As a kid I always wanted a .410 but had to wait until adulthood before I finally got one. The first gun I fired was a Crossman CO2 pistol of my Dads when I was about 5-6. My first gun was a Stevens Favorite single shot 22. I was about 10 going on 11 when my older brother brought it home, but gave it to me when he found it had a broken firing pin. I fixed it with a filed down nail and my friends and I shot it for about a month until my Dad finally discovered it worked; at which point the gun “disappeared”. I was 12 when I found a partial box of low brass 12 gauge target loads. Not having a shotgun I built one using a piece of threaded (on one end) 3/4” plumbing pipe as a barrel, a pipe coupling filled 3/4's way up with lead and drilled in the center (for a nail firing pin). A stock carved out of a pine 2X6 and a hinged rod and rubber bands as a firing mechanism finished it off. The thing worked; thankfully my Dad found and confiscated it before I got hurt.
With the advent of the homemade shotgun I think my Dad finally realized I was not to be denied so he purchased a single shot 22 from Sears for me, followed by a single shot 12 gauge Winchester 37 the next year. I finally bought my first .410, a Nitro Special in about 2002 and have really liked .410’s ever since (I don’t care what you naysayer’s have to say about them!). I’ve written here before about what I’ve learned about optimizing .410’ for upland hunting etc so I won’t bore y’all with it again.
Steve
Last edited by Rockdoc; 06/03/08 01:06 PM.
