What does .410 do well?

I know some of you have mentioned weight, but weight is significantly less with a .410 and was the main reason my father started me out with a single shot at 7 years old. Sadly somehow it was lost at a repair shop but I have a H&R .410 and taught my sons to shoot it and I'm sure my 2 grandsons will learn with it. It weighs 5 pounds, my 410 pump weighs in at 6.25 pounds and most 12 gauge pumps weigh in at 7.5 pounds.

My eldest loved the light weight and could walk for hours with me while hunting rabbits and I remember how fun it was to carry a 5 pound gun when I was shooting mountain quail as a youth.

I think an individual shooting rabbits or other running small game up to 30 yards or so will have more success with a .410 then with a .22, I certainly did!
 
I started on an old late 1930's bolt action, tube fed Ranger .410. Gramps bought it, and my Dad and uncles used it in the 40's, 50's and 60's, then me in the late 70's / early 80's, then my boy in recent years. That old full choke 3" .410 has killed lots of game; partridges, pheasants, squirrels, rabbits, crows, rats and even a fox over the years. She likes 7 1/2 shot. Its Part of our family narrative. I better lose it in a boating accident before Beto tries to take it. ;) LOL!!!
 
Lot of years ago I seem to remember reading about Pres Eisenhauer hunting quail down south. The amazing thing about it was his choice of guns, He shot a 410 and they claim he was deadly with it.

For the beginner, once he/she learns to shoot the 410 well, a larger ga will be eazy! Then if you only have a 410 and want to hunt geese, then I guess you'll learn to make the 410 work. Years ago read about a goose guide down south the only used a 410. They asked how he did it. He claimed he only took head shots and shot like he was shooting doves. I don't know if that was true of not but I'd say it would work.

Funny thing, a lot of guy's today want a light to carry and handle gun so the get a 20ga and shoot 3" mags in it! Other guys want lsee recoil so they load 1oz loads in their 12ga, I used to load only 1 1/8th oz loads in my 12ga and adjusted the size of shot I used. My eye's opened pretty good when I finally started shooting a 28ga I have and then just for kick's took out my 410 training and not much of a problem at all. Just get on the bird a bit quicker!
 
I can tell you one thing my Springfield (CZ) Scout M6 .22lr over .410 did well and that is go up in value over the last twenty some odd years.
 
I never had a lot of use for a .410, until I bought a sweet handling side by side. But junky cheap .410's are not to my liking.
A good smooth operating .410 can be fun, though. Some ways it shines is you can get it in a sweet handling and very light side by side, and it can be more effective then one might imagine, with the added benefit of much lighter ammunition, which adds up to a much lighter load to pack, on long walks.

Down side is reduced effective range, and factory loaded .410 shells are usually more expensive to purchase.

Another gauge that is better, but has some of the same advantages of the .410 is the 28ga. I don't really understand why it is not more popular, because it bridges the gap between .410 and 20ga. The 28 kicks more like a .410 and kills about as good as a 20ga.
 
Just checked some .410 slugs I have, and the 3" Winchester says it does 1800fps.

Remington 2.5" doesn't give velocity but shows a trajectory chart and it drops 8.2 inches at 100 yards.

Range will be what distance you and your gun shooting slugs will hold a decent group. A 6" group, centered around the point of aim means each shot is 3" or less from the point of aim. If that's enough to stay in the vital area of your target, it should do fine. A 4" group would be better yet.

Lots of old time hunters used the "paper plate rule". If you could put your shots near the center of a paper plate that was good enough for deer at that distance. If you could only hit the plate somewhere, then that distance was too far.

1800fps with a 109gr slug isn't bad, the .30 carbine does 1900fps with a 110gr bullet. It's accuracy from a smooth bore that limits your range.
 
I was a runt, but the shotgun I learned with was a 16ga. Single shot. In a few years I graduated to a Remington 20ga. Pump, and then to a 12ga. Double. A runt through all those years, maybe 130 pounds at the most (I've ballooned since!).

My only interaction with a .410, was in 1970, when one of my grandfathers passed. Aunts and uncles knew I hunted alot, so I was given, wait for it, a bag containing random .410 shells and a few .20ga slugs, though I had several centerfire rifles by then. Oh well, still have those shells pigeon holed somewhere, anyhow, I didn't have them prior to my grandfathers death, so I came out ahead!
 
Went to Boy Scout camp when I was a kid. They taught us to shoot clay pigeon's with a 22RF loaded with 22RF shot. What did we know. We weren't very good with it but we did break clays. If you have a problem with the 410 then all I can say is you probably haven't shot one often enough
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I remember those Boy Scout shotguns but not who made them. They were bolt action .22 smoothbore. Yes, you could break clays with them but you weren’t shooting 16 yard Trap either. Hand thrown clays. Ok. Clays at 30+ yards with 30 grains of #12 shot...not so much.
About Not shooting often enough.,..of course practice will probably improve one’s accuracy. I shoot mine once a week at the Trap range, at least a box. Often I know that the shot was dead on and yet the bird flew on. Why? Because at the distance one acquires the clay and fires, it is more than 30 yards away and the pattern is pretty thin and getting thinner by the yard.
Pete
 
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44 AMP said:
1800fps with a 109gr slug isn't bad, the .30 carbine does 1900fps with a 110gr bullet. It's accuracy from a smooth bore that limits your range.
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A 110 grain 30 caliber bullet is very light for caliber and would have limited penetration due to its poor sectional density.

A 109 grain 41 caliber bullet is ridiculously light for caliber and would have very limited penetration due to its terrible sectional density.

Sure, it can kill a deer. If you're lucky.
 
natman said:
A 110 grain 30 caliber bullet is very light for caliber and would have limited penetration due to its poor sectional density.

A 109 grain 41 caliber bullet is ridiculously light for caliber and would have very limited penetration due to its terrible sectional density.

Sure, it can kill a deer. If you're lucky.
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I thik the biggest cause of poor penetration of a 110gr bullet in 30 cal is the light construction being driven far to fast to penetrate well. So rather than penetrate, it blows up. Want to get it to penetrate better, shoot it in something that doesn't tear up the bullet on impact. Heavier bullet's generally penetrate because the velocity doesn't tear up the bullet. The bullet maintain's weight needed to penetrate while loosing velocity.
 
A 110 grain 30 caliber bullet is very light for caliber and would have limited penetration due to its poor sectional density.

A 109 grain 41 caliber bullet is ridiculously light for caliber and would have very limited penetration due to its terrible sectional density.

Sure, it can kill a deer. If you're lucky.
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Everything has limitations there's no free lunch, you don't get something for nothing.

Limited penetration? OK, compared to what? and If "limited" gets the job done, is that a problem?? Everything is relative to the situation and what might be deemed limited penetration for one application can be excessive penetration for another.

No, a .410 slug isn't going to penetrate like a .30-06 150gr at 2900fps, but it is going to match or exceed a .45 cal round ball (approx. 140gr) fired from a muzzle loader (approx. 1300fps) and a LOT of deer have been taken with those, over the centuries.

Yes, it can kill a deer if you're lucky. It will also kill a deer if you're skilled.

No, the .410 slug isn't ideal for deer hunting, but like a lot of other rounds that also aren't ideal, within its limitations, it will work.


I thik the biggest cause of poor penetration of a 110gr bullet in 30 cal is the light construction being driven far to fast to penetrate well.
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Depends on the bullet. Not all .30 call 110gr bullets are lightly constructed, look at the FMJ bullet intended for the .30 Carbine. Most sporting .30 bullets in 110grs are INTENDED to be for varmints and are deliberately built to open up rapidly in light bodied animals. They aren't built with deep penetration as the intent.
 
Like some others have pointed out, it makes a great beginner's gun when compared against a .22 rifle. In that context, it becomes much easier to score hits with.

Its smaller pattern may be more challenging for wing shooting than a 12 gauge. But what good is that if a small kid can't even lift/shoulder a 12 ga? Then what? Would it be easier for a kid to hit doves with a light .410, or throwing rocks? To date, the only shotgun my daughter has been able to hold up comfortably was an antique garden gun in 9mm rimfire that felt like it weighed 3 pounds.
 
Sometimes parents can push a young kid who isn't physically able to handle certain things at their current age/size.
 
I've been thinking. My next "nice" shotgun will be a double 28 gauge or .410.

I enjoy hunting. The walk in the woods or the fields, the following of the dogs (when its someone else's dogs because I'm not training one), the thrill of the chase. When I used to duck hunt I used a 12 gauge with an extra full choke. Patterned great at about 70 yards but in the days of steel shot good guess where it was going. Decoys at 10 yards it was like trying to hit them with a rifle and frankly I am not that good.

I got the thrill of the hunt without the chore of cleaning birds or at least not nearly as many.

The gun is lighter, the success rate is lower, and a good hit is still a good hit. I can enjoy the hunt without the chore. I mean there are not a lot of people bird hunting for the meat anyways at this point
 
get a 28 ga and also get a reloader, I got two 28 ga shotguns and a mec 9000G in 28 ga. now a box of shells cost around 4.00 and I get to pick the shot size I want and speed.
 
I used my 410 for squirrel hunting while recovering from hip surgery. I couldn't carry a lot of weight so my 12ga was just too much. I would walk a little along the paths in the woods & sit down to rest when I got tired I got better slowly. I had to use the 3" mag shells to reach the tops of the trees with enough power to cleanly take the game. The only problem I had was the 3" shells were almost 3 times the cost of 12 ga. That's the price we pay to get better.;)
 

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