doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How many of you started with a .410??

My parents gave me a Remington model 514 22 cal boys carbine when I was 9, which I used to thin down the ground squirrel population on their property. Next, dad bought a Win model 37 16 ga. for my older brother and I to use for bird hunting when I was probably around 10-11. Used the 37 mainly for grouse, but did use it for waterfowl over decoys starting around 12 yrs of age. I still use it now and then for grouse!

My first "unshared" shotgun was a Remington model 1900 12 ga that dad got in payment for allowing some horses to be grazed on his land. I don't think he was planning on giving it to me or even using it for that matter, but probably got tired of hearing me ask if I could have it and gave in.

We never had a 410 in the house, nor a bb gun of any type! Don't remember bugging him on getting a 410, but a bb gun was out of the question! Kids with a bb gun, to his thinking, was a recipe for trouble, no matter how well they're trained! I tried to justify to him at 7 or 8, why I needed a bb gun (the starlings needed thinning, stray cats needed to be chased off, self protection from a charging steer, or any other excuse from a runaway imagination), but he never relented!

Sorry Chuck, I got a bit off topic on your 410 thread!

First 22 was a Remington 514. First shotgun was a Winchester Model 12 in 28 gauge. It was a solid rib Skeet gun that I suspect that my father wanted for himself as a quail gun. Sorry dad. He got it from one of the Winchester reps or a shooting pro. That gun and a case on Winchester paper 28's, 1 ounce of #5's, was my Christmas present when I was 12. I still have the wooden case, the gun, a few of the shells and all of those memories. My first double on ducks. My first triple miss on teal. I wish I could still shoot lead for ducks with it.

That gun killed many a dove, quail and duck over the years. I shot so many shells, in my youth, that the local Western Auto use to stock 28 shells. Back in the old days 28's were not a premium shell with more cost than the larger shells. Might have been maybe 25-50 cents more but not several dollars more.

Never shot a .410 until I started shooting Skeet about age 18. That gun will make you talk to yourself when you miss.

I started out with a Daisy model 25. I retrieved dove for my dad and dispatched the cripples along with the odd grasshopper and other targets of opportunity. I learned not to cock it until I was ready to shoot, then not to carry it around cocked. I really don't remember how old I was, but not yet 10.

My dad traded a .22 for my first shotgun, a J.C. Higgins 583 in 20 gauge. I sold it to my best friend in high school when I wanted a Remington 870 16 gauge. Sometime in our first year of marriage, I told my wife about it and wished I had it back. She called my friend, he got it back from someone he had sold it to, and now I have it again. After 37 years, I think I'll keep her.

I finally got a .410 single shot several years ago and enjoy shooting it every now and then.

I started with a Winchester 37A 20 ga. which I still have. Many a snake has moved on to wherever dead snakes go due to that little gun.

My pappy taught us a .410 was not a serious gun. He said if you shot someone with it they might get upset.

Started out shooting a model 42 at age seven or eight. The gun was purchased new specifically for me by an adopted uncle who lived across the street and he would take me out to his W. TX ranch in the summers, sometimes for several weeks at a time. We would stop in Ft Worth or Weatherford on the way out and he would buy a case of cartridges for it, usually 2.5" rounds loaded with #6 shot. I shot jackrabbits and rats mostly, the latter being the most fun. There was an old delapidated barn long ago left to go fallow with some remnant hay and other grain stuff in it and the rats, big ones, lived in there with impunity most of the time. I would sneak up to the big end doors and then open one as quickly as I could and shoot the rats running up the walls and along the rafters trying to escape the sunlight. I could do that several times a day, somedays. I would normally get a couple of shots before they all disappeared. Can't recall ever being able to get the third shot off while they were still running about, but I did get where I could hit them running with good regularity, same for the Jackrabbits. The gun stayed at the ranch along with two others he had purchased for me. It disappeared with the others shortly after he died. It was found much later that the individual who took them had pawned them for some good time money.

My first real gun at home, mom's strict rule 'NOT before age 12', was a Winchester 62A .22 RF that I still have and use. I had a Daisy model 25 at home from about age five or six, but she didn't consider BB guns a threat or a problem and she was was not anti gun, rather she got the age 12 thing from something the young post war mom's had access to, most likely a widely circulated popular magazine or country club talk and gossip. I don't know, but I do know that dad honored her wish. We kept the 42 and a lot of other off premesis stuff between the 'men'. I learned to drive while out there too; pick up trucks, tractors & cars. Charmed times, those, and I value them immensely.

I have a nicer 42 today, but that original field grade gun was the one that helped to produce the fond memories. I don't even recall how it was choked; not sure that I even knew what choke was at that time and to be honest, would have cared less .. both the rats and the rabbits died when hit.

I started shooting birds on the wing with a Mossberg bolt action with a nozzle that was shortly replaced by a 16ga. Stevens of the 311 genre; the former was just awkward and the latter kicked me like the proverbial mule; from there to the present it has been many trades, some mistakes, some successses, but mostly continuous misadventure with friends, dogs and laughter whenever the opportunity has presented itself.

Was the .410 a handicap? Probably.
Do I regret that I was started with one? Are you kidding?!
Would I start a young person with a .410? No.

I started with a Remington 514 .22 BA single shot at age 7; couldn't hit a thing with it when hunting--OK on tin cans. Spent "prune season" picking prunes at .25 a crate and when I had my school clothes paid for, I still had the $23.50 needed to get a Winchester "Steelbilt" .410 SS with a 28" full choke barrel. Basically, I used it to pot shoot ground squirrels and jack rabbits until I was old enough for my granddad to give me a Win. 92 .25-20, and I got a Win Lo-Wall .22 WRF for cleaning out the neighbors' sheep barn. Didn't use a shotgun again until I got a Stevens 5100 double 12 with 30" barrels in junior high. You HAD to swing that thing! I also had a Peiper hammer 12 that was just as long and heavy, and those are what I used to learn to wingshoot. Killed pheasants and quail with them fairly well by the time I was in college. But I took the .410 to school with me and used it for hunting quail and chachalacas in Mexico and Southern California, and still have it. Mainly use it for cottontails now, along with a Savage 24 .410/.22WRM.

I wouldn't start a kid with a .410 now; a 20 has much more flexibility and cheaper shells. I agree with ClapperZapper that a .410 tends to promote aiming in the untutored young. But I have always loved .410s and plan to get another as soon as funds and fortune (meaning finding a decent one at a decent price--LOL) allow. Killed my first little blacktail buck with a .410 slug from that M37. You need to get very close....but slugs are very practical in my Savage combo gun (I sit a scope on it and handload the "LightGame" slug).

My first hunting experience at age 14 was with a Stevens 311 in .410 that was my Uncles. Loved to shoot it and I believe I shot a few squirrels with it. I had it for a while and he inturn gave it to his grandson. When I was in the service in Germany (1966) I bought a Remington 11-48 25" barrel, ventilated rib, imp.cyl. in the Rod and Gun club. Used it over there on a friends (German) estate and shot Hungarian Partridge, 10 lb. hares, a few mallards and teal. Here at home shot pheasants, and missed a triple on wild quail with the easiest shot being a cock quail going from left to right, approx 25 yards. The other two were going away, one left and the other right. Still have it and it looks as good as when I bought it for $103 back then. Every once in a while I will take it out for stocked quail, chukers and some pheasants.
You do have to know your limitations.

My maternal grandfather, Pete, got a H&R 410 for Christmas in 1918 when he was 9 years old. He promtly carved H. C. 1918 in the stock. (My brother, Hunter, who was named after him now has it, probably rusting in his garage.) Pete used to for birds (quail) and many times he would leave his house in Reform, Al and walk with a dog and a companian towards his Aunt's house in Stansel, five miles to the south. More often than not, they would have to pull the dogs off point after reaching their limit of 50 birds. (What one one give today to kill 50 wild quail with a single shot 410?) He gave me use of the gun @ age 8 but I do not recall killing much at all flying with it. I was also allowed to shoot the 20 ga LC Smith that my father got from Santa when he was 12. (I will never forget my first wood duck that I killed with it. A number 4 maroon RP shotshell.) By 10 I had my own Sweet 16 and things begain to fall with some regularity. I now a have a Model 42 and an LC Smith 410 but I am not good enough to shoot them at doves and only use them on opening day morning shoots when I know there will be a lot of doves and limits need to be adhered to. The 410 Smith is my favorite rabbit gun. I started my son on a cut down 20 LC Smith that was graciously given to me for that purpose by a kind stranger on this board from California. It never seemed to work right but was a big improvement over the single barrel 20 I borrowed from his 1st cousin. (It was hard to cock and kicked something awfull even with hand loaded 3/4 oz loads.) I finally settled on a youth 1100 that had already been coverted with a LH safety. (Both my older children are RH with L eye dominate. I caught it early and Ty began he shooting LH with his Orvis cap gun at age 4.) He was taught to use it as a "real gun" and aways treated it as such. He killed his first dove flying @ 8 and shot his first limit at nine. He has always been welcome at any shoot I have taken him on and there has NEVER been any safety issue. (He often points out safety issues with other far older hunters in confidence to me.) He may be the exception but I hate to hear anyone discount hunters at a specifc age. I have seen too many grown men show up at hunts and have to be shown how to put their fine doubles together. (References, for Ty, upon request, some from people who make their living putting on dove shoots here in Alabama and across the line in MS.) He is now 15 and out shoots me with a BPS 12 gauge. (Top safety, bottom ejetor perfect LH gun) He also does well with my 20 ga Citori and would probaly do well with most of my doubles. At the 101 year old gun club that I belong, he may take both the youth trophy as well as the SR. (Er Shelly cup this fall. Er. Shelley was an early member of the club that got the dogs together for the lion and tiger hunts in Africa that he ramrodded for Mr. Rainey) I bought my first 28 in 1979, a Webley & Scott 728. I killed hundreds of doves with it until I was convinced that the 25" barrels were too short. A 28" Red Label followed and then a Parker repo with 28" barrels st grip and spinter.(ordered from Guns Unlimited, the same day I got the sale flyer from Jaques.) I promptly had it restocked with French Walnut and shoud be the only gun that I shoot. Bottom line, I started with a 410 but would not handicap any new gunner with one. The youth 1100 with little recoil is the way to go. I like the safety feature of a break open gun but the 1100 can be plugged to a single shell and the zero recoil coupled with a decent pattern is the best combo in my opinion. If you are depending on the gun for safety, you are out of the loop from the git go. (It is only MHO but it IS based on experience.)

My first gun was a .410 single Stevens - my Dad turned it over to me when I was 12; he got the gun new, when he was 12. I shot Doves, a duck or two, rabbits, and bushy tails with it. I still have it of course. It is now my go to Grackle gun.

At 15 I got my first Hand Gun, a S&W Model 10, and my first Rifle a M-1 Carbine - I still have them also.

My Dad was a firm beleiver in making the first shot count and even firmer on gun safety, so my first gun was a Winchester mod. 67A .22 and first shotgun was a Stevens mod. 220 20 ga. hammerless single. I stated in the other thread that I felt a 20 ga. was more likely to instill confidence than a .410, but that Stevens mod. 220 was perhaps the tightest choked gun I've ever seen. When I managed to hit a rabbit or bird or clay target with it, it was obliterated, but I missed more than I hit. When I was 16, I checked the pattern by taking 35 long paces from a large frost killed pumpkin and firing. There was a fist sized hole in the pumpkin with a few pellets around the fringes. Seeing that, I didn't feel quite so bad about my misses on moving targets. I usually averaged 8 to 10 out of 25 in our informal backyard skeet shoots back then, and could easily more than double that with my Dads Rem. 870 16 ga. with Poly Choke opened up to Improved Cyl. I suppose the lesson here is we could inadvertantly handicap our kids by saddling them with the wrong gun and possibly discourage them to the point of losing interest. Not always though. I was busy memorizing ballistics tables when I should have been studying my algebra.