doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Pigeon hunting with a 410

Mike;

Do you remember 20 or 30 years back ( I think) when Layne Simpson the gun writer shot a thousand or so doves in Argentina with a .410 O/U?

Regards;
Stephen Howell

A lot of them had bands. I think they are homers!
That could get some folks upset regardless of legality.

Didn’t watch the entire video but he has to be using 3” shells.

Most underestimate the effectiveness of a 11/16 to 3/4 oz. load out of a properly choked .410.

A member here, Chuck Heald of CA, used one effectively on wild pheasants once. He regularly used the gauge on CA quail species as well.

I have no doubt that my 3/4 oz. nickel plated loads would hammer feral pigeons, within range.I use it on doves and quail, and have plans to take a limit of woodies this coming season with TSS hand loads in one of my 410s.

Look what Norman Pillot could do with a .410-bore back when the 2 1/2-inch shell only carried 3/8-ounce of shot!! From the July 1933 issue of National Sportsman --



Mr. Pillot won the International Flyer Championship in 1931.

It might be worth considering why 12ga pigeon loads are what they are. And the general level of mediocrity exhibited by the average casual shotgunner. Tiny guns may not be the go-to choice for most.

Nobody ever said they were/are, in my lifetime. But, I'll stick my neck out here and make a claim. I can kill any gamebird at 30 yards or less, with a .410, that a decent gunner can kill with a 12 at 45 yards.

You see, it's exactly as KYJon said in another thread. It's much about knowing the range, and not necessarily about the gauge.

Laughing and yucking it up about killing someone's racing pigeons is a little hard to watch for me. I suppose there's no law against it, and the birds are in the wrong place at the wrong time, but the dude could show a bit of remorse those birds were downed rather than celebrating all giddy like he's really done something. He has diarrhea of the mouth, regardless...
JR

🤣🤣🤣

My dad used to say "Diarrhea of the mouth and constipation of the brain".

The guy is selling clicks and 410s.

Stanton,
Do you use 3" or 2.5"? What weight load? I have obtained a couple of .410's this past year and am itching to try my hand at dove and quail with them this year. I have a Remington 1100 and an O/U and a SxS I want to use.

Perry, I use and have used both. For clays I only use 2 1/2" , 1/2 ounce loads. That is the maximum allowed in competition so I limit myself to that.

However, in the field I make use of the maximum available to me. For quite awhile I used the "standard" 3" load, 11/16 ounce. But, on this forum I learned that WW sells a 3/4 oz. load at a very modest velocity. I tried them and found them to be the best game load I had ever used.

After a few years of that I began to wonder if I could improve on it. I designed a 3/4 ounce load of true nickel plated shot and tested it on doves. I found it to be superior to the WW factory 3/4 ounce load in killing power.

I load them myself in roll crimped Cheddite hulls, but that load is all I use now on doves and quail with a .410.

Good luck with your new 410s. Please make an effort to limit your shots to 35 yards or less, and you may be surprised at the effectiveness of the little guns.

Thanks for the info and the tips Stanton!! I am anxious to use the little SxS, a Turkish made gun that at a glance could be mistaken for a Dickinson. Beautiful little piece and handles quite well. But, of course, I have yet to shoot it at anything, paper or feathers. So time will tell if I can do the job. I am pretty convinced after hearing of your .410 experiences that the little double can do its job!!

After reading some comments here on the Banded Pigeons being shot I have to ask, how is one supposed to determine if it is banded in flight? Why do Duck Hunters rejoice on shooting banded ducks?

I would assume he is using 3" shells, I just wonder what size shot he is using to bring those pigeons down stone dead

Re bands.
Not really possible or necessary to see bands in the air. Shooting pigeons you are bound to get the occasional homer. The issue here is is most or all are banded. When that was clearly the case it might be a good idea to not post it on the net.
I’m not defending the guys who get upset about a few homers being shot and it’s certainly not illegal. The concern is that someone sees it and gets really mad at the shooter. Those pigeon racers are like coon hunters and think they can send their dogs or pigeons anywhere they want and you are supposed to like it.

This just looks like it has the possibility of an unpleasant confrontation.

Re: Duck bands. They are wild not someone’s livestock. Homers are more like ear tagged cattle.

For those who might have a Remington 1100 in 3" .410, mine had difficulty cycling 2-1/2" loads, so I had a gunsmith open the gas port slightly and incrementally until the short shells would cycle. Works fine now.

You can't, but that doesn't mean you should fervently rejoice when having bagged one, blowing it all over the world wide web with glee. You either have class or you don't. And PALUNC, surely you already knew the answer to your second question, which Richard Hale easily explained.
JR

John, I enjoyed your posting earlier in the year about "The Pigeon People" the mostly blue collar men who raced homers. They are as dedicated to their hobby/sport as anyone here is to shooting. Bozo didn't need to show off the bands. We even heard from the man who did the documentary on youtube as you recall. Gil

Agree with Richard, John and Gil.

I would add that the elephant in the room is this: if they were true homing pigeons they would not be loitering around a feedlot with ferals. They are the ones which didn't go home the last time they were released. Like an escaped prisoner. Most likely their owner had already written them off as lost.

I wondered about that as well. Is it possible that the owner lived next door and that is just where they watered?
I don’t know a lot about homers except that some very dedicated folks have them.

My dad used to race pigeons back in the early 60’s. Occasionally he would not have a pigeon that would not come home. We have used homers for dog training most of these birds are planted about 30 miles from home. Only on rare occasions as I recall did they not make it home.
We have shot a few thousand feral pigeons at dairy’s over the years and only shot one that was banded. I actually felt kind of bad I had killed it but it’s not something you have any control over. After having shot so many pigeons why did I even give a second thought to this pigeon? It was probably due to a childhood memory of my dad checking his pigeon coupe for a number of days hoping his pigeon might have returned.
It clearly was not a sense of, I shot something unique like a hunter does when taking a duck banded for research.