Ever get a question stuck in your mind that won't go away? I know the answer is out there but I have googled until I am blue in the face and can NOT find the answer. Neither is it in my reference books.

What GAUGE is a 410 shotgun?

A 32 gauge is .526 but that is as small as I can find.


Anyone know the answer?

A diversion from politics, the oil spill and whatnot.

BCR

How heavy is a 410 diameter ball? How many of those balls per pound?? That would be the gauge.

68 gauge

And for more reading pleasure


http://www.fourten.org.uk/shotgunbores.html

I was sure someone knew. Thank you Sir. And thanks for the interesting reading. I never found that google button.

BCR

.410 shotgun. The most useless firearm ever?

Not hardly. They tend to be great for rabbit hunting the thick stuff or in semi-urban areas. Lots of fun on the 5 Stand course as well.

Scott;
Thank you so much for that link and thanks to Boggy Creek Ranger as well for the thread!

Every year - well it seems like every year - since I started teaching our provincial Hunter Safety course, some student wants to know why the .410 isn't a gauge and what gauge would it be if it was a gauge?

I found a bit of information on it, but seriously this is the proverbial �mother lode�!

I must go back now to see why those .410 shells are in what has to be a military tin.

Thanks again to both of you gentlemen � the stuff one can learn here is amazing. I will now be prepared for next spring�s class.

Have a good weekend gentlemen.

Dwayne

Might have its shortcomings, but when I take it out of the safe, it brings back memories of Dad and a simpler time - the day he brought it home for me, the magic of the paper-hulled shells that I was allowed to handle whenever I wanted (the gun was strictly off-limits unless supervised), the two-month-long exquisite misery of waiting for opening day, the first pheasant that I shot, and his happiness at my success.

5sdad;
Amen sir, my memories as well, but I couldn't have put it so well or succinctly.

My first shotgun was a bolt action Mossberg with the adjustable choke - a club if there ever was one. But it opened up the world of bird hunting to a Saskatchewan farm kid that somehow just had to hunt everything and anything.

I traded it off when I was maybe 13 or 14 for a Russian single shot 12 gauge, but I still fondly recall the outings for ducks with that little .410.

I hope you and yours have a good weekend sir.

Regards,
Dwayne

Dwayne - thanks and back at you. The weekend looks good - son, daughter-in-law, grandson, and his sibling-to-be are coming for a couple of days. My .410 is an H&R Topper. It is the one firearm that I have managed to not trade off and wish that I hadn't. Best, John

When to comes to smooth bore matters I always turn to the Brits.

The 410 sucks azz..

I like it.

It isn't for armchair shot gunners..thats for sure..

No way. They make great rabbit and squirrel shotguns. I have a 870 Remington in .410 and I love it.

It also makes a great late night armadillo terminator in the yard etc....

Actually thats exactly what it's for.Because it's useless in the field.As for a armchair anything you've got the wrong guy.

I suck with a shotgun, but I"ll never forget last summer when we were in AK and I wanted a Ptarmigan, and all we had was a 410 contender... I managed to take one on the ground of course, that was a pot shooting gun and the reason for it being along, and then one took flight right to left.... Carolyn has a photo of it in the air and I brought it down... the only problem with the photo is you can see a puff of feathers but the Ptarmigan is behind my body when she clicked....

They are HARD to shoot but a ton of fun. They are NOT a beginners gun. Once many years back I was ok with a shotgun and started hunting dove with a 410... you better be decent to do that and expect success......

i always wanted one in an 870... would be a good learner gun for my son.

Not useless at all. You've just got to be really good at what you're doing.

NO NO NO NO>>> and NO... a 20 ga or 28 maybe but NEVER a 410

state your reasons rost495... otherwise you are just babbling...

I know of a few halibut that have succumbed to a 410, and twice that many snakes.

I'm guessing rost's reasons are you want a kid to have success in their first attempts. Its a lot easier to have success with a 20 guage than it is a .410 simply because you're throwing quite a few more pellets downrange.

Can a kid shoot a .410 and be successful? Yes.
Are the odds higher with a 20 guage? My opinion is yes.

Although many of us started with a .410 (I actually started with a .22 with birdshot.), conventional wisdom now holds that it is more challenging to shoot accurately than a 20, hence it may be more discouraging to a beginner.

Well I own a half dozen other shotguns in 12 and 20 gauge and one 10 gauge and I still carry a .410 a couple of times a year and never felt handicapped using it. Of course I don't try and down ducks with it at 45 yards either.

This thread has be going again, think I might head out this afternoon and pickup a 410. Been several years and I wish I never sold my last one.

that works.

I started out with a Stevens 20 GA single shot, and share your same memories.

I was loaned a SXS 28 guage once to shoot a round of skeet. I shoulda stole it.

I think shooting my Ithica super single as a kid helped me become a better shot. I still take it out for squirrels. It points very well, for me anyhoo.

I don't think so. My Savage M24 .22/410 has provided me with a number of good meals over the years.

Nah. Just takes practice. I've run 100 straight many times on the skeet field with one, and they are good on small game and birds to about 30 yards. They don't have the pattern density that will allow for sloppy shooting.

I shot a .410 for doves here in Miss for years. Started off as a dare and it worked so well I kept on. Trained bird dogs and killed hundreds of pen birds, pigeons, and a few wild birds with one. Was using a mod42 Win back then. It got away from me and I'm thinking about one of the jap 42's. Anybody had much dealings with one of them?

The .410 is a beginners gun and an experts gun, not for the mediocre. My first shotgun was a Winchester model 37 single shot and I still have it. Up into my 40's it was my bird gun along with an old Stevens 311 .410 SxS that I wish I had kept. Potted MANY a Pheasant, Quail, Dove & Rabbit with those two. I had a 16 Ga mossy at one time but always reached for one of the .410's when I wanted food for the table.

Me thinks it could be fairly useful to stop a carjacking when used in the 3" 00 buck flavor in a Taurus Judge.

When I was a kid, my best friend and next-door-neighbor had an old Stevens SXS 410 with blonde wood, and I thought it was a great little small game getter. No one told me it was hard to hit a squirrel, rabbit, quail, or dove with it. Maybe that's why it helped me take so many full game bags home.

His mom's handyman, an older AA gentleman with 14 kids, raised them all up on the Blue Jays, Thrashers, Wrens, and Robins we piled up for him. Willie Lee had no compunctions about what went in the stew, and it gave us plenty of practice with the BB guns, pellet guns, the 410's and an old A-5 Sweet Sixteen that I still hunt with today.

The .410 barrel on my Contender gets more use than any of the other barrels do now... been thinking about getting a set of brass hulls for it... factory ammo is expensive.. I have never reloaded for that gauge but understand the plastic hulls don't provide as many reloads as larger hulls do.

I wouldn't pick a .410 to teach a kid wing shooting with though. A 28 gauge would be my first choice by far for that. Maybe a 20 if there are light loads available for that... then the only reason would be that 20 gauge ammo is cheaper to shoot.

Likely not, but the 25ACP has got to be a very strong contender for that title.

I wouldnt start a kid on one..but as for being for armchair gunners..just the opposite actually, they are fine in the field..just maybe not for you.

If you want to become an expert shotgunner, start with a 410, once you are good with that, you can shoot any shot gun. In all honesty a 410 is not a beginner shot gun, as it takes much much practice to use one effectively.

Methinks the difference between the .410 and other bores is found not in ballistics but mostly in fit, that being the most significant element of success with a shotgun. Too many .410s are configured for the youth market and poorly choked in my opinion. Properly configured the .410 is as good as most anything afield. From my observations I'd say skeet shooters usually do better with it than the larger bores if for no other reason than reduced recoil.

I recently traded off an Eli Whistler .410 SxS built in the late 1800's. 2-1/2" chambers and very tight chokes at the end of 28" of svelte barrels. Too tight to allow a shotgun rod for cleaning. Back action hammer gun that weighed 4# 3oz and it would consistently powder clays at 25-30 yards using #9 shot. Powder as in "dust". No moss growing on the .410 so far as I can tell, but the ammo is expensive. I have read that .405 Winchester brass can be used for loading, never did try it though.

Hardly

Yep in the hands of one that has the skill it is a wonderfull tool.
I like mine, those that don't like it are those that are not proficient enough to make use of it.
I think T LEE said it well, "The .410 is a beginners gun and an experts gun, not for the mediocre."
Mine is actually a Savage Combination Gun, a 24D 22 Long rifle on top and the bottom is the .410, deadly combo for those that know how to handle it.

[quote=DigitalDan
I have read that .405 Winchester brass can be used for loading, never did try it though. [/quote]

Really? I haven't gotten serious about the brass hull reloading thing in part due to unclear information about a "turn key" system to reload it with...

IIRC one company is not real expensive but you have to use over sized hard to find wads. Another company turns out perfectly sized brass hulls that standard components can be used in...

Anyone here have brass .410 reloading experience? If it is straight forward and produces factory load equivalent performance, I may need a red dot on the Contender pistol barrel and maybe a full length .410 Contender...

Rost have you ever tried to start a young shooter (5 or 6 years old) with a 20 or 28 gauge? Any fixed breech 20 or 28 gauge recoils to much for a 5 year old. I think a auto would be perfect but they are usually to heavy to be shot off hand.

I know alot of you going to say 5 or 6 year olds are to young to be hunting/shooting but I disagree with that.

I own several 410's and anyone that says they don't kill good just has not used one.

Dink

I would have to disagree. I killed a truckload of pheasants and grouse with one as a kid.

the first time i went bird hunting was for pheasant in the pan handle. i was three for three on pheasant using a 410 when i was 8

I've watched young kids start with a 410 and never come back to the sport. I give cousins kids and nephews shotguns when they are old enough... I give them a pump 20 ga.

The 410 doens't kick.. sure, but its shot string is light and LONG... it takes precision teaching and shooting to make good with a 410. We won't use them in 4H. We give them a 20 ga with the best recoil pad and not mag loads with an IMP Cyl choke and start em close.

I just hate to see some kids have a bad taste....

As to recoil, if they want to shoot, they will be fine. I know of a couple of 6 year olds that were killing many deer in S Tex with grandpas 7 rem mag.

Personally, the 410 would be the last thing I'd give a kid. I enjoy shooting it from time to time, but I would not give it to a learner. To me it would be like teaching them to hunt deer with a 22lr. Sure you can do it all day long, but you have to be perfect. Kind of the same thought difficulty wise as we don't toss our young kids in an Algebra class right off, they have to start easy and work up.

If you work them to where they want the challenge of the 410, you've done a SUPER job and many congrats to you for a well done job.

How old are the kids that you are giving the pump 20's to?

I agree that the 410 is not the best but I don't think there is any other option for a 5 year old. I have a couple 1100 20 gauges that I wish he could use but I don't think he will be able to shoot it off hand at 5.

I have killed a bunch of stuff with a 410 so I know it works. I think with the newer shot shell technology the shot strings are not as bad as alot of people think.

Dink