Missing Link

R

roy reali

New member
I have a shotgun in 12 gauge, one in 16, one in 20 and one in 28 gauge. I don't have a .410 or a 10 gauge. I have never owned or even fired a 10 before. I have owned several .410's, they were all "cheapie" break-open single shots. I end up giving them away to some relative or friend that needs a shotgun for a kid.

I have no interest in getting a 10 gauge anytime soon. But, I want to get another .410. This time I want to get something a bit nicer. I see that you can get a .410 in any action: pump, semi, side-by-side and even over/unders. I actually want to try hunting with one this time.

Last year I did quite a bit of hunting with my 28. I am by no means a good wingshooter. Honestly though, I did pretty well with the 28. Towards the end of last year's season, I was invited to go on a planted pheasant hunt. There were about a dozen of us and they planted fifty or sixty birds. Every bird I shot at I hit. In fact, every bird I hit dropped dead. The guys with the 12's and 20's had a few cripples that would have been lost without dogs.

I have never hunted birds with a .410. How difficult is it? How does it compare to hunting with a 28 gauge. I see that the payloads of the two are similar. But I also see that the shape of the shells are not. How much of a difference does that make? If someone is fairly good hitting birds with a .28, how difficult is the transition to a .410?

Also, what "nice" .410 would you recommend?
 
Some decades back, a friend and I cleaned up on holdover pheasants and chukar at a shooting preserve near here. We shot over good, close working spaniels. I used a nice little French SxS in 12 gauge, he a H&H 28 that cost more than this house.

The birds were released up to three months prior, so they were acclimated and tough. We each got about a dozen, and he never used the second barrel,IIRC. It proved to me that,at least within 35 yards or so, the 28 was a very viable choice for hunting.

I have serious reservations about the 410 for MOST hunting done by MOST shooters. There's little margin, and more chance of wounding rather than that clean, swift kill we all want and SHOULD give.

Still,a decent hand should be able to use the RIGHT 410 well and humanely under certain conditions for preserve birds, doves and quail.

Being a long time pumpgunner, I'd look there for a 410 first. From Mossberg's 500 for a couple hundred to the vaunted Winchester 42 and the Browning clone of same for a lot more, there's a plethora of 410 pumps.

I do urgently recommend working with the loads and chokes of whatever 410 you get and find out the max range of the load/shotgun and staying in that.

HTH....
 
I have reservations on hunting with a .410 / unless its a small bird like a quail - and you're over very good dogs / and a 28ga is a lot more forgiving in terms of effective pattern size.

All gagues hit just as hard - at range - a #9 pellet coming out of a .410, 28ga or a 12ga at 1200 fps - are exactly the same / there are just fewer of them in 1/2 oz of shot than 1 oz of shot. But the real issue is the size of the effective pattern on a .410 / and its substantially reduced over a 28ga.

In terms of nicer guns in a .410 / Browning makes a lot of them .... the Browning BPS Hunter model comes in a .410 for around $ 600 and its a nice gun. Browning has a number of O/U's in .410 - some are in the catalog and some are special orders but there are a lot of them around / the 525 series, the 625 series, the Lightning and the XS Skeet model just to name a few ( for around $ 2,750 - $ 3,250 ).

Personally, in fact, the gun I'm shooting today at my club is an XS Skeet model .410 , 30" barrels, built on a 20ga frame and its a very nice gun ( even though my confidence with it is not great / I intend to force myself to shoot 5 rounds of skeet with it today -- but I also have my 28ga with me as well ....in case I get frustrated with the .410 ...

Having a nice .410 is important to me / and I like shooting it ...but I don't hunt with it hardly at all. In the field, I turn to the 28ga, 20ga or 12ga - especially on something like a Pheasant.
 
When I was a kid/teen/young adult, my Mossberg .410 bolt with that sleek poly-choke style device on the end of the barrel was either my only gun or my go to gun...

I could judge distance by eye as I approached a "squirrel tree" and adjust accordingly... I rarely missed and even rarer was a badly damaged piece of meat. I did shoot down several pheasants with number 6 and 4 shot and when shooting pigeons and sparrows on farms, I had a harder time on them sparrows and said they were flyin' between my pellets...

But, being my first gun and/or only gun for 15+ years, I was very familiar with all of the little details to make us quite the deadly duo...

Brent
 
In my area, the 28-ga is popular for dove. The .410-bore has significantly less shot than a 28-ga, and of all the standard gauges, it patterns the most erratically. Even the elite level competitive shooters seldom use a .410 for field wing shooting. If you want to try your hand with a .410-bore, shoot clays where a chipped target looks the same on the score card as a clean kill.

I no longer own a .410-bore gun -- I had a W-101 O/U for years, but never set the world afire with it -- a beautiful gun, but it was just too light to swing consistently. Presently, all of my .410s are in Briley tube sets for 12-ga U/Os.
 
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The bottom gun in the photo is my Browning .410 ( XS Skeet model, 30"barrels, built on the 20ga receiver).

I agree with Zippys comments / but I like having a stand alone .410 ...and I had a good time shooting it yesterday ( it can be a little frustrating ) but its still fun. If I was a serious competitor / I'd have a set of "tubed guns" like Zippy does ....because transitioning from one gun to the other is not the best choice for competition - but for me, the set of 4 guns in the photo ( 12ga at the top, then the 20ga, the 28ga and the .410 ) .....gives me some extra guns to train the grandkids with, etc ....and I just like having 4 stand alone guns.

Remember, there are some great deals out there on used guns as well ...and I do see a few used .410's around.
 
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