Author Topic: Hunting with a.410 (Read 1430 times)

whacker · « **on:** January 25, 2005, 05:59:40 AM »

I know this is might be a dumb question but I was just wondering how many of you really hunt with a .410. Like shooting between 50 &100 rounds a season. The reason I'm asking is I some times feel that I'm the only person on this web site that's crazy about .410 shotguns :eek: addiction I can't find a cure for I guess that makes me a junkie for the.410 :shock:

willysjeep134 · « **Reply #1 on:** January 25, 2005, 09:43:11 AM »

I love the idea of the .410. Not being a gauge proper I think gives it less of an aristocratic niche as the 28 gauge. Unfortunately the ammo makers can't seem to make cheap ammo for them. I'm thinking about ordering some brass casings and hand loading for mine. I think Cabelas had brass casings for $11 per 25. Pretty much what a box of good ammo would cost me.

The only one I have is a Wards Herculese single shot. It is built pretty heavy, but graceful. I have shot some slugs from it and I have been impressed with the accuracy. I have also shot a few clays with it, ut 12 gauge is just so much cheaper for me. I have two boxes of ammo on the shelf, but I can't bring myself to go shoot them. Plus, I like to keep at least one or two boxes of ammo for each gun I own in reserve, just in case.

If I get those brass hulls and some wads I am sure I will be hunting more with the .410. I'm also thinking about getting one of those black 11" barrled single shot Leinad derringers. They look almost like the old Stevens pocket shotgun, only they are made in a garage in tennesee and have rifled bores that can shoot .45 colt too. Anyways, it might make a neat pack-basket gun for the occasional grouse or porcupine. We'll see how things work out.

So no, I guess I don't hunt much with a .410, but it isn't that I don't want to, I just can't afford to when ammo costs $10 a box and I can reload 12 gauge for about $3.

Mike103 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 25, 2005, 01:44:01 PM »

I have three .410's. Remington 1100, Remington 870 and a Mossberg 500. I shoot skeet with the 1100 and hunt with the 870. The 500 is a youth model and my kids are all grown up so I have to upgrade the stocks.

I buy all my hunting .410 shells at Walmart. They sell Remington game loads 2 1/2" #6 shot packed 20 in a box for $5.97. They also have the Remington Express 3" mags in #4, #6 and #7 1/2 shot packed with the normal 25 in a box for $8.67. Not a bad price and fun to shoot. The game loads are great for small game but I use the 3" mags for wingshooting. MIKE.

Ron T. · « **Reply #3 on:** January 26, 2005, 06:47:05 AM »

I bought my .410 with the money I made from the first REAL job I ever had when I was 12 years old. I helped my Dad paint some apartmentsÂ… made $1.00 an hour and ended up with $95.00 altogether.

With that $95 Â“burning-a-hole-in-my-pocketÂ”, I took the city bus downtown and bought a new Model 42 Winchester (the .410 version of the famous Winchester Model 12) pump shotgun in .410 bore. That little beauty cost all of $85 Â‘way back in 1948. The rest of my Â“paycheckÂ” went for a couple of boxes of shells and a soft gun case to keep the Model 42 in when I wasnÂ’t using it.

I took that shotgun, the shells and the gun case home on an electric city busÂ… in full view of the other ridersÂ… and it didnÂ’t bother anyone, but you have to remember that back in those days, a 12 year old boy could do that Â‘cause we never considered shooting our class-mates or hi-jacking airliners or blowing up big buildings.

Ahhhhhhh YES, it was a Â“kinder, gentler timeÂ”.

I hunted pheasants, quail and rabbits with that little gun until I was 24 years old when my wife gave me a new Browning Superposed 12 gauge for ChristmasÂ… and I put the little Winchester away.

Last yearÂ… I got the little Model 42 out again. I hadnÂ’t fired a shot out of it in over 45 years, but it still looked like a new gun. I had cleaned it every year or three during the intervening 45 yearsÂ… and taken good care of it by placing it in a place of honor in my gun cabinet where it wouldnÂ’t get bumped or scratched.

I got it out because my youngest son invited me to hunt some pheasants at a pheasant farm where he huntsÂ… and he long ago Â“borrowedÂ” my Browning Superposed and wonÂ’t give it back, so I took the Model 42 with its modified choke since the lithe little 28 gauge Charles Daly over/under and my other Superposed are both skeet guns with Â“skeet #1Â” chokes in both of their barrelsÂ… and my sonÂ’s year old yellow Lab is still just an over-grown Â“puppyÂ” that tends to Â“bumpÂ” & flush the birds beyond the range of a skeet #1 choked gun.

While I still had some Â¾ oz., 3-inch Federal .410 paper shotshells left over from the last box I had bought some 45 years ago, I opted to get a new box of 3-inch shells which I discovered, to my dismay, now hold only 11/16th of an oz. of shotÂ… and cost over $8 a box!!!

The price tag on the old box of .410Â’sÂ… are you ready for this??? The tag read Â“$2.45Â”.

The current cost of .410 shells really surprised me since we can buy 12 gauge field loads at the local Â“Wally WorldÂ” (Wal*Mart) for under $3.00 a box fairly oftenÂ… a cost that is actually cheaper than I can afford to reload them!!!

Many years ago, I use to do a lot of skeet and trap shootingÂ… and have a 12 gauge MEC Super 600 reloading press that Â“spitsÂ” out a finished shell with each Â“pullÂ” of the handleÂ… and a 28 gauge MEC 600, Jr., reloading pressÂ… both of which do a fine job of reloading plastic hulls, but I only have a little hand-held Lee Loader for paper .410 shells that doesnÂ’t do a really good job.

Frankly, after paying THAT much for .410 shells, I started thinking about buying another MEC 600, Jr. in .410Â… BUTTTTTTTTTÂ… if that pleasant afternoon spent hunting farm-raised pheasants with my youngest (age 42) son is any example of what the future holds, it wouldnÂ’t be worth buying a new press just for the 5 shells I shot all of last year on that one pheasant hunt.

Of course, those Â“5 shellsÂ” accounted for 4 pheasants and one Â“cleanÂ” missÂ… which ainÂ’t too hateful! AndÂ… if I start hunting small game againÂ… hmmmmmÂ… maybe I SHOULD buy that MEC 600, Jr. in .410 bore, eh?

The point isÂ… IÂ’ve decided to Â“go backÂ”Â… back to the little Model 42 in .410 boreÂ… and use it as my PRIMARY hunting shotgun for small game. However, in all honesty, I donÂ’t hurt small game very much at allÂ… but I guess I could start doing so again.

Ahhhhhh, yesÂ… Â“nostalgiaÂ”Â… a pleasant luxuryÂ… and something wonderful to re-live as I lined up the dual beads on the ventilated rib of my Model 42... and all those "good times" came rushing back and were remembered by more mature, older hunters (I.E., Â“old geezersÂ”) like me.

Strength & HonorÂ…

Ron T.

Dali Llama · « **Reply #4 on:** January 27, 2005, 08:50:27 AM »

Quote from: C130E

Every now and then my old Wards gives a squirell a bad hair day.

:grin: :-D :-D :-D

trader rob · « **Reply #5 on:** January 27, 2005, 03:55:38 PM »

i hunted one year with an 870 rem. in 410. i killed just as many doves and grouse with it as i did with any gun. one day i patterned it to see what i had and i got so sick looking at that ragged pattern that i traded it for something else. even tho i killed plenty of game with it i don't see how. but i also bought a rossi single to use for rabbits and squirrels while dog training, light an handy with 28 inch barrel and not much money. so i have the 410 again, just can't git over it i guess. the twenty or twelve is the most logical but the 410 will kill if you can do your part.

bigjeepman · « **Reply #6 on:** January 30, 2005, 01:07:07 AM »

Ron T ...

I'll have to check but I do believe my father's Winchester .410 is a model 42 also. You might want to check out what the market value is on it. If it is the same model as my father's, you have a very valuable gun in your closet. He bought his in the late 1940's also.

It is his all time favorite firearm.

huntswithdogs · « **Reply #7 on:** February 01, 2005, 09:20:46 AM »

This past fall, I revived my Grandaddy's JC Higgins .410 single shot. This is the same gun that I was started on in 1970. It ended up at my house due to prior owners leaving this world and had just sat there for 7 years. I figured,What the heck? GO FOR IT!

I don't remember this little gun shooting like this. I've killed squills, with head shots, that my 20 or 12 would have made look like a collender(full of holes). A buddy of mine,who shoots competion skeet,had a bunch of shells and we played with this gun for 2 hours one day. He and I both were amazed at how far out we could hit and break skeet off of his machine.

I now tote this gun for any small game and may take it to Ga with me on a Quail hunt. Single shot ?Yes,but I'll be with family and having it and them there with all of us taking turns might be well worth any doubles that we might miss out on.

HWD

whacker · « **Reply #8 on:** February 01, 2005, 06:04:42 PM »

These are some great stories about your lifes hunting and shooting with the.410 it does my heart good to read very one of them. Thank you for being interested in my thread and falling in love with this shotgun. Please get the stories coming. If anyone goes hunting please enlighten all with the details
HAVE A GREAT DAY

Mike103 · « **Reply #9 on:** February 02, 2005, 03:16:32 AM »

On March 13 my gun club is having a tower shoot with all pheasants in the AM. My two sons will be the primary shooters, aged 15 and 18, but my club allows three shooter in a blind as long as only two are shooting at a time, especial father/ son groups. They will be using 12 gauge 1100's but when I do take a few shots it will be with my 1100 .410 with the 3" chamber and a fixed modified choke. I have used this combo in the past with 3" magnum #6 shot on pheasants over dogs, worked great. Should be fun to see if it does as well with passing shots from the tower. I would take the 870 but it has a fixed full choke that is very tight. MIKE.

Mattkc · « **Reply #10 on:** February 05, 2005, 03:07:37 PM »

The new Win 3" 3/4 oz loads for the 410 should bring back some interest in hunting with the 410. My 13 year old son has claimed my little Spanish 20ga double so I'm using his Rossie 410. We hunt mostly rabbit and squirrel so the 410 works fine. I'm thinking about getting the CZ 410 double 4.7 pounds only a pound more then the Rossie. In the thick cover I hunt in MO the 410 works great my shots at bunnies are measured in feet rather then yards. To often when I've shot bunnies with the 20ga I ended up with rabbits that rattled when you picked them up from all the broken bones.

Rustyinfla · « **Reply #11 on:** February 05, 2005, 04:59:07 PM »

There was an article in I believe... last month's issue of "Backwoodsman" magazine about using once fired .444 Marlin shells to fire in a .410 shotgun. The writer got a wad cutting die from Dixie Gun Works to make cardboard wads and was off and running. He claims he got very good results.

Rusty <><

daddywpb · « **Reply #12 on:** February 06, 2005, 01:56:06 AM »

My daughter has been dropping doves, crows and rabbits with a .410 for the last four years. I never told her it was a handicap, so it didn't affect her shooting. I recently got her a 20 gauge Rem 870 Youth gun, but that was because of the ridiculous cost of .410 ammo, not because she couldn't hit with it.

Ron T. · « **Reply #13 on:** February 09, 2005, 09:24:27 AM »

Bigjeepman...

Maybe 15 or 20 years ago, one of the shooters in my rotation at my skeet club looked at my Model 42 & shot a few "birds" with it on high house & low house station #2 & #3... and offered $1500 on-the-spot for the quick-handling little pumpgun.

I turned his offer down with a "Thanks, but no thanks".

The little Model 42 Winchester... my first gun of any kind... is not for sale for any "reasonable" price. I'd find it hard to turn down $1.5 million for it, but I wouldn't sell it for $15,000. Now $150,000 would make me think "hard"... :wink:

Strength & Honor...

Ron T.