.410 Slugs, What are they good for?

[tsanford405]

I went out this weekend with an old single shot .410. I was in the mood to buy a bunch of "unusual" ammo, and I found a couple slugs for a .410. I had a blast shooting the little guys. They were REALLY accurate open sight from 40 yards out. Any ideas on what could be hunted with these? They are something like 60 grains, I think. I don't have the box in front of me. They had a picture of a deer on them... not sure I would use them for deer. Varmint? Rabbits? Anything? I am in Eastern Kansas.

 

[Sunray]

They'll kill a deer at 40 yards without any fuss. Make sure it's legal first, though. Too much for rabbits. Varmints, certainly. Unless you're coyote hide hunting. They usually run 87 grains and up, depending on the maker.

 

[MrTuffPaws]

Two legged bears?

 

[MCgunner]

About .357 revolver energy with an 80-90 grain or something slug, not something I'd shoot a deer with. Coyote size game, maybe, Javelina, such as that.

 

[Matt G]

I recently did some testing with them in a subcaliber adaptor to see how they would work out of a 12 ga for quiet pest control.

Admittedly, this wasn't exactly optimizing the awesome power of the .410 bore slug, but I was MIGHTY underwhelmed at the miniscule power of the 90g slug. Yeah, they're supposed to have fairly high velocity, but the projectile is tiny, and the slug is highly maleable, and doesn't penetrate well. I would NOT consider this a deer caliber beyond about 15 yards, and then only a perfect standing shot.

 

[wildfowl]

They work great on yotes in a 9410!