410 crazy

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sappyg

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It started innocently enough. Cruzing the gun shops.... Any gun shop.... For the next cool thing. Started looking at 410s and I'm not sure why but the little oddball started to draw me in.
Then I picked up a Yildiz SS A4 Elegant 28" barrel and I was hooked. Now it's had 175 rounds down range and with it in my hands I feel like I just can't miss. Of coarse I do but not as much as I thought I would. Now I'm knee deep into the little 410 and have a 2 1/2" mec jr. Set up and have loaded my 1st 150 shells. Nothing special but they'll do in a rush. If you're gonna shoot the 410 you might as well go crazy.
Here's the latest. A mossberg 500 snagged at Wally World hours ago for $223 OTD... At that price how could I resist? Tomorrow it's going on its 1st informal trap outing along with the A4 and an 870 20 gage youth.
Anyone else here 410 crazy? Pics would be nice if you gottem and 410 stories are incouraged.
 

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I have a collection (read accumulation) of H&R single shots and have this little full choke .410 bore, a friend and mentor gave me the brass trigger guard and fore end spacer, he is taking machine shop classes at a local junior college and wrote the computer program to feed a EDM machine and used the stock plastic pieces as a template, it's a Wild Turkey Federation raffle gun.
 

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i own two 410,s a rem express and a rem 1100 and a 410 barrel that fits my NEF 28ga handi shotgun. in late season a few friends and i hunt brushy fence rows for rabbits and the shots are fast and very close and the 410 gets the job done with out blowing the rabbits up. nothing crazy about the 410 when used with in its limits. eastbank.
 

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I own what I consider to be a useful assortment of rifles, hand guns and shotguns, including an inexpensive NEF single shot .410. I bought the .410 for the single purpose of dispatching small vermin around our property - at that task, the lil' .410 excels. It was used but in excellent condition - I think I paid $75 for it at a pawn shop - wrapped it with a camo wrap to protect the blued steel and wood finish while toting it around on my tractor. Its taken more vermin at my place than any of my other firearms. Honestly, I can't imagine not having a .410 on hand any more.

Paul
 
I'm fond of the.410 as well. When i was shooting Skeet competitively, the .410 was a great attitude adjustment for pointing mistakes in techniques during practice.
 
I have a collection (read accumulation) of H&R single shots and have this little full choke .410 bore, a friend and mentor gave me the brass trigger guard and fore end spacer, he is taking machine shop classes at a local junior college and wrote the computer program to feed a EDM machine and used the stock plastic pieces as a template, it's a Wild Turkey Federation raffle gun.
I like that!
 
Gents-I share your fondness for the .410 be it 2.5" or 3" shells. I have had the opportunity to shoot a somewhat wide variety of the little critter gitter. The first was a single shot built in the early '70s. It killed a rooster pheasant on it's first shot in my hands. I can't remember what make it was, but, it had an external hammer and handling was better than I expected. I really thought it would be very whippy, but, it wasn't too bad. The next one was a Mossberg pump followed by a Winchester 101 with I/C and Mod chokes that worked nicely at skeet or pheasants. Then came a Miroku that mechanically was an exact copy of the Winchester 101. It had deeper relief in the engraving than the Winchester 101 and was choked Mod and Full. For all practical purposes I could not tell the difference in the chokes at the Skeet club or hunting pheasants. Then came a Winchester Model 42 ... the sweetest .410 ever made, in my opinion. Then a Gambles store marked Savage pump with a vented rib. This gun functions OK, but, is no where near as smoooooooth as the Model 42. And lastly. a side-by-side that I think was a Tri-Star marked import. I remember seeing some of these for sale at Cabela's. This gun has more robust stock dimensions and doesn't leave you feeling like you are shooting a sub-gauge down sized kids version of your fathers SXS.

I must confess, after having some neck surgery and now being somewhat concerned with the accumulative affects of higher recoil guns, the little .410 is really nice to have available. The downside is the price of .410 shells. I was at one of the national retail sporting goods stores last week to pick up some 28 gauge #5 copper plated pheasant loads and of course the .410s were stacked right next to them. The 28s were $17.99 + tax/box ... the .410s were a couple of bucks higher! I guess I must be getting old because I remember buying some back in the late '60s for about $2.75/box.

cfullgraf's comments are on the mark!

An interesting thing that I have noticed over the years is that those that shoot the sub-gauge guns like the 20-28-.410 tend to gravitate towards each other when at the gun club whether it be for reloading information exchange or just to see what other "lil guns" are out their being used. I have also noticed that many that do not shoot the smallbores appear envious of these that shoot these fun scatter guns. They also are unending of their ridicule of you shooting a little boys guns!

It is all part of the fun when you bag a pair of roosters in front of them!
 
I still have the first firearm my Dad ever gave me (I'm a senior dude now....) at age 14 or 15... A simple, single barrel modest popper. It's earmarked for my oldest grandson (who will be 9 his next birthday...). The exact age to be determined by his folks of course. I consider a .410 and a .22 rifle to exactly what every boy needs at some point in his youth...
 
due to divorce in mid 90s i sold my mossberg 410 pump. i have regretted it ever since. one day i will snag another up.
 
sappyg: I have my Grandmothers single shot Iver Johnson 410, and I bought another one just like it I found at a farm sale (( should I ever need any parts )) for her little gun. And my Son and I hunt Rabbits a few time each winter using both of those little guns just for old times sake. But the 410 that I let get by me, that I think about several times a week and kick my self, for letting that happen was a little 410 Side by Side Lefever. It was just Drop Dead Beautiful. The Stock, Bluing, Light Engraving and over all condiction of the Gun was just like brand new. The Rib was solid and it had two Ivory Beads. And the Little Gun fit me like a Deer Skin Glove. It was small and light and very quick to get on target, and a real joy to carry. And I was so proud to be using it. The Man that owned it said He had no use for a little shotgun like that and thought it looked like a Womans Gun. And He let me use it several times Quail and Pheasent Hunting. Well I just fell in love with that Little Gun and I told him I wanted to buy it. Well He finally gave me his price on it and I of course agreed, and I was to pay him the next day. I showed up at the Trap Range the next day money in hand but He had some of his friends there with him and they had all been drinking. And one of them said the gun was worth $25 more and he agreed and told me he was raising his price $25. That did not set well with me and the arguement begin. And our Gun Deal went South in a hurry. I just won`t let some one take sport with me and the gun deal fell thru and so did our friendship. I wish to hell now I had just bit my tounge and sucked up my pride and just gave him the extra $25. For that Little Side by Side 410 Gauge Lefever Shotgun that I just truley loved, would be mine setting in my gun safe. Rather than me sitting here wishing it were.
ken
 
As a forth grader I was never happier than out in the woods alone with my Winchester 37 and a handful of #6 or #7 & 1/2 three inch .410 shells.

Some say not to start a kid on a .410. I say it makes a kid get close and think about his shots right off the bat.

You can also get rather fast on reloading a single shot in a good oak hammock over run with tree rats.

Yes, it is still in the safe and occasionally comes out to play.

-kBob
 
I've got a Thompson Contender .410 single shot with a SS 22" barrel, that I've shot quite a few dove in the early season, before they got spooked easily, as well as a Mossberg 500 with two barrels one is the standard full choked, the other is the barrel with rifle sights intended for slugs. I've used the 500 for dove also in the early season as well as quail. Definitely makes a better marksman out of you. Way back when I was a kid growing up in N/E Wisconsin I used a Mossberg bolt action .410 for grey squirrels, and cotton tail rabbits, many a rabbit, and squirrel fell to that little gun back then. I ended up giving that little bolt action to one of my favorite nephews quite a few years ago.

I do appreciate a .410, and in fact I taught 2 of my sons to shoot with a little SXS .410, my only grandson now has sole possession of that gun and truly loves it, as does his dad.
 
The little 410 served up a reality check today. I switched to more open chokes on the SS but I'm not convinced they were to blame. Faired much better with the mossberg. Hits left no doubt that the 410 is a wicked thumper. That center bead has got to go.

The very 1st firearm I ever fired was a single shot break action 410 that my uncle always kept behind the seat of his green Chevy C10 pick up truck. You know the truck. Three speed straight drive shift on the column with an AM radio. Bench seats that went on for miles to a young boy. Anyway, I remember we were at the barn one day and he pulled it out and shot it. Took the empty shell and set it on a fence post and handed me the gun. The instructions were simple... Aim at the shell and shoot. I did... That sucker rocked 2 steps backwards but I hit the shell. My uncle was very proud.
 
Friends I shoot with like the 410. Several use Win 42s, a few others Beretta 28/410 sets (O/U), another a Cesar Guerini 410. There's a few Browning O/Us in there as well. A few of those 42s have been around 70 years and are still going strong.
 
I've been wanting to do the same thing. When I realized Mossberg has a 500 in .410 I decided I'll have one one day.

I shoot sporting clays often. I'll bring new shooters when possible. When I do, I end up shooting the beginner course which is no longer a challenge.

I figured a .410 would up that ante a bit!
 
Shot 410 skeet a lot, trying to break 25 using a different Citori. Liked it so much, got a 3 bbl set. Sorry to say, have not shot it in years. Nice low recoil round. Even tried singles using a 10" Contender. Broke 17 out of 25.
th_CitoreGD3_zps1tsxef90.jpg
[/URL] [/IMG] Reloading with a Mec 600 jr, in 410, goes slower than a 12 or 20 ga.
 
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I have several, a Remington 1100 Skeet grade, an 870 Wingmaster, a Huglu SxS with 28" barrels, 'now CZ'. A Winchester M42, a couple of single shots and my tube set in my Beretta skeet gun.
 
A while back I picked up a folding Yildiz .410 single shot. What a neat little gun! I shortened the barrel to 19" and installed a new bead, as I wanted it for a pack gun. It can go along when I otherwise couldn't bring a shotgun.

It throws surprisingly good patterns and -- at right around 3 pounds -- actually kicks a bit, especially with 3-inch shells. It's just a lot of fun to shoot.

One thing about .410 buckshot. With the 000 buck loads, I notice flattening of the pellets. I wouldn't want to be hit with one, but I suspect that patterns will open and pellets will slow more rapidly than with larger bore shotguns.

BTW: I've recently had a hankering for a .410 repeater: either a pump or a bolt action. I also keep thinking of reloading some .410 to cut costs and allow more .410 fun. There may be no hope for me!

All my best,
Dirty Bob
 
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I grew up shooting my brother's single shot and my bolt action with no magazine aka a clumsy single shot. Later I bought a NEF single and a Savage 24. Love my .410s, I will always treasure them.
 
I shoot sporting clays often. I'll bring new shooters when possible. When I do, I end up shooting the beginner course which is no longer a challenge.

I figured a .410 would up that ante a bit!

Just shoot all of the stations low gun and as true pairs.
 
Since I've started reloading for the 410 I've been toying with the possibilities. One thing leads to another and I've put together three rounds of ooo buckshot. There's not much load data for this that I could find so I'm working up slowly.
I'll have to shoot indoors where birdshot is not allowed but hopefully I can sneak in a few here and there.
 
You do not "work up" shotgun rounds - that is incorrect and could have dire consequences. Find a published load and follow it.

Found this on another site:

~OO buck pellets weigh about 55grains depending on brand
~OOO buck pellets weigh about 70 grains depending on brand
~1/2oz. =218.75grains
~5/8oz. = 273.4375grains
~11/16oz. = 300.78125grains

Therefore:

~1/2oz. load = three OOO pellets (or) four OO pellets
~5/8oz. load = five OO pellets
~11/16oz. load = three OO pellets inside wad and two OOO pellets on top.

I use buffer in all such loads and as I said don't go putting OOO buck pellets down inside the wad and then load via. normal shot load data. If your going to put OOO pellets inside a standard .410 wad you need to get specific load data for that application from a reliable source. For the three OOO pellet 1/2oz. load cut down the pettles of the wad leaving only about an 1/8" deep shot cup or get some of those short stubby wads from Ballistic Products, Inc.
 
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