Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters "Allure" of the .410

I like to dove hunt with one, it’s fun, easy on your shoulder!

I think it's just the novelty that makes 410's popular.

They're cute little buggers that's for sure.

I learned to hunt with a Winchester model 42 410 used it into my 20's never found it lacking.

We prefer the .410 for rabbits in front of Beagles as the ranges are short and they don't shoot the rabbits up too bad.

#5 shot is pretty effective farther out that you would think possible.

A bud in HS used a single shot one day to kill several quail as that was his only shotgun at the time. those 7 1/2 shot did good in the woods we were hunting.

The only .410s that I've used very much have been Savage combination guns.

1 of my favorite woods loafing guns is a .22M/.410. It is lighter and a bit more compact than the Savage 24s in 20 gauge, but not as nearly as useful or effective.

EDIT: I have a set of .410, 28, and 20 gauge Briley Tubes that came with my Remington 3200 skeet gun, but I've never shot either the .410 or 28 gauge tubes.

My first experience with a .41 was when I was 11 years old. I was visiting a friend who had one, a 24 Savage with Tenite stock. We were out wandering around with it and I shot a sparrow with it. First thing I ever shot with a shotgun.

My father used a 42 Winchester for snowshoe rabbits for a while. I'd love to have one of those.

Back in the '70's, my brother and I had quite a pack of running Walkers. Every weekend in the winter we would be out running coyotes and foxes. One day we took a local bar owner with us. He was a coon hunter and thought he'd like to try this other hound activity. We put him on a watch and, the first race that day, a red fox ran by him and he killed it. When I went around to round up the dogs and pick him up, I noticed his gun....a single shot .410. I asked him, "Jim, is that a .410." "Yeah," he said, "your brother told me to use buckshot, but I couldn't find any .410 buckshot so I'm using slugs."

I have a .410 accessory barrel for my 99 Savage takedown .303. I took the .303 to Quebec caribou hunting a few years ago and, after I tagged out on 'bou, spend some time wandering the tundra killing spruce grouse with the .410 barrel. Great fun.

Any time there is discussion about the 410 there are those who feel it belongs in the hands of an experienced shooter and those who consider it a kids gun. Count me in the former. I know several shooters here started out with 410s and became competent shooters. For everyone of them I wonder how many kids started with a 410, got discouraged and quit hunting. I'll bet the number is high but we don't hear their stories. I consider myself fortunate I started with a 20 gauge rather than a 410. A 410 is great fun within it's limitations but saddling a kid with an ill fitting single shot, better suited for ground swatting grouse and rabbits, isn't doing them any favors when trying to teach them to shoot aerial targets.

PennDog's 1905 H&R 28 gauge has a lot of novelty going for it too. I was filled with envy when he mentioned that piece.

If you ever shot a 2 pound Cobray 410 shotgun with 3" magnum and 2 square inches of butt, you have felt the recoil that lingers a long time.

Same here. All kids in my family learn to hunt with a savage model 24 in .22lr/.410. I've taken birds, rabbits, squirrels, deer, all with shot or slugs, and .22lr.
I loved that combination gun. Iron sights, selective hammer, side lever release. My brother ended up with it, and I got the A5.
I will have another one, sooner or later.

Was thinking it was the blood, but YMMV.

One thing often ignored when giving a youngster his first shotgun is fit. It's a tough thing to riddle because they are usually still growing. That said, the gauge doesn't matter if the fit is poor.

After shooting a clump of Love grass from the hip inadvertently while lowering the hammer on my .410 as a little fellow I’ve come to kinda dislike the notion of a hammergun for a kid too. That doesn’t have much to do with 410s except that most of them happen to be singles with hammers. Good thing it was beaten into my brain to be aware of where I was pointing it at all times.

Baby sister got to start with my single 20 after I graduated to a repeater. Her average was far better than mine when I started with the 410. Of course I once sat across the pond and watched as she patiently waited for 3 or 4 to get all bunched up on the bank before she loosed load of 8s into them to she may have been stacking the odds.

I almost had a deal worked a while back that sadly fell through. Was trying to talk a guy out of a 28ga 11-48 that had a 26” IC barrel and a stock that had already been chopped off way short for a kiddo or tiny woman. He had a 20ga too with a normal stock and the plan was that I’d get the pair and use the stock off the 20 on the 28 until Jr got big enough and then put the shorty on until such time as he outgrew it and then swap back or let him have the 20. Best laid plans and all that...

i have a Spanish side by side 12ga with savage 410er inserts that live in it almost year round. it constantly amazes me. have taken ruffed grouse with it at 30 yards with #6's three inch. is the only 410 i have at the moment. have had several Stevens single's and many model 24's

That's the 410 I had.

I like the 410 for skeet and Sporting Clays. Shot some squirrels with one long long ago, along with some rabbits and barn pigeons.
My most fun shotgun to shoot is a Rem 1100 .410. What a hoot, absolutely no recoil, everyone I let try it, smiles and laughs at how it feels.
Also have a Mossberg pump and Ted Williams (Stevens) side by side.
I agree I'd never suggest a 410 for a youngster 28ga or 20ga much easier to hit with.
Ammo expensive yes, but I reload and its dirt cheap to reload for. 800 shells out of a bag of shot.
I enjoy shooting mine.
I also have 12's, 20's and a 28ga, and use them all.

I disagree with you..... I learned to shoot with a .410 break-neck. Yeah, I missed a lot, but after learning to shoot and kill things with that gun, it was easy once I graduated to a 12 gauge. It also made me learn to hunt.... had to get closer to kill things. Taught me be patient, learned through trial and error how to stalk, how to judge distance, etc. All in all, I think it made me a better hunter. Teaching a kid how to kill a deer at 100 yds or more with a rifle, doesn't teach them much. Teaching them how to kill a deer at 25 yds or less with a shotgun requires a lot more skill. I'm not saying a shotgun wont kill game at distances beyond 25 yds, but if you kill a deer at that range, you did several things right.

+1

Very important points made here.

I don’t even think 410 slugs are legal for deer here. Of all the hoorah that gets raised around here by guys who don’t think a 223 is enough gun for deer, I’d wager it’s 10x the deer gun a 410 is. I might try it for the novelty as a challenge but I shoot pigs with 38 specials and 9mm for the heck of it and deer with a stick bow. I’d almost view it as setting a kid up for failure or a lost deer.

I just don’t like the idea of starting kids bird hunting with a 410 due to the degree of difficulty involved. Get them frustrated and they may not want to go anymore. Around here the lions share of our bird shooting is doves on waterholes or coming into feed on cut crop fields, not much stalking or woodsmanship involved but lots of opportunities to get some shooting in and practice gun handling.

Of course lots of us started lots of stuff the hard way and we turned out okay. YMMV