.410 - What are you using it for...

growing up

Ease/difficulty of hitting with a .410 depends a lot on what you are shooting at, in other words, to what use are you applying the tiny shotgun?

Claybird shooting, a dove field, quail and so on would indeed be a challenge. The tiny .410 throws just too small and thin a pattern to make it a practical wingshooting gun. There are a lot of folks who use the .410 for a lot less challenging targets, namely rabbits and squirrels. Rolling a squirrel posed on a limb, or a bunny easing along at 20 yds or so ahead of a slow beagle, is well within the capability of the .410 and the average shooter. You'll hear some folks say they only hunt squirrels with the .22, or a bigger gauge shotgun as the squirrels get running across the tree tops, and that's true. But the .410 will work on furry small game, as long as you don't ask too much of the little guns.

While I'm at it, there seems to be a real mix up on shot sizes in this thread. Some off the wall claims too. Or maybe, I'm just mixed up and can't follow the posts. But lead birdshot in #4 is about .14 in dia and averages 135 pellets per ounce. Lead BUCKSHOT is .24 in diameter and is not the same thing. I suppose you can shoot at a rabbit with buckshot (in any gauge) but is is not considered a small game load, and a buckshot pattern from any gauge, especially a large pellet load, will thin out quickly and make hitting small game very difficult. The .410 buckshot that has hit the market is intended for the various .410 handguns as a SD load, and those guns and loads fill a very narrow niche.

A .410 will NOT "have just as much damage" as a 12 gauge if the target receives the full payload of the respective shot charge, no matter what you shoot them from. If you fringe a target with a 12 gauge, and center same target with a .410, you could end up with the same pellet count, but that is not a valid coomparison. The heaviest .410 loads still do not make ONE ounce of shot, a heavy 12 will throw TWO.

In the buckshot arguement, yes, 5 triple ought" (000) buck pellets from a 3 inch chambered .410 hangun can be lethal. A 3" 12gauge will throw 10 of those same pellets. There's no comparison, despite what Youtube says.
 
I seen comparisons of shot on youtube. That couldn't be video altered, could it?

A .410 full bore choke #4 birdshot, will do as much damage as a 12 ga fixed bore #4 buck at 25 yards. That's what I see.

Two keys

1. Both have the same number of pellets.
2. Much larger spread of the fixed choke over the full choke.

Yes the bird pellet has 1/2 the size of the buck pellet. But the pattern is 1/2 as wide on the .410.
 
No intent to disparage, but I've seen a lot of stuff on You Tube that I'm sceptical of, and that's not limited to those whose central figure is wearing only a bikini and a light coat of oil...
 
To add to the wingshooting discussion and clarify my own use for fowl...

When and where I hunt grouse and chukar, they're head-shot on the ground. If they jump and take to wing, they're gone.
Easy shots on the ground, or not at all.

Then again... I don't even try taking them in flight with a 12 ga, either. As I said: If they jump and take flight, they're gone.
 
If it is #4 Buckshot there are 21 .24 diameter shot per ounce. So you are shooting something like 9 or 10 balls bigger than a 22 at once. Still bunny burger I would think.
Click to expand...

A .24" spherical projectile weighs about 20 grains. Half the weight of a .22 Long Rifle bullet. Number 1 buck at 40.5 grains would equal .22 bullets, although they do lose velocity faster with distance, much faster. There are few projectiles worse than a round ball when it comes to ballistic coefficient.
 
I use mine for shooting skeet. Also had a survival gun with a .22 hornet/410 combo that worked well for grouse or ptarmigan. But I was shooting those close and on the ground.
 
still learning

Green Lantern, in the interest of helping you learn, let's try this again. Let's start with terminology. You used the term "fixed choke", lets elaborate on that first. The term " fixed choke" is a descritpion of a barrel type, not a degree of choke. Many barrels these days have interchangeable chokes and can be user changed by swapping choke tubes. A fixed choke barrel has a degree of choke set during manufacture, and cannot be user swapped by using screw in tubes. But a "fixed choke" is not a degree of choke/muzzle constriction. Up until the 1970's or so, nearly all shotguns had "fixed" chokes. Chokes were not "interchangeable" as they are now. What you likely say on Youtube was a defensive shotgun with a short barrel and fixed choke in Improved Cylinder. That is a common arrangement for a defensive shotgun.

To try and get on track, the .410 gauge is not typically equipped with interchangeable chokes/tubes. Almost all in my experience appear as Full, fixed choke guns, though I have handled a few .410's that were marked modified and of course were fixed as well.

Regards our conversation on buckshot and birdshot. In any gauge, choke system or barrel barrel length, birdshot cannot equal buckshot in "damage" to big game and human targets, which I will translate into lethality, except at very short, near contact distances. I am not going to waste any more text trying to persuade you.

Good luck in you firearms education. The shooting world is a complex one, with many terms and self avowed experts. YouTube is a great venue for learning. I spend more time watching it than a grown man should, and have learned a great deal from on several topics . But one must weigh one video against another, and against other resources for credibility and correctness. I would encourage you to find a knowledgeable mentor, and get some reading time in with assorted books and magazines with known credibility.

Good shooting, bama.
 
Well, you folks inspired me. Took my .410 out and hit some clays with it.

But I cheated. First, the clays were thrown from my Trius trap, so they were slow, compared to skeet clays, and they started right at my right foot. And they flew about the same way every time. Finally, I used 3" shells, with loads of 11/16 oz and 3/4 oz, both 7 1/2 shot.

And the darn thing broke 43 out of 50. Amazing.

Personally, I wonder if White Flyer clays aren't so fragile that a near miss shock wave shatters them.
 
Unfortunately, I'm using mine as a corner dust catcher.

It's a Garcia Bronco .22/.410, and it's broken and I've not yet figured out how to fix the darned thing.

When it wasn't broken I really only used it for fun shooting, and mostly the .22 barrel at that.
 
I like the .410 a lot. i own four of them. One is Springfield’s out of production M6 Survival O/U, one is the Mossberg pump gun, one is a little Stoeger SXS coach gun and the last is an ATI O/U with 26” barrels. The last weighs almost nothing and walking the hilly and dense huckleberry covered uplands of North Mt PA, it is a quick and effective gun for grouse and close pheasant (#6 shot three inch shell)
I have made it a habit to bring either the ATI or the Mossberg along to the Trap range. I am no great Trap shot but I can shoot in the middle teens from the 16 yard line with these two and 2.5” 1/2 oz shot loads.
I load my own on a MEC 600.
 
A mossberg 500 pump in 410 was the first gun I ever purchased. Love squirrel hunting with that gun. Had it a long time before it became a little used gun. Sometime I still think I should not have sold it off, but if you are no longer using a gun . . ..

Life is good
Prof Young
 
Though this shot was not with a .410, this is what I generally use it for:

(It's a Ruffed Grouse, for anyone unfamiliar.)
IMG_20171011_165151181_800.jpg


If the bird isn't sitting still, and close enough for a head/neck shot, I pass it by or watch it fly.
But I must admit... popping a couple pine chickens with the .307 today made me wish I had the .410 in my hands instead.
 
I load my cylinder full of 000 and unload on a gallon jug of ice. Lots of fun. Other than that, I don't really shoot .410 much.
 
Sitting

If the bird isn't sitting still, and close enough for a head/neck shot, I pass it by or watch it fly.
Click to expand...
I read about folks who find ruffed grouse on the roadside. I wonder where they live.
In all the years that I have been hunting grouse, i have only once seen a bird by the side of the road. If i did not shoot at them when they were flying, i’d never have gotten to shoot at all.
 
I see them on or by the road all the time.

...But I can count on two fingers the number of grouse that I've shot from a (dirt) road. It's illegal, at least 95% of the time. (Not counting closed logging trails/roads. That's legal where I hunt.)

Almost anything you read about my grouse hunting involves beating feet through the woods -- especially areas with healthy pine mixed with sick aspens*, dead-fall or blown-down timber, and within 30-150 yards of a decent a water source and green grass. It's usually better hunting if the terrain is 'stepped' with fairly steep slopes, but small, relatively flat areas interspersed.
I wait for them to hide under a tree or hop onto a log. And.... Blammo! (Or watch them fly away.)

*(I always find more around diseased aspens than healthy trees.)
 
I grew up hunting grouse in western PA, and I developed a healthy respect for them. Pretty rare to spot one sitting. When I moved to Idaho, I was surprised to find people hunting them with 22s. One guy clubbed a "fool hen" with his walking stick. They still tasted just as good.
 
I don't shoot mine a lot but it works great working with the dog's. When I go grouse hunting, not enough, I take it along as a backup for my 28 ga SxS. The 410 is also a SxS both AyA Matadors.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top