What is .410 good for?

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UKShooter

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Hi all,

This isnt a post to slate .410 but rather a genuine question. When would you choose a .410 over a 12g?

What i really want to know is, would a .410 give a humane kill on something like a large Crow or Pigeon. I've never actually shot a .410 but over here there are a lot of silenced .410's around like this one (Mossberg 500):

hushpower_pumpweb.jpg

Apparently in .410 they are actually pretty quiet, especially with subsonic shells. Whereas from what I've heard the silenced 12g is still fairly loud. I'm wondering if this might be a userful pest control tool that can be shot in the garden without bugging the neighbours too much. I do live in the country but there are 2 houses either side of me and a field full of horses at the end of the garden. I'm sure the horses owners wouldnt appreciate me firing a 12g and spooking them.
 
The .410 ga is fine for small animal hunting and pest control. Rabbits, squirrel, pigeon, crows, and pheasants are dispatched with humane quickness.

The gun has a tendancy to give long shot strings and not pattern as well as larger bored shotguns. It has a smaller overall shot capacity, but the energy on the shot is compatable with larger bored guns.

Interesting shotgun you pictured - here it would be subject to NFA rules simular to full auto weapons from a legal standpoint. Require special paperwork, etc.
 
Thanks for the prompt reply.

I'm seriously thinking of getting the gun above.

Over here they have an entirely different view on silencers. A silenced shotgun is no more restricted than a regular shotgun. You need to specifically ask the police for one for use on a rifle but they will happily grant this even for target shooting.

The police are happy for people to have both silenced rifles and shotguns because it reduces noise levels and reduces the chances of someone calling them out because they hear gunshots.

It seems to be the one area where we have it better than you guys in terms of gun laws. It's a shame that the police/authorities over there seem to have a bee in their bonnet about something that just means you can do pest control is a more built up area without everyone thinking they are in a warzone or needing to wear plugs and headphones at the range to stop themselves getting deafened :)

EDIT - No need to point out that in general UK gun laws are generally much more restrictive than what you have, I'm aware of this :p

=-Paul
 
What's a .410 good for? Turning off young would-be shotgunners to the sport, use as a handicap gun for a skilled hunter, and killing very small stationary animals. Sorry, but I don't hold the .410 very highly. It's so inferior it's not even funny.
 
It is amazing in a way that different countries have such different attitudes toward the legal status of silencers.

But to OP, .410 as a "garden gun" for pest control makes more sense to me than things like the Marlin .22 magnum rimfire shotgun or the european 9mm shotshell "garden guns". I am tempted to think that a conventional .410 shotgun with a very long barrel would make a good relatively quiet pest control.
 
The other option is a 9mm 'garden gun' as you say, they are pretty cheap to get hold of. But I think this would only be good for rats. I think shooting a rabbit or pigeon with one at anything more than a few yards would be cruel with 9mm shot. That is just my assumption, I may of course be wrong.
 
What's a .410 good for? Turning off young would-be shotgunners to the sport, use as a handicap gun for a skilled hunter, and killing very small stationary animals. Sorry, but I don't hold the .410 very highly. It's so inferior it's not even funny.
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Yes and no. It wouldn't be my first choice for a beginning shooter, but as someone who grew up with a shotgun in hand, I tend to like the .410. Any game animal I've killed with a 12 gauge, aside from turkey, I've killed with a .410. Its my perferred rabbit/sharptail grouse gun, and its collected more flying grouse and running rabbits than I'd care to count. I like the light weight of both gun and the ammo it shoots. A pump or double 20 would serve newbie hunters better, IMO, but the .410 is certainly sufficient for fowl and small game in the hands of someone who can shoot it well. It will never repalce my 12 gauge, but it won't be going up for sale anytime in the future either. It certainly has its place in the world of shooting/hunting. Most of those who have a lot of negative things to say about the .410 simply never learned to shoot one well. its not a 12 gauge, and if you shoot it as though it were, chances are, you're going to miss. Thats not the fault of the gun necessarily, but oftentimes its the fault of the shooter not realizing the limitations of the gun. I may be able to collect a limit of sharptail grouse FASTER with a 12 gauge (because I don't have to be as precise and will hold off taking a shot I can't make with the.410) but rarely come home empty handed when picking the 410 over the 12. If you understand the limitations of the round, it can certainly be VERY effective (nad you'll have less shot to pick outta your meat!!)
 
What's a .410 good for? Turning off young would-be shotgunners to the sport, use as a handicap gun for a skilled hunter, and killing very small stationary animals. Sorry, but I don't hold the .410 very highly. It's so inferior it's not even funny.
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It is NOT the bore size to start someone with - that is correct. But in the hands of a well-trained person, it is amazing how well it can crush clays, kill upland game, and do so without debilitating recoil. It sounds you have not had much success with it. However, to say it is so inferior, it's not even funny, is a gross exaggeration. While my personal favorite is the 28 gauge, I have nothing bad to say about someone who can use the 410.
 
An example of ammo: Estate Game loads in .410 11/16 oz. of #7.5 or #6 going 1135 fps.

I've shot a lot of birds with 7/8 oz. of #7.5 and #6 going about the same velocity from a 20 Gauge.

3/16 oz. means fewer pellets in all, but not enough to be a showstopper. There's a slightly smaller pattern, for a given density, but pellets hit birds one at a time. If you hit a bird with 10 #6 pellets, it doesn't matter whether they came from a .410 or 10 Gauge. So, especially for small birds like doves, a .410 can provide a challenge for an experienced shooter.
 
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It's good for separating the men from the boys on the skeet range. As others have pointed out, it is a poor choice for all but a few applications. Seems ok for pest control in your case.
 
What's a .410 good for? Turning off young would-be shotgunners to the sport,.......It's so inferior it's not even funny.
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I've seen the exact opposite to this statement many times. Many men I've hunted with over the years started their children out on a .410 at six or seven years of age because it was the only shotgun the child could shoot comfortably without pain. And light enough for them to handle. You plant a seed and cultivate it. Sure they grow out of it quickly, and want something bigger. But if you handed them a 20ga or even a lightly loaded 12ga, and it hurt, That would be a bigger turn off in my opinion. I once owned a .410 SxS that I took scores of limits of dove with and was the first shotgun that either of my girls learned to shoot. It was lost to a natural disaster. But it more than adequately dispatched a many a dove, squirrel, rabbit, and snake in it's day. As for the bores inferiority; "it ain't the arrow, it's the indian"
 
Many men I've hunted with over the years started their children out on a .410 at six or seven years of age because it was the only shotgun the child could shoot comfortably without pain.
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Yeah. I have seen a guy take his young son to the Sporting Clays range with one though. A really crappy one, at that. This wasn't your everyday SK/IC clays range, either; the manager was a sadist!:D

Of course, the kid couldn't hit anything. I doubt I could have, either, with that gun.

I'd suggest that a 7-year-old needs target presentations that are proportional to his size and perceptions. THEN a .410 should work great.:)
 
Well...let's see,...I have four of them total,..one is an old New Haven Mossberg single shot bolt action that was my very first shotgun,...over 50 years ago....and many birds of many varieties,...lots of rabbit and squirrel,...and yes,...even a few deer have gone to the stove top because of it. I have 20's,..and I have 12's as well,..but my favorites,...and the ones that get used most.... are the .410's. I don't shoot clays with them. For me at least,..they are for hunting, or "foraging" for small game. Of course I've also been known to use a .22 pistol for those puposes too. Taught my kids and a batch of nieces and nephews how to shoot with them. Different strokes fer different folks. Don't like 'em? Don't use 'em. But don't belittle others,...nor bemoan their usefullness. I just wish the ammo wasn't so expensive for them!!
 
I'd suggest that a 7-year-old needs target presentations that are proportional to his size and perceptions. THEN a .410 should work great.
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I concurr, play the childs game till they are old enough or big enough to want to play your game. And then provide them with the best you can afford. I didn't grow up around skeet ranges and such, most of what I was taught to shoot at really died, and then you usually ate it. So a dove off a limb at the age of seven was as thrilling as a one shot double on the wing is today.
 
BTW I've been contemplating getting a .410 for shooting Mormon Crickets when they jump from bush to bush. That sounds like fun.:D
 
There is not a tree in the south that a 410 cannot take a squirrel out of. They are nothing to "sneeze" at. There is a new round specifically designed for the "Judge" pistols. It has three flat pellets and three round ones. Up close it is devastating. My uncle only used a 410 to hunt doves with. He said anything larger was simply unsportsmanlike. He has always outshot me and my light twelve.
 
Like any other firearm, or caliber, the .410 does some things well, and some things marginally. Quite a few young men in the 40's-50's, and before, started with a single-shot .410, and kept food on the table.

It's NOT a 12 gauge, and shouldn't be used as one. That said, a 12 will recoil beyond the ability of a young person to control. The weapon is also heavier, and more unwieldy. Ammo weighs more, and takes up more pocket space in youngsters clothing.

For small game, moving or stationary( that remark sounded like a person with marginal ability talking), the .410 will work just fine. Even a youngster soon learns about distances and size when using one.

It seems like Americans have a fascination with size these days. For decades, the .30-30 was used on black bears, deer bigger than many of today's dog-sized examples, and even on elk. Yet, to hear today's hunters talk, the minimum caliber for a black bear is 7mm Remington Magnum. Elk require at least a 30 Magnum. With large animals ever more elusive, are we just breeding them tougher?

I own several .410 guns. A couple of Mossberg 500s, a Remington 870, and an old Mossberg (IIRC) Bolt-action .410.
 
I just wish the ammo wasn't so expensive for them!!
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Reloading can get you down about $2.50-$3.00/box

As far as training folks, IMO, this is where the 28 shines - with light loads, it still puts 50% more pellets in the air for a greater probability of success. Shot from a gas gun, the recoil becomes very slight, like a 410. Reloading helps with the pain of the cost of cartridges
 
I barely have enuff time to reload for my metallic centerfires!! :) The other thing about the OP,...I'd sure like to be able to HAVE a can for a couple of my .410's.......for the same reasons he mentioned,...quieter shooting and not scarying the beejeezes out of the neighborhood.....easier on the ears,.....

Here in Michigan,..that's a no-go from the start.
 
I have killed raccoons, skunks, squirrels, rabbits and an occasional quail with .410 bore.
They work best within 20 yards and 30 yards is about the maximum range.
I imagine the suppressor reduces the load effectiveness.
 
My first shotgun as a kid was a single shot full choke .410
I used to shoot clays from a small spring loaded trap machine with it. Got so I could hit just about every one. It was one of those NEF hammer single shots that Walmart has for $100
 
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