attacked, and the M16A2s were given to the idiots, lazy people, cowards, and personnel not likely to be outside of an office (even if only a tent).
M16A2s still hadn't been completely phased out by the time I separated in 2008.
 
The first Air Force use of .410 that I know of was as an aircrew survival round issued during World War II in the Pacific.

These were, IIRC, Savage Model 24s, a break-open combination gun in .410 and .22 Long Rifle.

The Air Force was an early adopter of Savage's Tenite plastic stocks (great weight savings).
 
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