I bought Brazilian-made "Magtech".410 2 1/2" cases from Midway USA and reloaded them with black powder, cardboard wads made by sharpening a steel .45 case for a punch, and a card overshot wad held in by silicon caulking goop. Worked pretty well, although I quickly got tired of cleaning the gun after shooting. Patterns were good enough for bunnies or vaporizing a snake (something I only do when I find one near people). One good thing about these loads is that they open up a full choke at close range, compared to "modern" .410 shells.
I used cut-down 2 1/2" Remington .410 plastic wads in the .444 case (which is shorter than 2 1/2") and the same card overshot wad, with a very slight roll crimp on the case mouth, but no silicon goop. I used Trail Boss for powder and a regular large rifle primer. 3/8 oz. shot, the same as the original 2" .410 shells the Brits called "FourTens." Mainly a snake and bunny load, although it's good for rats and inside-the-barn pigeons if you can get hold of some #12s.
The .410s I used these home-brews in were a Winchester M37 single shot with a full-choke 28" barrel and a factory 23" .410 barrel on my G2 Contender Carbine, which has a choke tube that the previous owner opened up to cylinder or very close. With heavier shot (6,5,4) it shoots tighter patterns than the full choke Winchester does! It's only more open with 8s, and 7 1/2s (I've never tried 8 1/2s or 7s in a .410, but I suspect hard 7s might surprise you).
Last edited by Mesa; 03/17/12.
