Stan;
The vast majority of quail I have killed have been taken with 1 oz of shot, either #8 or # 7. Some with 7/8 oz of #8. Frankly, I don't really care if they are thrown from a 12, 16 or 20. I would not necessarily buy a 10 gauge specifically as a quail gun, but should I have run across a light-weight 10 gauge field gun such as that approximately 7 lb 1874-76 Barber & Lefever I would certainly have tried it. Actually I would not have loaded it with 1 oz of shot. However, look at the math of it. 7/8 oz of # 7 shot has 306 pellets a 3 pellet hit is 3/306 or 0.1% of the load. 1 oz of #7 shot has 437 pellets. Assume a similar pattern spread with that same percentage of pellets striking. Guess how many pellets are going to hit that little quail. Well, 1% times 437 = a WHOPPING 4.37 pellets. That's not exactly going to make mincemeat out of that quail.
Chances are pretty good that old L Barber may have been cylinder bored. If so & considering that the .410s are notorious for central thickening of their patern it would likely with any load as light as 1 1/8 oz have actually been gentler on the quail with a well centered hit than the .410 but with a wider more uniform spread for less crippling on the outer edges of the patern.
One needs to match their guns to their personal abilities. I AM NOT a .410 level shooter. Unfortunately in my near 82 years of life, I have seen many shooting them who weren't either, yet they claimed to be a "Better Sportsman" than me because they used a gun that they had not the ability to use. Sort of leaves a bad taste in one's mouth.
Understand I am NOT judging you or your ability as I have never seen you shoot. By the same token I don't appreciate being judged for the fact that I might well shoot a bigger gun than you feel is necessary. Nuff Said.
