Who has a .410 Bore Shotgun... and why?

the spank said:
I have my Grandmothers old Iver Johnson 410 single. Killed my first grouse with it when I was 10. At one time 410 ammo was not much more than 12 gauge as the guns were very popular in the northern rural areas amongst grouse hunters. I take mine out now and then for sentimental reasons. I cannot imagine how many grouse that gun has accounted for. My Grandmother and her sister were the two oldest kids of 13 and used to each carry a 410 to school every day during hunting season and kill grouse for the family. Then when she later married my Grandfather they used to camp, hunt and fish together for a lot of years bringing that gun with them. My Grandfather carried it his entire adult life. It's all he used to shoot grouse with. They are a great lightweight little grouse gun for those who hunted grouse the northern way, potting them out of tree branches, on bush trails and logging roads. I think though they are a wing shooters challenge.
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Best answer so far. Like the .30-30, too many folks read gun magazines and as a result under-estimate them, or attempt to use them outside of their performance envelope...
 
I have a Cooey 84 in 410 and 28 gauge. The 410 and/or 28 gauge is awesome for introducing someone to a shotgun; however, this is generally a short introduction. Shooting trap loads from a 20 or 12 gauge is very manageable for most people especially if the gun fits them properly. I would never sell my 410 but its definitely a limited purpose shotgun. Its used once a year to shoot a grouse or two at the cottage, then back to the cabinet to collect dust for another year. I still love the thing though.

If you have your heart set on a 410 then by all means get one. A 20 is properly the perfect gauge. Its a good starter gun, and a good hunting gun. It throws a lot more lead down range and can be fun to flow the odd thing up if you feel the need. The 410 is much less dramatic.
 
The .410 is marginal, at best, for hunting small game. It's just too small to pack a good payload of shot.

I was just at the range this weekend patterning a .410 with #6 shot on live sized ruffed grouse targets. At 25 yards, any more than 1 pellet hit on the whole animal was pure luck - some shots resulted in no hits at all. Moving closer, to the 20 yard mark, things improved noticeably; my .410 would average 8 hits on the live sized target, good enough for reliable killing, but that was clearly the maximum range for humane hunting.

However, the .410 bore good for getting very small shooters started with shotguns at close range. Like my 8 year old son shooting clay pigeons on the burm at 10 yards.

My .410 has a .22 WMR barrel on top of it, which is about the only way I would go out and buy a .410; suddenly I don't need to pass on game that's over 20 yards away....
 
Northman999 said:
The .410 is marginal, at best, for hunting small game. It's just too small to pack a good payload of shot.

I was just at the range this weekend patterning a .410 with #6 shot on live sized ruffed grouse targets. At 25 yards, any more than 1 pellet hit on the whole animal was pure luck - some shots resulted in no hits at all. Moving closer, to the 20 yard mark, things improved noticeably; my .410 would average 8 hits on the live sized target, good enough for reliable killing, but that was clearly the maximum range for humane hunting.

However, the .410 bore good for getting very small shooters started with shotguns at close range. Like my 8 year old son shooting clay pigeons on the burm at 10 yards.

My .410 has a .22 WMR barrel on top of it, which is about the only way I would go out and buy a .410; suddenly I don't need to pass on game that's over 20 yards away....
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The .410 is all about managing expectations and adhering to limits. It isn't reasonable to expect it to do the job of a 12 ga or even a 20, but kept within it's limits it does what it is called on to do - certainly it's a gun for the experienced who is willing to accept the limitations inherent to the gauge/caliber.

Having said all of that, even though I have a couple of .410 singles around and a bolt action around, but one of the singles is cut to 18.5", tapped for a scope base and reserved for slugs only and the others see very occasional usage...
 
mudgunner49 said:
The .410 is all about managing expectations and adhering to limits. It isn't reasonable to expect it to do the job of a 12 ga or even a 20, but kept within it's limits it does what it is called on to do - certainly it's a gun for the experienced who is willing to accept the limitations inherent to the gauge/caliber.
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Yes, I agree.
 
Northman999 said:
The .410 is marginal, at best, for hunting small game. It's just too small to pack a good payload of shot.

I was just at the range this weekend patterning a .410 with #6 shot on live sized ruffed grouse targets. At 25 yards, any more than 1 pellet hit on the whole animal was pure luck - some shots resulted in no hits at all. Moving closer, to the 20 yard mark, things improved noticeably; my .410 would average 8 hits on the live sized target, good enough for reliable killing, but that was clearly the maximum range for humane hunting.

However, the .410 bore good for getting very small shooters started with shotguns at close range. Like my 8 year old son shooting clay pigeons on the burm at 10 yards.

My .410 has a .22 WMR barrel on top of it, which is about the only way I would go out and buy a .410; suddenly I don't need to pass on game that's over 20 yards away....
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I have never felt a 410 was not enough gun for small game if used within its limitations. It's not a beagle driven cottontail gun by any means or a wing shooters gun in heavy cover but potting a few grouse on logging roads, trappers trails or shooting snowshoe bunnies it is fine. No it does not have enough shot to get through heavy cover to the target but in light cover or a bird sitting up on a birch or spruce branch up to 30 yards away it is very effective in a 3" shell through a full choke configuration. Open that choke up and drop to a 2 1/2" shell and you have a 10-15 yard gun in my experience.
 
the spank said:
I have never felt a 410 was not enough gun for small game if used within its limitations. It's not a beagle driven cottontail gun by any means or a wing shooters gun in heavy cover but potting a few grouse on logging roads, trappers trails or shooting snowshoe bunnies it is fine. No it does not have enough shot to get through heavy cover to the target but in light cover or a bird sitting up on a birch or spruce branch up to 30 yards away it is very effective in a 3" shell through a full choke configuration. Open that choke up and drop to a 2 1/2" shell and you have a 10-15 yard gun in my experience.
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My 410 was flat our useless beyond 15m. It could not reliably kill a grouse beyond that range with NO cover at all between us. It had a full choke.
 
blasted_saber said:
My 410 was flat our useless beyond 15m. It could not reliably kill a grouse beyond that range with NO cover at all between us. It had a full choke.
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Have to agree that it is a very short range proposition for consistent reliable kills.
 
1899 said:
Have to agree that it is a very short range proposition for consistent reliable kills.
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I used a 410 with #6 shot and 3" shells to harvest tons of grouse in my young (10-16) days. It was a Cooey single shot, full choke, but they were shot on the ground, not flying - the brush was so thick up there you could never get them on the wing.
 
My second wife was lukewarm about hunting. I started her with a bolt action .22 but she couldn't hit anything. Then I got her a mossy 500 pump .410. She really liked that gun, and was able to kill several partridge. I have a mossy 20 gauge as well, but she didn't like the bigger gauge. Anyway, I got kind of sweet on that little .410, but after we split, I sold it for her. When bird season opened this year, I happened to be in the local hardware store, and they had another mossy .410 pump. I couldn't resist it. It has been my main bird gun this year.

I'm in Northern Ontario where grouse are stupider than a sack of hammers. Almost all birds are shot on the ground or in tree, usually at quite close distances. For this type of hunting the .410 is great. It's also lightweight, which is nice, because I do a lot of walking. However, with my 12 gauge with a full choke, I almost always completely blow the bird's head off. It is a very quick and merciful death. With the .410, I am still getting headshots, but of the 20 I have shot so far this year, probably a third were still alive when I got them, and had to administer the old coup de grace. So I'm still undecided. It's a fun gun, but not quite as lethal as I would like.
 
Papaclaude said:
I used a 410 with #6 shot and 3" shells to harvest tons of grouse in my young (10-16) days. It was a Cooey single shot, full choke, but they were shot on the ground, not flying - the brush was so thick up there you could never get them on the wing.
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Same load that I use in a Mossberg .410 pump action.
 
blasted_saber said:
My 410 was flat our useless beyond 15m. It could not reliably kill a grouse beyond that range with NO cover at all between us. It had a full choke.
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I just shot a grouse with my Rossi .410 yesterday, it was under a tree 31 yards away. I use federal 3" shells with #4 shot, my gun shoots a very tight pattern too. I used it to shoot a round of trap with the same shells and managed 19/25 with it (I'm usually around 22/25 with my 12 gauge). I'd be pretty confident shooting a flying bird at 20-30 yards with it. I guess if you are not having good luck with your .410, check the pattern, some don't shoot so well or you may have to try different shells.
 
Just bought a Mossberg 500 410 pump about a month ago for the wife to play around with, I like it a lot, light, fast and fun for just playing around with, haven't hunted with it yet so I can't comment on that, but with the rising popularity of the 410 in the US, the choice of ammo is starting to increase a bit, with more slug and home defence type rounds available. My first gun was a single shot 410 I got for Christmas when I was 12, so maybe I'm just sentimental, but I love them
 
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