.410 advice for skeet

brooksy08

brooksy08

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Hey guys so for the last little while I've been shooting 21-23 and the odd 24 shooting skeet so I want congratulate myself with a new gun when the day finally comes. I reload 3/4 oz 12g with very low recoil and I'm happy shooting that. But I have enough 12 gauge for now and want to diversify and can't justify 20g or 28g due to reloading. Been looking at the reviews on the new Stevens 555 and it seems like a well made gun for the price point. I'm not going to shoot it often, just on the odd day and don't require a $2000+ beretta. I do not want to purchase tubes for my dt-10 either. Don't want the hassel (and besides that's around $700 which is almost a gun).



Comes down to a few things

1) o/u because reloads in 1100 don't cycle unless the crimps are good.
2) at $1000 limit is there anything else I should consider in this price bracket
3) silver reserve 2 used sounds reasonable but doesn't feel like a great gun.
4) is there anything a little over my price limit that I should consider.

.410 guys let me know what you think!
 
I think you should reconsider tubes. For $700 you basically get an $8k beautiful awesome DT10 in .410. Heck of a deal compared to a budget O/U made in Turkey that will feel and swing nothing like your Beretta.
 
I'm yet to see a decent quality .410 O/U under $2000 new, in your price range consider the Remington 1100 Sporting in .410 or Adam's advice on a tube set. Neither the Stoeger or the Mossberg O/U will hold up to skeet duty, the jury is still out on the Stevens 555.
 
So... you shoot a DT-10 and you are considering a Stevens? And worried about spending $700 on tubes? Something is not adding up... this is the kind of question asked by an 870 Express guy.

And I'm not following the whole wanting to diversify but "can't justify 20 or 28 gauge due to reloading," point???

If you just want a .410 that's fine, but in my mind, if you only have 12 gauge, a better next step is 20 gauge and then 28 gauge and then .410.

But I'm with the guys above in advising a quality tube set... with a DT-10 (?) as a base gun, tubes make far more sense than a "piece of shyte" Stevens.
 
What do you mean by not being able to justify the 20 or 28 due to reloading? Factory .410 costs about the same as the 28 gauge and it is much more finicky to reload than 28. :confused:

Not tubing your DT10 may be the right call. The .410 may not reset the gun's inertia block and trigger work might be required for reliable functioning. The added weight of the tubes will also change the handling dynamics of your Beretta.

You may want to look at gun shows, the EE and gun store websites. Fixed choke skeet over/unders even in the sub-gauges are not in high demand particularly if they have 26" barrels. With a little luck tou should be able to locate a Citori Skeet or a Winchester 101 in and around your price range and will have a much better gun than any of the "Turkish delights" on the market today.
 
Well 410 and 28g target loads cost about the same.
Franchi and fausti make some 410s starting at about 1700 bucks. Other than that if you can't reload shells to cycle through a semi, buy a wingmaster or bps in 410. They will cycle anything and I believe both come with tubes.
 
Maybe 10 or 12 years back I was of the same "want" ... but not shooting competitively any more.

I chose a set of Briley "Sidekick Chambermates" for my DT-10, a 32" Sporter, bought in 2000. And yes, still have it. My standard 12 ga. reload is a 24 gram ( 7/8 oz. load at about 1250 fps with AA components and Alliant Promo). I shoot mostly a mix of Skeet, 5-Stand and Sporting ... occasionally a little ATA and some ISSF Trap, but not a lot of either.

I managed several "straights" at the local Gun Club shooting all the tubes ... even a 75 straight with the 410's ... shooting reloads. No better and no worse than the with the Classic Doubles 4 gun set I owned. No problem with the DT-10 setting the second trigger for doubles with the 410 ... and very little fuss to tap in the Chambermates ... or remove them. There are a couple of good Gunsmith's around who can re-work the triggers for you if you do run into problems. It's apparently no big deal.

All the "shorty tubes" came packaged in a neat little kit. At the time, the 20/28/410 kit was well under your spending limit, and much less than the usual competition type set of Briley's or Kolar's. My thought was as yours ... just something to fool with on an occasional basis. I won't say much else about price, other than that the Dealer, who shall remain nameless made me a cash deal I just couldn't refuse !

A current set of 410 only Sidekicks, are I believe, about $350 US. Easy enough to get here if you deal with Lawry's in Caledonia.

I won't say they are ideal, but they do work well enough and in in conjunction with the DT-10's OEM Optima chokes. I did find you can't use cheapy shells , i.e. those with steel bases, promo loads, etc., as they tend to stick in the tube chambers, ala 870 Express's with Winchester cheapy shells. So quality brass only. Once fired "AA's" worked perfectly, every time. I found to get the breaks I likes, I used a pair ( I have two complete sets of chokes for my DT-10 + a few single variations ) of Skeet for 20 ga., a pair of I/C for 28 ga. and either I/C or Modifieds (not much difference in the breaks) for the 410. The standard 12 ga. Skeet chokes were just not enough for the 28 or 410 in my opinion. I ran into a really good deal for a Winchester Model 42 (410) with a Simmons rib which I had always wanted about 18 months later, already had a good 20 ga. SxS ... and found I was using the Chambermates less and less. A buddy in the Skeet game wanted the same set for his brother as a present, knew what they were worth... and didn't hesitate when I gave him my price. The difference represented only a small amount of "rent" to me.

For what you want, I'd say they are ideal. For competitive shooting, I think I'd probably go with Kolars. Remember, first quality brass based shells and "choke up" a little.
 
Honestly guys, it's not that I "can't" spend the money, it's that I think that I should be able to find something used around the $1000 mark that will get me into .410. I want to buy a couple flats, keep the hulls and eventually reload. I reload 12g very reasonable and have a 3/4 oz load that's very light and is still abut 1200 fps. I'm not nessessarly against tubes, I just rather get another gun and shoot a couple games of 12 then switch without having to take the tubes out. As claybuster mentioned a 101 or citori.

Maritime storm is right about the 555, all reviews so far are mainly advertizments.

Might consider a wingmaster or 1100 if I can't narrow down a O/U
 
Why the pre-occupation with 410? As previously stated, 28 g factory costs the same as 410, and is much more utilitarian. 20 g costs the same as 12 g, with promo loads available for cheaps. Finally, getting a 410 with choke tubes can be a challenge - most are fixed (full) choke, which would make shooting skeet very difficult.
 
I picked up a used Ruger red label in a 20 ga a few years ago with a set of 410 tubes included. I thought I would never use the 410 but once you start playing with them it gets addictive. Now I hardly ever take the tubes out,it makes you wonder how you can miss with the 12 ga(all that extra shot). The 410 it makes skeet fun again and I like the tube set up very quick and easy to use. Snoop around and see if you can pick a used set up you wont be disappointed .
 
I will add one thought, that being to prepare to see your scores drop significantly when going from a 12 gauge to a 410. I usually shoot skeet with a 28 gauge, and my scores with a 28 gauge are almost the same as with a 12 gauge, but when I shoot my 410, I expect to drop from around 95-97 with the 28 gauge to 90-92 with the 410.
 
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stubblejumper said:
I will add one thought, that being to prepare to see your scores drop significantly when going from a 12 gauge to a 410. I usually shoot skeet with a 28 gauge, and my scores with a 28 gauge are almost the same with a 12 gauge, but when I shoot my 410, I expect to drop from around 95-97 with the 28 gauge to 90-92 with the 410.
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Many people underestimate the 28 gauge because they consider it being closer to the .410 but when you do the patterning and the pellet count it's actually closer to the 20. When I was shooting skeet regularly the .410 drove me nuts. One round would go well but I'd crap the bed on the very next round. Very frustrating.
 
canvasback said:
LOL. You may think $1000 should be buying you a Citori .410 but the guys selling them would disagree.
Click to expand...

Our .410 citori was 1600$ at 25% off when the previous models were being cleared out.

Don't cheap out man, you'll be unhappy if you do. Just wait until you're comfortable spending for a quality O/U. Being cheap is expensive.

GGG
 
Look into yildz. They make a decent gun and it's a step up over the Stevens. Wish I never sold my 410s. I use savage 410ers now. Work great for 12" tubes

410 is fun and a great bunny gun. Sxs or ou are the way to go

Ps. Made it thru some rough road getting in glad we swapped out that tire
 
The only Stevens o/u in that model I shot, sort of, was a 28 that kept misfiring on the first trigger pull and hence the next barrel would not fire due to no recoil. It belonged to a host pheasant hunting in South Dakota. If you closed it real hard and jammed the safety off with lots of effort then the firing pin might strike the primer hard enough. If not you were SOL. Kind of getting what you paid for. Turkish products might have issues in the very near future on the parts and warrantee front if their political system continues on its current trend.
 
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