.410 - what is it good for?

This is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek question, but then again, I may learn something. Besides the sheer joy of making something go boom, what are the practical applications of the .410 shotgun?

All I can think of are:
1) Cheap(er) plinking fun
2) Child's intro to shotguns
3) HD for gnomes

You fill in the rest....

This is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek question, but then again, I may learn something. Besides the sheer joy of making something go boom, what are the practical applications of the .410 shotgun?

All I can think of are:
1) Cheap(er) plinking fun
2) Child's intro to shotguns
3) HD for gnomes

You fill in the rest....
Some days you need a humbling experience, shoot a .410 on sporting clays and it will may grown men weep and bring them to their knees.:cuss: :cuss:

Bear, is that burst-sear you've got installed in your browser registered?

:D

~Gunny
Don't think of it as a thread highjack. Think of it more like a... free bump. With extras.

Somebody call the BATF!!!!

LOL

.410 is good for bragging rights at the trap range. One guy had run singles with everything else, so he did it with a .410, after thousands of rounds spent trying. Now his vest has a 25 patch, with the numbers 410 sewn on over it. He laughs about it, and I've never seen him with a .410 since.:)

It's good for snakes.

It's good for getting little kids used to shooting a "real" shotgun.

You can occasionally get a Kalashnikov chambered in .410.

It's tolerably good for hand-thrown clay targets. Keeps it interesting.

And it's not something I'm going to spend any money on in the foreseeable future.:p

All I can think of are:
1) Cheap(er) plinking fun
2) Child's intro to shotguns
3) HD for gnomes

Those are terrible reasons.
1) .410 ammo is not cheaper. In fact, retail it is usually the most expensive.
2) a 20 is much better for kids. For hunting because of the usually FULL chokes in .410's, the 20 or 28 is a better bet
3) HD with a .410? Or any shotgun? Maybe on a farm or rural areas, but for close quarters, no way.

So...
1) It's good for small game like squirrel or rabbit.
2) It's good for preserve birds.
3) It's good for varmints around the farm yard - you don't have to worry about a rifle over penetrating and don't have to be quite as accurate like a rifle.
4) It can be good for wild birds IF you are a good shot, IF you know how to pick your shots or IF you have a dog that holds the birds close.

3) HD with a .410? Or any shotgun? Maybe on a farm or rural areas, but for close quarters, no way. o_O

HD with a .410? Or any shotgun? Maybe on a farm or rural areas, but for close quarters, no way...

So...
1) It's good for small game like squirrel or rabbit.


halvey, I'm shocked! You don't support a gnome's right to self-defense?!?!?

...and about small game...like most folks in the mainstream, I prefer using my 10-gauge with sabot slugs for squirrel.

Sheesh!:neener:

o_O Are you showing me your front or back side?:rolleyes:

How many have ever taken a HD shotgun course? Of those, how many recommended the .410?

Used to hunt quite a bit with a .410... Squirel and quail. Quail is quite a challenge with a single shot .410. Great for armadillos, rats, and other non-dangerous pests around the farm. I find a .410 quite useful!

Are you showing me your front or back side?:rolleyes:


Neither. o.O/o_O are "raised eyebrow"/"weirded out" faces. ^_^/^.^ are the "happy" faces in the same format.


Sorry if you were being sarcastic, just trying to be informative.

~Gunny

I was handed down an old Win 42 .410 pump that has been in my family for generations. I doubt if my pick up could haul all the squirrels and rabbits that it has brought to the table. It saved my family from going hungry during the great depression so it has a lot of sentimental value as well.

Are you showing me your front or back side?:rolleyes:

How many have ever taken a HD shotgun course? Of those, how many recommended the .410?
i was expressing surprise at your apparent suggestion that shotguns - as a group - are no good for close quarters home defense. had you left out "or any shotgun," i wouldn't have taken issue.

3) HD with a .410? Or any shotgun? Maybe on a farm or rural areas, but for close quarters, no way.

Again, have you ever taken a HD shotgun course? Pretty tough to get around corners with a shotgun when there are other better alternatives. And again, has anyone ever suggested a .410?

Have you ever tried to clear a house with a shotgun? Pretty tough that takes some good training. Using a pump is similiar to using a single action only revolver. Why not use a DA revolver or semi auto pistol?

I don't shoot my NEF mini parner whippit .410 as much as I would like due to high cost of .410 ammo.

.410 I suppose is good for those derringers so chambered, anyone want to try a 20ga or 12 ga derringer?

Over the years I've taken alot of game - pheasants, Quail, rabbits, with the many 410 shotguns i have had the pleasure to own and shoot.

My current offering is a model Remington 1100 - sweet gun - great shooter.

I use a 12 guage for geese & ducks - everything else = 410...;)

12-34hom.

Again, have you ever taken a HD shotgun course? Pretty tough to get around corners with a shotgun when there are other better alternatives. And again, has anyone ever suggested a .410?

Have you ever tried to clear a house with a shotgun? Pretty tough that takes some good training. Using a pump is similiar to using a single action only revolver. Why not use a DA revolver or semi auto pistol?

I think it would be fine for home defense if you aren't trying to clear your house with it, use it as your line of defense, in your bedroom pointed at the door, especially for those that might be recoil sensative.

-Humbling a Shooter.

Shoot 100 straight in 12, 20, and 28 ga, then drop 1 bird in the .410. and now your score is 399/400.
BTDT...BTDT...BTDT, Then one day 400/400.

Run a straight in six events - 12, 20, 28, Doubles, and even the Fun Pump Gun n event AND the Fun Pump Gun For Doubles event. You would of had 700/700, instead you dropped low 4 in the .410. meaning you got 699/700. BTDT more than one as well.

-Often referred to as The Master Wingshooters' Gun.

-Fun. Absolutly just plain Fun. Easy to tote, Recoil? What Recoil?, Shells are so small and light, them too are easy to carry.

-Reloading...1/2 oz of shot means a whole lotta shells from a 25# bag of shot.

-Reloading Popcorn in the .410 rids barns of Pigeons and such - no damage to structure. This load is great for wittle kids to learn with.

-Teaching kids,

-Slugs. I know too many folks with one loaded with slugs for defense. Injuries, recovering from surgery...it'll work...seen the patient in the OR whom died from being shot with a slug. WE were harvesting his organs...

.410 : know all about the limitations, all about pattern boards, shooting Clay targets, small game ( be it fur or feathered) ...akin to a .41 mag ...

I still like to tote a single shot .410. Take game, like 15 doves using only 13 shells. I still like to use the single shot with slugs...small varmits, or lobbing at a paint can way out yonder.

Oh still believe in the 28 ga for kids, the 28 ga if one looks at a tote board will see the highest scores for SKeet Shooters...

Just this bigger kid, still has soft spot for the .410.

Besides- making fun of a Winchester 42 is a hanging offense here. The 42 is a .410. for those that didn't know.

Them buzzards you see in the South circling overhead? - just another meal provided by the hanging judge...

I've always hunted rabbit with .410. Coulden't haul off all the rabbit I've taken with my .410. So...its good for that.
Mark.

What good is a .410? If you have to ask the question, you wouldn't understand the answer

What good is a .410? If you have to ask the question, you wouldn't understand the answer

Now, that is the best answer I have seen yet. You got to use one to appreciate one. When you are on you are on and there is nothing like shooting sporting clays and beating the young guys with the big guns. How they going to brag about getting beat by an old man and a toy gun. :fire:

Many folks fail to grasp that a .410 propels the same sized pellets the same speed as any other gauge. The only diffrence between a 12ga, 3dram, 1-1/8, #6 and a .410, 3dram, 1/2oz #6 is the shot load itself.
Granted more pellets will infilct more damage, but how many birds have you cleaned and only found a couple pellets in it?
.410 slugs pack about as much punch as a .41 magnum, certainly as much as a .40S&W
It is a challenge to sucessfully strike any moving target, but more and more the really great shooters opt for smaller gauges.
I'm certainly not good enough to shoot clays with my old Savage 24, but it sure has killed a lot of small game. Too bad that shells are twice as much as 12's or even 20's.

Sorry, I forgot to add that Mossberg made a home defence M500 in .410
It was geared toward shooters of "smaller stature", even had a neat pistol grip forearm. In many situations it would be an ideal house/yard gun.

Slugs...i mean the metal kind....

Comon, i cant be the only one that thinks a 20 round mag of .410 slugs in a rifle type gun would be awsome?

Fact, A .410 slug will kill a deer dead. -Anything anyone else tells you is an opinion.

Sorry, I forgot to add that Mossberg made a home defence M500 in .410
It was geared toward shooters of "smaller stature", even had a neat pistol grip forearm. In many situations it would be an ideal house/yard gun.

correction the hs 410 and cruiser mossberg 410 is still made,i dont think they ever discontinued them.if its such a bad choice i wonder whos buying them??

the best (imho)hd ammo for your 410 is 3"double0 buck 5 pellet or if2.5" a 3pellet ooobuck round both made by selier and belot and availiable thru cheeper than dirt outta ft worth tx.

for the record my fave is my customized rem 870lh 12ga.

I used to shoot skeet with one, then I moved up to a 28 ga. because I found a great deal on 28 ga. shells.

I used to shoot skeet with one, then I moved up to a 28 ga. because I found a great deal on 28 ga. shells.Now your'e talking about my favorite shotgun gage, will hold its own on skeet with the 12 gage and has almost no recoil. The pattern may be smaller but is is very dense and you can really smoke targets with it. Just enough recoil so that you know you are shoooting a shotgun, too bad 28 gage and .410 (67 gage) shells are such low production that the costs are so high. I reload these 2 gages for that reason, somtimes I can buy 20 or 12 gage shells so cheap it is not really practical to reload them. :)

A .410 is good for many things, I've seen rabbits, pheasants and deer all fall to a .410 Do I recommend the .410 for just anyone to do the same? NOPE.

I just bagged up 2 cottontails for the freezer that were taken with one of my .410 shotguns. As long as I restrict myself to a max range of about 25 yards, the .410 works all right for me.

My father was a whiz with his M42, he had faster reflexes than anyone else I've ever seen. He'd go hunting with guys who kidded him about his little popgun until he bagged more game than they did. I once saw him double on rising pheasant, neither bird reached 10 foot of altitude and both hit the ground dead.

The .410 is great inside its limitations, you just have realize what they are and stay within them.

Don in Ohio

I have a Zabala 410 SxS that was made in Spain in the early 70s. it is a fantastic rabbit and squirrel-getter. With a load of #4s, theres nothing better for shaking bushytails out of the treetops. It has hardly any recoil and is a joy to shoot.

Sure, its not for bigger game and may be absolutely worthless for other pursuits, but for rabbits and squirrels and maybe dispatching small varmints at close range, it is perfect.

Yep...the 410 is like the 16 gauge...if you have to ask "why?"...then you obviously don't own one and know the joys of these gauges.

- Brickboy240