Winchester 410 lever action
- Thread starter D Thomson
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steveNChunter
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No, absolutely not. .410 bore is too small to push a .45 caliber bullet. The reason you see .45/.410's such as the Taurus Judge is that both have about the same rim diameter and the shot from the .410 will easily go down the .45 caliber barrel, but it causes very large patterns since it's not choked like a shotgun barrel. I doubt if a .45 LC will chamber in a .410 shotgun or even feed in your 9410, but save yourself the time and don't even try it.
steveNChunter
New member
They didn't make a ton of those 9410's so they command a pretty high price. They would make a decent home defense gun or rabbit gun, but IMO they are more of a novelty than anything. Just take care of it and have fun with it.
There are a lot of other things which will also chamber in a .410 shotgun that should never be fired in it. .444 Marlin and .454 Casull have been tried, but this was done with the expectation that they would destroy the gun and appropriate precautions (including a restraining device and the use of a very long string) were taken.
The guns that will safely take both .45 Long Colt and .410 shotgun are marked accordingly. As far as slugs are concerned, I'd check the choke and skip solids on anything tighter than Improved Cylinder. My dad ruined one barrel of a very nice 16-bore SxS that way - only a bulge, thankfully, but still enough to render it unwise ever to shoot with it again.
The guns that will safely take both .45 Long Colt and .410 shotgun are marked accordingly. As far as slugs are concerned, I'd check the choke and skip solids on anything tighter than Improved Cylinder. My dad ruined one barrel of a very nice 16-bore SxS that way - only a bulge, thankfully, but still enough to render it unwise ever to shoot with it again.
.45/.410
Notice that all the guns that chamber both .45Colt & .410 (T/C Contender, Taurus Judge, S&W Governor, etc.,) and all listed as .45 Colt/.410. In that order.
They are .45 caliber guns that will also shoot the .41 caliber shotshells.
It DOES NOT work the other way around.
The .45 Colt chamber is the right size to take the back end of a .410 shell. The front end of the .410 shell is small enough to fit in the .45 chamber & bore, and work well enough at close ranges. The shot doesn't care much that it is undersize for the bore, at pistol ranges, and the basewad & shotcup provide an adequate gas seal in the .45 bore. Some spin is imparted by the rifling, (which is bad for patterns), but a little practice will show you where the biggest "hole" in the pattern is, at pistol distance, and you can compensate for that.
I got a chance to check out one of the Winchester 9410 at a gun show some time back. This was just after Winchester had closed down and it seemed everything with a Winchester name on it had the price jacked up a couple hundred dollars, almost overnight....
It was very nicely done (new gun, in the box), seemed pretty good, until the guy told me it was $900.
At the time, there was no way I was going to pay $900 for any model 94, new or old, .410 or any other caliber. I'm not a Winchester collector, have other .410s, and while it was neat, it simply wasn't worth it to me, at the time.
Not sure what they go for now, probably make that $900 deal look real good today...sighs...
If you want a .30-30 size and style gun that has the utility of a .410 shotgun, its the only game there is for that. If you just want a good .410, there are lots of choices, some much better, at least in terms of price.
Again, they should NOT be loaded with .45 Colt shells. I doubt the gun would fail catastrophically (blow up completely), but one never really knows, and it certainly can't be good for it, squeezing a .45 bullet down a .41 barrel.
Notice that all the guns that chamber both .45Colt & .410 (T/C Contender, Taurus Judge, S&W Governor, etc.,) and all listed as .45 Colt/.410. In that order.
They are .45 caliber guns that will also shoot the .41 caliber shotshells.
It DOES NOT work the other way around.
The .45 Colt chamber is the right size to take the back end of a .410 shell. The front end of the .410 shell is small enough to fit in the .45 chamber & bore, and work well enough at close ranges. The shot doesn't care much that it is undersize for the bore, at pistol ranges, and the basewad & shotcup provide an adequate gas seal in the .45 bore. Some spin is imparted by the rifling, (which is bad for patterns), but a little practice will show you where the biggest "hole" in the pattern is, at pistol distance, and you can compensate for that.
I got a chance to check out one of the Winchester 9410 at a gun show some time back. This was just after Winchester had closed down and it seemed everything with a Winchester name on it had the price jacked up a couple hundred dollars, almost overnight....
It was very nicely done (new gun, in the box), seemed pretty good, until the guy told me it was $900.
At the time, there was no way I was going to pay $900 for any model 94, new or old, .410 or any other caliber. I'm not a Winchester collector, have other .410s, and while it was neat, it simply wasn't worth it to me, at the time.
Not sure what they go for now, probably make that $900 deal look real good today...sighs...
If you want a .30-30 size and style gun that has the utility of a .410 shotgun, its the only game there is for that. If you just want a good .410, there are lots of choices, some much better, at least in terms of price.
Again, they should NOT be loaded with .45 Colt shells. I doubt the gun would fail catastrophically (blow up completely), but one never really knows, and it certainly can't be good for it, squeezing a .45 bullet down a .41 barrel.
Actually, I think it is a "bore size". I have seen .410 referred to as .410 Bore, and as .410 "gauge". I believe that while its the "convention" to say gauge, that .410 bore is technically more accurate than saying gauge for that caliber.
Shotgun gauges were originally, the number of "bore size" (diameter) lead balls that equaled one pound.10, 12, 16 (one ounce), 20, etc. .410 is the only common shotgun caliber were the name has any direct relationship to the size of the bore (.41 cal).
I don't know why this came to be (I suppose I need to do some research), but I guess that after they got to 32 gauge, someone figured going to the actual bore size would be less confusing.
Gun terms are an interesting study, in how, why, and when they came into use, and how they get changed over time.
And thinking on it, since we are discussing a shotgun, this thread needs to go there...