410. Love or hate

I had a cheapo Spanish SxS .410 double as my 1st shotgun back in me youth for pest critters & perched quail. If I kept the range of the shots inside of 20 yds, the Imperial #6 loads did ok, but I soon switched up to a 12 ga Cooey model 84 that very much outclassed the .410 guns fer me. Never had another .410 since
then.
 
There’s almost nothing a 410 does that a 28ga can’t do better, I’ll only grab the 410 if I’m looking for a challenge or just general messing around.

Otherwise I reach for my 28ga is my I need a sub-gauge for anything serious. It’s almost just as light, recoils about the same and is overall a more versatile gauge with the right loads.
 
I used a Win-101 for years on the skeet field with #9's. I developed a load of copper plated #6's that I used for birds. Mine was choked skeet and skeet. Patterning a shotgun with various loads and shot sizes is always a good idea, but with a .410 is a very smart essential exercise if your serious about using one. It is very telling. The 410 has definite range limitations over the other gauges. For example using my #9 skeet loads a coke can at 40 yds. would go untouched to just being hit by a couple pellets. With the #6's the can was never safer. A great fun caliber but you have to know its limitations. I actually broke my first 50 straight with the 410. There is an old saying that any hit is a good hit with a 410.
 
Grew up on the farm with a Winchester 37A in .410. Used it on ruffies and snowshoe hares for years.
Wouldn't say that I hate the .410, as it is still fun to hunt ruffies with.
Now have a Cooey 84 and a Marlin 336 in .410 (haven't had a chance to shoot the Marlin yet).

Also have a Cooey 84 and a Winchester 37A in 28 ga, although the Cooey has now been gifted to my daughter. These work very well on ruffies. I just like the 28 better, and am glad for the extra punch for sharptails and blues at longer distances. My wife finds the recoil of the Cooey 84 to be more than she expected, as it is much lighter than the Winchester.
Also have a Remington Sporting 28 that is a lot of fun to shoot and hunt with. Just ordered the Benelli Ethos in 28 ga!

Between the two, I now prefer the 28. But if I had never had the chance to shoot and own a 28, I would still be using the .410 on grouse. I know friends that use the 12 ga on ruffies, but find that it is just too much for the birds we hunt here. Not much left of the breast on the closer birds.
 
I was given one and at a distance I can hit grouse and hares, but close up I miss all the time.

Wife doesn't like grouse much and it is rare that I'm in a spot with hares and they are always out right in the last half-hour of light which is prime time for big game, so I ignore 'em mostly anyway, so the 410 stays home now.
 
I've gone back and forth on the .410 Avoided it for years, then had a bit of a collection, now down to a cheap/light SxS for the girls to use, and a .410/.22 combo that was my truck gun for a while. I've used .410 for road chickens, and am not hesitant to blaze away if they flush (bagged quite a few on the wing)... but for serious upland hunting which I do a lot of... I always grab one of my 28 gauge shotguns.
 
My reliable old single shot Cooey 84, .410 bore made in Cobourg, Ontario has shot more ruffed & spruce grouse than there are quills on a porcupines back & a WT deer at 15 yds. It's my "partridge" gun.
When I go duck hunting the Rem 870 in 12 ga. comes out. A clean, humane kill is a moral obligation with me.
 
Falconflyer said:
I'll tell you one thing, when you show up at a sub gauge sporting clays shoot armed with a sxs double trigger 410, all the other shooters look at you with a mixture of concern, pitty, envy and admiration... all at the same time!
Click to expand...

I did it once with 410 tubes. Everyone thought it was bad reloads till they saw me extract the empties then they said i was brave
 
I’ve had a H&R pardoner youth 410 for 12+ years now.
Best grouse gun I know. IMO

#7.5 and #8 shot 3” and you can clip heads out to 25yrds

Had a guy borrow it for a trip. He bought me 2 boxes of #6 when he brought it back.
I missed or wounded a few grouse with that before patterning it. Definitely dose not like #6 shot.

Definitely like mine.
 
I have two pre-war Winchester M42's, one F/C and the other Modified. . Used within their limitations the M42 and the 410 are a sweetheart. . The 410 ga shotshell is actually a 41 caliber.
 
I have a Browning Citori white lightning and Win - Browning model 42. Both are useful in the bush for some close in grouse on the wing and rabbit hunting, and fun with clays. But when hunting with a .410 they require very quick reflexes and precision shooting or cripples result. My clay scores are certainly less than more capable gauges. But I like the .410. I admit it's probably most useful as a farmyard pest killer or for killing grouse on the ground. I don't do those things with it any more.
 
Well i was in my local canadian tire and they had one stevens 301 turkey 410 in stock. Obsession camo which isnt really to my liking but i handled it and liked it. Enough i walked out with it. Light weight. Feels solid for being synthetic. Has an extra full turkey choke and removable rail for optics which is channeled so you can still use the front bead. Extremely strong ejector. Trigger is crisp although slightly heavy. About the same as a regular pump gun. No take up at all just a nice clean crisp break which was surprising for such a cheap gun
I may try to make a walnut stock set for this gun. The only real negative is the finish looks cheap. Its well applied and even but its not a high polish and i suspect it will scratch easily. I mounted a red dot optic on it so ill see how it patterns shortly
 
I love the .410 for skeet, and some of the “ softer” sporting courses.
Browning Citori with Briley straight rifled match weight tubes
SKB 85 TSS 3 barrel set
CZ Ringneck sxs
Win m42
SKB 200 HR 28/410 2 bbl set
Rem 1100 sporting .410…. Best single shot I ever owned.LOL

Loading on a PW 800+.

I guess you could say I am mildly obsessed.
Keeps me focused.

Would not recommend for beginners.
 
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