A few weeks back I saw a thread on one of the US Milsurp forums showing an 11/12 year old with a deer that he shot with a .410 Ishapore SMLE. He shot it from 40 yards away in a treestand with his father coaching him. I believe that you need a 20ga minimum to shotgun hunt deer in Ontario, but the story did say something about the effectiveness of .410 slugs.
.410 slugs?
- Thread starter Huntsman
- Start date
20 gauge minimum is for a shotgun loaded with shot. .410 slug is legal in Ontario for deer.
From the regs:
The following cannot be used for hunting deer:
• A rim-fire rifle
• A shotgun smaller than 20 gauge when loaded with shot
• Any shotgun loaded with shot smaller than SG or No. 1 buck.
From the regs:
The following cannot be used for hunting deer:
• A rim-fire rifle
• A shotgun smaller than 20 gauge when loaded with shot
• Any shotgun loaded with shot smaller than SG or No. 1 buck.
Hunting deer with a .410 slug is simply stupid... at the muzzle they have barely enough energy to kill a deer. And if you take them out to 40 yards they are at about 250 foot pounds of energy... a coyote could run away after getting hit with that kind of energy... never mind a whitetail.
The other thing and most important is accuracy... I have never found a .410 shotgun yet that would shoot slugs with any degree of accuracy... and you can't kill them if you don't hit them in the right spot!
Do yourself a favor and use enough gun for the job.
The other thing and most important is accuracy... I have never found a .410 shotgun yet that would shoot slugs with any degree of accuracy... and you can't kill them if you don't hit them in the right spot!
Do yourself a favor and use enough gun for the job.
Power and accuracy are relative remember that, you are shooting a slug from a smoothbore. My 410 shoots fosters much better than my 12 gauge. As for power, it has been beaten to death, the 410 slug is not an ideal round for deer but just because you say it is useless does not take it off the shelves. I love the little 410, keep the range short and use it on the game that it was designed, just don't say it is useless because you don't like it.
- Location
- Saskatchewan
I had a Savage/stevens 311 .410 sxs 3" FC that could hit gophers at 50-60 yds nearly every shot with 2-1/2" slugs. Accuracy amazed me, even with only a bead sight. Doubles are supposed to crosfire, this one didn't. Also had a Springfield M6 scout .410 under .22LR, equipped with good sights, couldn't keep either 2-1/2" or 3' slugs on a shoebox, shooting from a rest at 20 yds. Go figure. Slugs in the 311 were useful and fun for small game, useless and annoying in the M6.
