For those of you shooting a .410 which do you find is better, generally speaking. The 2 1/2 inch shell with slightly higher velocity, or the 3 inch shell with slightly more shot. I know it depends on the gun, and what it patterns best. But is there a trend or way or the other?

I prefer the shorter shells just because they are easier to feed and eject in my gun. I see no practical advantage to the longer shells in practice - meaning I don't kill game any more reliably with 3 inch shells than I do with the shorter shells. But I occassionally have a fired 3 inch shell that does not readily eject so I avoid them.

One guy I hunt quail and chukars with regularly uses .410 doubles exclusively and uses 2 1/2" for quail and 3" for everything else. Now this guy is an advanced handloader and a truly world-class wingshot, as well as a machinist, so he is optimizing every little tweak of the shotgun, shell, and shooting. But he very seldom misses a bird and has killed early season pheasants regularly with the 3" shells.

I'd definitely pattern your gun with a variety of shells, both lengths and payloads, to see what is REALLY happening. If you get an adequate pattern with the shorter shells, use those. If your patterns with those are patchy, try the longer shell, bigger payload.

There's no way to go cheap with a .410 and get results, unless you're just hunting small, furry game. Wingshooting requires experimentation, practice, sometimes some changes to the gun chokes and/or stock, and probably some handloading. It's not for everyone, for sure.

BTW, my friend swears by premium (HARD) 7s in the .410. He shoots a number of custom SXS and a couple of Winchester 42s, all with custom fixed chokes. Most have a choke near to ImpCyl, but slightly more open. He has no full or modified choke guns any more.

I use my .410s for bunnies and snakes, and will shoot AT quail if I stumble on some when wandering around, not really hunting, during the season. For serious wingshooting, I use a 12, 20, or when I'm feeling cocky, a 28. I am NOT a world-class wingshot....

I would use which ever my shotgun preferred after patterning it at around 30 yards

I definitely plan on patterning, with various ammo. Just wondered if there was a trend one way or the other.