Is there any use for an old .410?

T

Te Anau

New member
I was recently given an old (25 years?) .410 break action with a 28" barrel.The thing looks really rough and I dont even know if it works.It was made in Brazil and has a "FIF Corp,Miami FLA" on the barrel.Its totally gunked up and when you pull the trigger the hammer doesnt even hit the firing pin.If it would after cleaning,what the heck is it good for? :confused: Could I cut it down and use it as a "truck" gun?
 
I recently bought a Mossberg 183T, bolt action, .410. It was covered in surface rust, but the action was in great shape. I spent a long time trying to clean it up, and ended up with an ugly but fully functional .410 that will be my (now) 5-year-old's first shotgun in a year or two.

Know anyone who might need a starter gun for a child?
 
TA,I'd clean up that FIE and leave it as is.I used to have one and it shot well.Not as nice as an H&R Topper but a good SG just the same.tom.
 
Generally I would think that a .410 is a little on the weak side for a truck gun. Just my opinion. Like the others said, it would probably be better to clean it up and keep it as it is. =-)
 
I actually prefer the old CBC/FIE singles to the H&Rs, or pretty much any single out there. They were an improvement over the old Stevens Savage singles, and were great guns.
 
I have a cheap break-action .410 (Verney-Carron), damn thing has a stock built for a undernourished munchkin, and the maker won't send a full-length stock to anyone but an FFL (!!!). So it gets, by far, the least use of all my guns. Plus it has no choke... so the pattern even at 15 yards is "what pattern??".

Still, it's fun to shoot if nothing else.

The biggest problem, though, is that there are no sights. None. I've been thinking of making a small notch - kind of a reverse bead - at the muzzle, but I haven't had any time to really think it through.
 
If it has a suitable choke, .410 slugs can be very nasty.
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I wonder??? All the barrel says is ".410GA 3"chamber".
it goes bang, doesnt it?
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When you cock it and pull the trigger,the hammer drops cleanly but stops more than 1/16th of an inch away from hitting the firing pin.The firing pin can be pushed forward with my finger and returns when I let go.:confused: :confused:
I actually prefer the old CBC/FIE singles to the H&Rs, or pretty much any single out there. They were an improvement over the old Stevens Savage singles, and were great guns.
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Anyone know who made them?
The biggest problem, though, is that there are no sights. None.
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Mine does have a gold ball at the front and a notch in the rear.
 
Te Anau,

Your description of firing pin activity matches what happens on mine when the safety is on. The hammer is allowed to drop, but an internal pin somewhere prevents it from actually making contact. My safety is a small rotary knob on the right side of the receiver, pretty much parallel to the firing pin.
 
Your description of firing pin activity matches what happens on mine when the safety is on. The hammer is allowed to drop, but an internal pin somewhere prevents it from actually making contact. My safety is a small rotary knob on the right side of the receiver, pretty much parallel to the firing pin.
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Thanks,unfortunately mine doesnt have a visible safety as far as I can see. :confused: Maybe its there somewhere and I just dont see it.:confused: My trigger guard slides back to break the action and the hammer pulls to the rear.Beyond that,I dont see anything that could be construed as a safety.
 
fireingpin

you may have a broken fireing pin...push on the back of the pin and see if the pin come out of the hole on the face the burth.
 
John in Jax
John In Jax said:
Know anyone who might need a starter gun for a child?
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You must be an experienced person w/ guns and trust yourself when you fix a gun but for an average person, if you wanted to give a child that you care about a gun, you would want to give'em the most reliable (not the least expensive).

If you wanna give a kid their 1st car you would give them a crappy old car in poor condition (dinged/banged up) because you're saving THOUSANDS of dollars in the event of an accident but you wouldn't choose a car that doesn't have ABS over a car that DOES have ABS if the price diff. is like 200-300 would you?
 
The .410 would be a great shell if it wasn't so darn expensive to shoot. The only people that have the real fun with that shell are reloaders. Single shot shotguns seem to me IMO, the most durable shotguns you can get. They take a lot of abuse and still keep working.
 
I would vote for a 20ga for a first shot gun. Effective, and cheap to shoot.
I was spoiled, and the first shotgun I ever fired was a Lefever Nitro Special. What an amazing wing-shooter that thing was...
 
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