doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com .410 Assassins (Dave Carrie Shooting)

Hope Stan will enjoy this, might need subtitles for those not born in Yorkshire or Cumbria.

Tha' were wonnerful, it were. (Now I want one of those hats.)

Parabola, I cannot thank you sufficiently for posting the link to this video. I took offense at a video Carrie did about patterning.410s some years ago, as I thought it unfair. It seems Dave has "changed his tune" and is a proponent of the Little Gun, when used appropriately.

I certainly did not understand all of the conversation but I did note that, near the beginning, he spoke of using it out to 35, even 45 yards on pheasants. This is total nonsense to naysayers of the bore, but should be eye-opening to those who still consider it a child's gun. Understanding that the camera makes shots appear longer than they really are, he made some really long shots on pheasants in that video.

Thank you, my distant friend. I enjoyed that immensely. How I wish he could try some of my 3/4 oz., nickel plated shot, loads. I think he may be "awakened" once again. I certainly was.

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I know the video you refer to Stan.

He did recant in this slightly later one, using factory loads by his sponsors Gamebore.

I've always liked the .410. I first started shooting one when I was in my late teens, it was a Stevens 311 that belonged to my uncle. I used it for some time and shot a few rabbits and squirrels. In he Army I was stationed in Germany in 1966-67 and we had a Rod and Gun Club on post and I bought a Remington 11-48 .410 with 25" ventilated barrels I/C for $103 if memory serves me. I kept it in the arms room (I was and MP) and got to know a fireman on post that was German. In talking with him he also liked hunting and invited me to shoot on his father's farm, told me not to worry about any license as it takes about 6 months to get one. He was intrigued by the .410 and said it was not good for hunting game. He shot a 20 ga. Franchi and I said I could kill as much with the .410 as he could with his Franchi. So it was a challenge. Over quite a few times hunting there I killed Hungarian Partridge, a few Mallards and Teal, a 10 lb. hare. On one of my last hunts before coming home we were hunting on the border of his father's property and the next property and he said that any pheasants that got up shoot them. They were not shooting pheasants on their property because the birds were not fully plumed and everything shot on the property was sold at market and the nicer they looked the more money they got. I jumped a pheasant and fumbled with the safety, I was not used to the forward safety on the Remington, and when I pushed it off the pheasant was out there, I hit it but now hard enough to kill it, he shot it and said I told you it was not good for hunting game. This was after I had shot the above with it but he never said anything. The only problem I had in the beginning was the gun jammed on the second shot jump shooting Mallards on a small stream. The problem was the shells were paper and wax coated so I had to scrap the wax off to get the second shot.
Still have this gun, the only thing I did to it was take the RK finish off the stock and oiled it. At home I shot preserve pheasants, wild quail, and woodcock over my setter and my friends Vizsla's.
Sorry for being so long but once I got going I kept on typing. Good memories. I think Dave Carrie could use a single projectile and still kill birds.

"Well, hullo. Today we're at Ballyslap Castle to 'ave a crack a' the grouse wi' an old Browning .303 what came out of a Mk. I Hurricane. I were gonna use me granda's old two-inch mor-taah, but it's gone off-face an' its stock's developed a bit of a rift..."

I've watched a few other Carrie videos since these were posted (I'd never heard of him) and I have a question for anyone who knows anything about British driven bird shooting, of which I know nothing beyond that there seems to be a dress code, that the shooters and loaders communicate in no known language, and that tea is often involved.

The shooters are often placed in gullies, ravines, along creekbeds, with ridges either side. Right at the lowest elevation. By my lights, this makes the required shots far longer range than if the shooters were sited nearer the crests of the ridges. Is this for the safety of the beaters? Or to not spook the passing birds into diverting course? Something else?

The idea is to present really challenging birds, but still within the range of a 12-bore, over a team of good shots.

It also improves safety as you are unlikely to get birds hedge hopping between the guns.

Merci!