Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns .410 and 28 Gauge

They are the best game bird you can table. That is one of the reasons I shoot them in the ground. The other reason is because guys like battue look down their noses at a guy that doesn’t shoot a bird over some purebred bird dog…

Fired a few turkey loads through my Henry SS .410 yesterday. Forgot to swap tubes for the first shot, but still put enough pellets from the Apex Ninja load to kill at 40 with the modified tube, but barely. No doubt about it with the Henry factory Turkey tube. At 30 yards, it was brutal; will have to be careful to keep them out of the nuggets.

Already knew all this, but at present I don’t have a sight mounted on it and wanted to be certain it shot where it’s pointed. No problem there, so it stays naked.

Well at least you admitted to ground swatting these, instead of your usual posing like some shotgun shooting wizard. 🤣

“0h, Sharp you really use that gun well!!!” And you bask in your imagined fame.🤣🤣

You are so obvious, you can hardly live without showing off, you crave it.

However, I’m done with you. You are what you are. I would desire to spend little time with you in real life. So why would I waste it here.

I have 3 28s. Franchi AL48, Ruger Red Label, and Berretta Silver Pigeon II. I've shot lots of skeet and dove with them. Never shot anything tighter than modified. Skeet chokes for skeet shooting. I was going to take one to a European pheasant shoot a few weeks ago and was going to shoot modified.

All that being said, I'm about to upgrade some chokes. I think LM, and IM would be two great chokes that I don't have. 28 ga is a great gun. I agree that a 20 may be better in some cases, but I shoot my AL 48 better than any gun I own. For quail and dove, the 28 is the bomb diggity. I may take it to SD this year for early season pheasants.


I have shot skeet with #9. Dove and quail has always been #8 or 7 1/2. I have some 5 and 6 for possible pheasants.

Again, thanks all, looks like I will open the season on tree squirrels with a 410, has a Full top and IC for bottom barrel. I usually pass on the smaller 'cat squirrels' or Grays if you will, and go after the larger Fox/Reds. Hopefully I will get some shots under 30 yds.

I have some WW AA # 9 which is likely to take a back seat to some Federal 3" #6 11/16 loads. Guessing the 6 is going to be much superior. Without patterning, IDK what to expect but may start with the bottom barrel on any first shot opportunity. 410 Ammo has been near 'Unobtainium' around here, but I do not plan to need much. Perhaps down the road I will roll my own, but that will make sense/cents if I end up shooting any volume on clays. Not taken any game with a 410 since in decades, and never with a 28.

Assuming I 'Christen' the 410, then I am on to the 28. I have more options here, 5 choke tubes, and 3 types of ammo. 1 oz of #6, 1 oz of 7.5, and 3/4 oz of #8. On occasion one area I have spent some time, has an occasional Woodcock flush and I just found out the season is not open until Dec. so by then I will likely be toting the 28 when I am in that area if I want to go after one.

Wishing all a fun successful season, and be safe! Thanks!

So I dropped a couple with the 410 with #9 as I wanted to see....and was very disappointed, but learned I will never use # 9 on game again, save perhaps birds......the clay variety. Moved on to the 28 before I had a chance to use 410 6's.

The 28 dropped 2 this am stone cold - using 7/8 oz loads of 7.5s. Both around 30 yds using a FC tube on the top barrel.

SO, I may try the 410 later down the road with 6s in the 3" - with 11/16 oz, but the verdict is out. The 28 - I am sold on it on game!

Thanks folks!

I posted in the small game forum. I took my new .410 Browning BPS out for the first time yesterday. I only got two squirrels. I used the Remington 3" #6 load I recently bought. I got one at about 15 yards. He was actually still coming at an angle towards me when I got him. I wish I hadn't shot him so close. The shot broke all four legs and a lot of ribs. He was pretty crunchy when I cleaned him. Luckily, most shot went straight through. Only found a few pellets inside.

The second one I got at about 25-30 yards. Clean broadside shot as he sat on a limb. Found a few pellets inside.

Used my factory full choke.

First kill for the BPS.

Nice looking shotgun....

The BPS 410's are great guns & lots of fun to shoot.

Very nice Glocks

My dad, who obviously was cruel and wished to ruin hunting for me for life, equipped me with a .410 (H&R Topper) and #5 shot when I started pheasant hunting. Just to spite him, I became quite proficient with that pairing and when I graduated to a great big 20 gauge (Winchester 37 missing the bead), still #5s, it was duck (pheasant) soup.

My dad was cruel too. 😉

But I didn’t get as proficient as you in making the soup.

It's been way too long since I made soup with anything. Today I would probably wind up making stone soup.

I took my two squirrels and a couple more I had in the freezer and made a pot pie yesterday. Well, my wife did. I boned the squirrels and boiled the meat in chicken broth for 5 minutes. That tenderizes the hell out of it. Then added it to the bottom of the pie before putting in the rest of the filling. Four squirrels is just enough meat to get a full layer of meat, and some meat in every bite.

Did ya put the heads in too? That’s a Southern MD/VA thing I’m told.

My mother told me she was having dinner at my father’s home before they were married. The dinner was a squirrel potpie, and when she looked at the dish, something was looking back😱

I shot 14 pheasants my first year hunting with a single shot 410. Iver Johnson. They have to be close and shoot the crossers in the front third. You hope for a couple of pellets in the head. Flying or on the ground. When you are 14 anything goes. My dad would drive me a few miles out in the country and I'd walk ditches home. Good times