OT - Do we have any .410 fans out here?

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:38 am

I was in the local Wally-World yesterday checking to see if they had any bricks of .22's (none, zip, nada, zilch, diddly-squat, etc., etc.). A friend and coworker of mine is thinking about getting a 12-gauge pump for home defense, so I asked to see the Mossberg 500 they had in the rack. $207 NIB - hard to beat. Turned out that this one was a .410. The counter lady said they normally have them also in 20 and 12 gauge, and would have them in again soon at the same price.

It got me to thinking. I don't own a .410, and always thought the svelte little round looked like it would be fun to shoot. I know the ammuniton runs about 2x of what 12's and 20's typically cost. For any forum members who have one, do you like it? What do you use it for?

Trying to resist temptation...

Post by **Hobie** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:54 am

If you re-load, it is MUCH cheaper to reload. Fun to shoot, effective for the experienced thinking shooter, and easy to tote. I'm not such a good shotgunner that I love the .410 for wing shooting, the 28 ga. is about my minimum, but it is usable.

rafter-7 · Post by **rafter-7** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:11 am

Arjunky and I both have a 410 as you walk into our houses

uses: flying rats and crows and anything that walks or crawls on the ground in the yard.

when you absolutly, positivily, can not let it get away bring out the 410 keep shooting in the tall grass till you know its dead!

rafter-7

oohh and the wife liks to shoot it too.

C. Cash · Post by **C. Cash** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:46 am

There's just something neat about the 410.....speaks to me of the Greatest Generation who often survived with such a shotgun or a 22. You'll have to accept the added challenge if shooting birds on the wing or rabbits/squirrels that are farther out. You'll have to get closer. One of my Grandmother's favorite stories was when she found a 410 out in the Mojave Desert, on their migration from Oklahoma to California during the Depression. They walked off the road and it was just laying there. Sixty+ years later and she was still excited about finding that gun.

Hecter · Post by **Hecter** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:50 am

I have been shooting a 410 for many years. It has ben great fun shooting small game with it. I do hand load for it to save money, you get like 20 boxes of ammo from a 25lb bag of shot! If you shoot the 3" shell it is a good killer at closer ranges. It can also shoot slugs for bigger critters.

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 10:04 am

I liked my 9410... and really need to get a little Handi or some such to continue my .410 experiments.

I would also like to shoot a Marlin .410 to see if it feeds better than the 9410. IMO you could do a lot worse than a well-tweaked .410 lever overbored to .429 with removable chokes so you can shoot .444 out of it...

Mike D. · Post by **Mike D.** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 10:37 am

I have shot and hunted with my old Winchester Model 42 for years. That little gem has accounted for countless doves, ducks, pheasant, quaill, and all sorts of other game and vermin. Once in a while I take it to the duck blind where it always accounts for all the Green Wing Teal I can hit. Many folks forget that the diminutive .410 has the same range as the larger guages, but a MUCH smaller shot column. 'Ya gotta be a good wingshot to take advantage of that fun little shell.

kmittleman · Post by **kmittleman** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 10:39 am

I have a single shot .410 that I love. I usually hunt squirrels with it, but have taken a few doves too. I like it because it's lightweight / nice to carry. And it seems like it would be a decent survival gun ( mine breaks down, ammo is more compact ). The ammo is expensive but I just wait on deals / rebates. Also the best factory loads I've found for squirrel are the 3" , 11/16 oz shells. Also, Winchester makes a 3" , 3/4 oz load that seems to work well. In fact the only time I've killed two squirrels w/ one shot was with that .410. I was close though ( 10-15 yds ).........

-Kevin

gamekeeper · Post by **gamekeeper** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:32 am

I've had a .410 on and off since I was thirteen, excellent little gauge for Squirrels and Doves, I've taken quite a few close range Foxes with a .410 too!
Most .410s are too tightly choked and over here it can be difficult to get anything but #6 and #5 shot. I prefer Modified choke and #7s.
The only .410 I have now is my Savage 24.

Doc Hudson · Post by **Doc Hudson** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:39 am

I personally would not pay as much as $50.00 for a .410 shotgun.

IMO they are pretty worthless for anything other than busting clay birds and killing snakes, and a .44 SPL or RemMag case full of #9 Shot does just as well as a .410.

And I don't think it is worth cussing as a home defense shotgun. You have half an ounce of small shot that doesn't have enough energy to penetrate a good leather coat, or you can use a 3 pellet buckshot load that is nothing to brag about, or you can get a slugh which weighs 90 grains and travels at around 1600- 1900 fps.

Nope I am most certainly not a fan of the .410 Waste of Wood and Steel.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:44 am

Can you get all brass shells for them?

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:49 am

Yep. Magtech (CBC) sells them. ID is too big for slug, but they actually hold more shot than plastic hulls.

RIHMFIRE · Post by **RIHMFIRE** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:26 pm

its looks like real fun shooting trap and skeet
with the 410...and you better be dead on too....
and what Hobie said! you better reload
410 and 28 ga are to darn $$$$$

Slick13 · Post by **Slick13** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:28 pm

If you're going to pay through the nose for sub gauge shotgun shells, the 28 is a helluva lot better shell than the .410 is (28 ga. factory loads range from 3/4 to 1 oz of shot, and if you reload you can drop down to 5/8 oz or 11/16 oz of shot and make your 28ga a 3" .410). If it wasn't for skeet, the .410 would have died off a long time ago. And skeet shooters don't even buy .410 guns anymore, they put full length tubes in a 12 or 20 gauge so they can shoot .410 shells in it.

.410.... don't choke tighter than Modified, don't use shot larger than #6 (#8 and #9 are best), keep your shots within 20 to 25 yards, and don't go after too big of an animal.

~Michael

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:38 pm

I shoot .410 out of my 16ga damascus double using "Guage Mate" chamber liners.

The chamber liners hold all the ignition pressure and once the shot hits the humongus overbore of the 16ga the rest goes away too.

Pattern is useful out to 25yds but that's it. Fun to drag out though.

4t5 · Post by **4t5** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:57 pm

I have a STEVENS bolt action that is great for squirrels,I use #4 shot.

Nath · Post by **Nath** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:08 pm

My imput.
Fox's, squirls, rabbits, crows ,rats, dogs, woodcock, ducks, partridge, pheasants and canada geese have been taken with my 410s over the years.
Stay this side of 25yds and only slightly choked.
Stick to 71/2 - 8s.
For close up big stuff load three .395 balls on top of some 2400 or h4227.
Don't buy English ammo!
Your children will enjoy it with some hand thrown clays

Nath.

Hillbilly · Post by **Hillbilly** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:37 pm

I gave a .410 MEC press that was in the box along with the 12 and 20 gauges presses I picked up in a "three-for" deal once.
If I was still shooting skeet a lot I'd be looking for a shotgun to go with the press. You need to have a near perfect wing shot to be effective... and I think the shot strings quickly if you get just a little bit out of range with one.

My Uncle's opinion of the .410... he felt the 410 as a first gun turned too many kids against shotgun sports cause it was just too hard to hit with it.

azzhandler · Post by **azzhandler** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 5:02 pm

I love my 410"s I have 2 of them, a 22/410 over-under, and a side-by-side H&R external hammered gun that weighs less then 5 LBS,it is actually marked 44cal. but it works over my german shorthair pointer and pen raised birds.

jeepnik · Post by **jeepnik** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 5:23 pm

My first shotgun was a Mossberg 500 in .410. I still have it, but for years I just ignored it in favor of larger bores. A while back, I was looking for the perfect Jeep gun. I had carried an AR-7 around in my Jeep for years. But, I thought something a bit more authoritative would be better. Well, I ended up shortening the barrel, and replacing the butt stock and fore end. Added sling swivels, and one of those butt stock ammo carriers. Broken down it fits into a nice roll about 19" long. It takes about as long to attach the barrel, and butt stock as it did to assemble the AR-7. With everything from small shot to slugs available, it's worked out very well. A bit heavier than the AR-7, and it doesn't float (though I never tried that one), but push come to shove, I think a .410 would be a better small game getter, and it sure would be better against that rampaging grizzly we all here so much about.

marlinman93 · Post by **marlinman93** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:15 pm

I'm not really much of a shotgun fan, but I've got a couple old Marlin 410's from around 1930, and I shoot the heck out of the user one! I've taken a lot of game with it, and even took it out to shoot trap for fun, and did pretty well with it there too. It's just one of those guns and calibers that feels perfect to me!

rjohns94 · Post by **rjohns94** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:11 pm

i prefer the .28 gauge for things that fly.

Barcelona Rick · Post by **Barcelona Rick** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:28 am

Christmas 1962...I am 8 years old and already a pretty darn good shot with my pellet rifle. My mom and dad had a small grocery store/filling station/feed store in very rural Texas. I wanted a shotgun in the worse way. No money for something like that in the family. Somehow daddy had gotten a semi-auto .22 WMR rifle in a swap for feed/gasoline. He took it to the hardware store/gun shop and traded for a Stevens Model 940A .410 and 4 boxes of shells. Well old Santa Claus shows up in the night and the next morning there is a long slender box wrapped in brown paper under the cedar tree. No name on it.....well after opening the new socks, hard candy and fruit I was just about wild to see what was in the two other boxes. Sure enough it was my new shotgun and shells. I wanted to shoot it right then. Well Christmas Dinner (Lunch for my yankee buddies) took forever. Finally daddy said lets step out to the back pasture...he showed me how to break open, close, cock the hammer and let it down safely. He handed it to me with 5 shells and said shoot the wood shed. I did exactly what he told me to do. He then told me that I could kill nothing unless I was willing to eat it. He also said don't shoot your brother or yourself....well 47 years later I still shoot it along with the Stevens 311 and Mossberg bolt .410 I have aquired over the years. Doves, quail, rabbit, hogs, tree rats, snakes, ducks and bull frogs have all felt the Stevens sting. My son has used it and my grandson son will. It means more to me that anything else in the gun cabinet. A side note, the owner of the hardware store would take my rabbit pelts and trade me shells for my shotgun....I really thought I was a pelt trader. At my grandpaws funeral 38 years later he told me that papaw would pay him for the shells and he would throw those rabbit pelts away. Being a kid was way different back then.....

jumbeaux

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:37 am

jumbeaux wrote:... A side note, the owner of the hardware store would take my rabbit pelts and trade me shells for my shotgun....I really thought I was a pelt trader. At my grandpaws funeral 38 years later he told me that papaw would pay him for the shells and he would throw those rabbit pelts away. ...

Aye... but you WERE doing a public service by helping keep the rabbit population in check... which doesn't reasonate with with a kid quite as well I suppose...

Nath · Post by **Nath** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:14 pm

jumbeaux wrote:Christmas 1962...I am 8 years old and already a pretty darn good shot with my pellet rifle. My mom and dad had a small grocery store/filling station/feed store in very rural Texas. I wanted a shotgun in the worse way. No money for something like that in the family. Somehow daddy had gotten a semi-auto .22 WMR rifle in a swap for feed/gasoline. He took it to the hardware store/gun shop and traded for a Stevens Model 940A .410 and 4 boxes of shells. Well old Santa Claus shows up in the night and the next morning there is a long slender box wrapped in brown paper under the cedar tree. No name on it.....well after opening the new socks, hard candy and fruit I was just about wild to see what was in the two other boxes. Sure enough it was my new shotgun and shells. I wanted to shoot it right then. Well Christmas Dinner (Lunch for my yankee buddies) took forever. Finally daddy said lets step out to the back pasture...he showed me how to break open, close, cock the hammer and let it down safely. He handed it to me with 5 shells and said shoot the wood shed. I did exactly what he told me to do. He then told me that I could kill nothing unless I was willing to eat it. He also said don't shoot your brother or yourself....well 47 years later I still shoot it along with the Stevens 311 and Mossberg bolt .410 I have aquired over the years. Doves, quail, rabbit, hogs, tree rats, snakes, ducks and bull frogs have all felt the Stevens sting. My son has used it and my grandson son will. It means more to me that anything else in the gun cabinet. A side note, the owner of the hardware store would take my rabbit pelts and trade me shells for my shotgun....I really thought I was a pelt trader. At my grandpaws funeral 38 years later he told me that papaw would pay him for the shells and he would throw those rabbit pelts away. Being a kid was way different back then.....

jumbeaux

Wonderfull

Nath.

trapper45 · Post by **trapper45** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:17 pm

More a novelty than a practicality, but my .410's a 1915 BSA SMLE which was modified in India in 1930 from .303 to .410 single shot. Now chambered for up to 3" shells, it's fun to pop away with on occasion. Even managed to bust a few clay pigeons with it. It seems to prefer 2-1/2" slug shells over the 3-inchers.

airedaleman · Post by **airedaleman** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:50 am

jumbeaux wrote:Christmas 1962...I am 8 years old and already a pretty darn good shot with my pellet rifle. My mom and dad had a small grocery store/filling station/feed store in very rural Texas. I wanted a shotgun in the worse way. No money for something like that in the family. Somehow daddy had gotten a semi-auto .22 WMR rifle in a swap for feed/gasoline. He took it to the hardware store/gun shop and traded for a Stevens Model 940A .410 and 4 boxes of shells. Well old Santa Claus shows up in the night and the next morning there is a long slender box wrapped in brown paper under the cedar tree. No name on it.....well after opening the new socks, hard candy and fruit I was just about wild to see what was in the two other boxes. Sure enough it was my new shotgun and shells. I wanted to shoot it right then. Well Christmas Dinner (Lunch for my yankee buddies) took forever. Finally daddy said lets step out to the back pasture...he showed me how to break open, close, cock the hammer and let it down safely. He handed it to me with 5 shells and said shoot the wood shed. I did exactly what he told me to do. He then told me that I could kill nothing unless I was willing to eat it. He also said don't shoot your brother or yourself....well 47 years later I still shoot it along with the Stevens 311 and Mossberg bolt .410 I have aquired over the years. Doves, quail, rabbit, hogs, tree rats, snakes, ducks and bull frogs have all felt the Stevens sting. My son has used it and my grandson son will. It means more to me that anything else in the gun cabinet. A side note, the owner of the hardware store would take my rabbit pelts and trade me shells for my shotgun....I really thought I was a pelt trader. At my grandpaws funeral 38 years later he told me that papaw would pay him for the shells and he would throw those rabbit pelts away. Being a kid was way different back then.....

jumbeaux

Great story. Things WERE different...

Doc Hudson · Post by **Doc Hudson** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:21 am

Hillbilly wrote:My Uncle's opinion of the .410... he felt the 410 as a first gun turned too many kids against shotgun sports cause it was just too hard to hit with it.

Your Uncle and I are in complete agreement!

I credit a crummy old Stevens bolt-action .410 for my lack of interest in shotguns for over twenty years. I'm still not as good with a shotgun as I should be.

Doc

Bullet Bob · Post by **Bullet Bob** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:01 am

.410's engender more love/hate than any other round.

I think they rule (top gun)!

86er · Post by **86er** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:30 am

I love the 410. It is woefully inefficient in the hands of a beginner or amateur. An experienced shooter with an appreciation for the range limitations can apply it with enough skill to be modestly successful. It is great on squirrels ( I use #6 shot) and I shoot some quail and dove every year "just because" (using #8). I am going to let me son shoot a 3" load of #6's for turkey hunting this year. I can get them to within 10 yards of the blind and I will help him keep the bead on the neck. This caliber shotgun is also handy for snakes and for fish. We headshoot catfish when they surface and roll and it works pretty darn good. I use it more as a novelty than for anything serious but when I do my part with consideration to game and range it works quite well!

ceb · Post by **ceb** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:38 pm

My Great Grandpa gave me a single shot Mossberg bolt action .410 when I was 12 or13. My first gun. Shot a lot of squirrels and rabbits with that gun and a few quail too. Still have it, but haven't shot it in years. I think I need too!

.45colt · Post by **.45colt** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:07 pm

I won't want to bore anyone here but, if One gets a decent gun well stocked in the .410 and shoots it a lot, He can embarrass a lot of shooters with large bore shotguns. and have fun doing it. when a snob throwes his gun in the car and storms off,then You know they hate the .410.

.

AJMD429 · Post by **AJMD429** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:17 pm

The Contender pistol in .45Colt/.410 is fun, and I occasionally manage to hit a clay bird with it.

My son (he was way better at 11 years old than I'll ever be at it) could hit them consistently with a breakopen .410 shotgun.

If I were to get one now, it would be a Taurus 'Judge' revolver. I think as a hard-to-grab, maneuverable, non-over-penetrating in-house defense gun it would be good. I'd probably use steel shot loads then a couple jacketed .45 Colts for good measure. Kind of a 'Mini-Stryker' shotgun.

Definitely cheaper to reload for; the little I've ever shot I just used the little Lee Kit (the 'original' - not their 'Load All).

I haven't fired any .410 shells in my .444, but I've heard that is possible (maybe not 'sensible').

major · Post by **major** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:51 pm

I have two .410's one double barrel and one 870 pump, I love going out and shooting with the 410 they are great fun guns shoot.

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 1:59 pm

Wow - saw prices on shells at the gun show this last weekend, and "2-3x" wasn't even close!

Still, this little fellow is speaking to me... if I can find funds!

airedaleman · Post by **airedaleman** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 5:06 pm

Ysabel Kid wrote:Wow - saw prices on shells at the gun show this last weekend, and "2-3x" wasn't even close!

Still, this little fellow is speaking to me... if I can find funds!

Me too, YK! All I have to do is scrape up $209.95 and it's off to WalMart...

OJ · Post by OJ » Tue Feb 24, 2009 5:57 pm

I began my duck and pheasant hunting with a .410 side by side double barrel shotgun when I was seven years old (1933) and, has been mentioned, that required precise shooting and range recognition, so that, later in life, I could shoot skeet acceptably well to not embarrass myself in my Navy service. We had a good number of both ducks and pheasants in the Sandhills of western Nebraska.

At that age, I was also given a .410 pistol by one of my dad's friends - only to find the following year the ATF, in their wisdom, felt that single shot no choke .410 pistol with a 12" barrel and only chamdered for a 2 1/2 inch shell - was in the same class of dangerous weapons such as the Thompson Submachine Gun requiring registration under the NFA - with $200 1934 dollars regisstration fee - a lot of money then.

It is the most expensive gift I've ever received and I had to list a reason for having such a "weapon" - I said I was a "gun collector" - I was almost eight years old!

Interestingly enough, even though it has been reclassified as a "curio & relic", the BATFE, in all their wisdom, refuses to remove that gun from the prohibited list. Not only that - there is no legal way to register it today and if you are caught possessing an unregistered one, the fine is $10,000. Interesting, since there are ways to register other NFA guns such as the "Tommy Gun" - expensive, but possible.

Post by **Hobie** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 6:59 pm

Thank you OJ and Jumbeaux.

2X22 · Post by **2X22** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:10 pm

.45colt wrote:I won't want to bore anyone here but, if One gets a decent gun well stocked in the .410 and shoots it a lot, He can embarrass a lot of shooters with large bore shotguns. and have fun doing it. when a snob throwes his gun in the car and storms off,then You know they hate the .410. .

Yep! I chalked up 21 ruffed grouse and 6 blue grouse with my 410 O/U last season

22

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:00 pm

I really did sell jackrabbit pelts for 25 cents a piece when I was a kid.