a 410 shotgun for an adult?
- Thread starter dalegribble
- Start date
hydroholic
New member
I have an old New England Firearms single shot .410 that I have had since I was a boy. Just recently re-blued it and refinished the stock and fore-arm. Beautiful little gun. I have shot many squirrel, rabbits ,dove and quail with that little gun. Still use it to this day to squirrel hunt with. I refinished it, not because it is worth anything, but just because of sentimental reasons. Was my first shotgun and I have a 5 year old that is fixing have it as his first shotgun. Wouldn't part with it for nothing!
Until now, I've not replied because this thread was about hunting with a .410-bore gun and I don't. However, I do have a lot of experience shooting in NSSA .410-bore events.
The overwhelming majority of competitive Skeet shooters use tubed guns in .410-bore events. Yes, there may still be some old timers who use 4-barrel sets (12, 20, 28 & 410 barrels on the same 12-ga O/U receiver) and even fewer with small framed .410 O/Us. I've seen no .410 stick guns (pumps and auto) used in competition since the 70s (right after Remington introduced the briefly popular .410-bore & 28-ga 1100s). Why... because, the tubed guns break a lot more targets than the other .410 configurations. IMHO, the only reason to hunt a .410 stick gun is because it's lighter and easier to carry all day -- a smooth swinging tube gun is a heavy weight. From an economic standpoint, a 12-ga is cheaper to buy and, unless you reload, the .410 ammo is a major rip-off.
SHR970 said:
I don't take supersonic muzzle velocities in shotguns that seriously. No. 7 1/2 shot that comes out of the muzzle at 1350 fps will be approximately 860 fps at 20 yards and 680 fps at 40 yards.
Reduce the muzzle velocity to 1150 fps and the 20 yard velocity is about 810 fps and the 40 yard velocity is about 640 fps.
Shot slows down like a ballon above the speed of sound and like a ping pong ball below the speed of sound. That 1350 fps muzzle velocity will be down to 1150 fps five yards in front of the muzzle.
spclPatrolGroup
New member
My first "hunting" was shooting pidgeons flying in and out of my grandfathers hay loft wtih a single shot .410, each one carried a .25 cent bounty paid by my grandfather. A rat would fetch 50 cents if we could find one that the cats didnt get to first. I dont know if he was really using us as pest controll or just keeping us out of his hair, a little of both I assume. But it was probably that experiance that got me hooked on other kinds of hunting, plus it paid for ice cream. I dont know if I have ever shot a .410 since I was a kid, but they bring back a lot of good memories.
Per Lyman's 49th.
Size 7 1/2 at 1330fps @ 3 yds. is 930fps @ 20 yards for 2.4 ft. lbs. per pellet.
Size 7 1/2 at 1135fps @ 3 yds. is 830fps @ 20 yards for 1.9 ft. lb.s per pellet.
2.4 ft. lbs. vs 1.9 ft. lbs. might not sound like much but it is a 20% drop in power. The difference at 20 yards between 1135 fps. and 1200 fps. is about 10% energy. This can be the difference between a crippleing shot and a killing shot.
