doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Killing power of the .410

I purchased a hammer .410 this past year thinking it would be a great little rabbit gun...... and it was for the rabbit.It is light and furn to carry but after being humbled by poor shooting ability and 1/2 oz loads I had to go back to my 12 to save my reputation.I think I want to trade it for a .20s/s or the 28.
monty

Chuck: If you had an English Pointer and a little bigger gun you might have more than one quail in that picture above?? Just kiddin....that is a beautiful bird! What kind of .410er is that in the picture? I couldn't quite tell with your hand over the receiver.

Buzz,
That's a Ithaca NID, 28", ejector, Field (or Star) grade. The ejectors are a step up from common, 28" tubes make it fairly rare.

The Mearns quail were very scarce in southern Arizona this past season, and I promised my friend I wouldn't take more than a couple if he showed me his hunting grounds.

If my new pointer is worth what I'm gonna have to pay for her, I should be able to go down to a Daisy Red Rider. Maybe I can save enough on ammo that it makes the cost of the dog just expensive.

it is a simple problem - the ability to put the small payload where it belongs. I'm not a fan of the 410, I got my daughter a 20ga O/U to start. If one has the ABILITY to solve the problem, it will work.

We were shooting an informal round of trap, when we were warming up everyone had 12's except for this old guy was shooting a 20. When we got down to business, he went in and pulled out a very old browning 410 o/u and proceeded to school every man on the line. That right there is a humbling experience.

Guess the old guy was an outlaw and didn't relize it.....

Gary

Gary,
When I bought 'lil blue', I took it out to shoot a round of trap with it first. Old habit I can't explain. I was #5 on the line with a bunch I'd never met, since I rarely shoot trap. They all had blinders and vests with patches all over and singleshot guns with tall ribs. They looked at my short barreled .410 and there was some respectful chatter. I asked them to be gentle. We shot from the 16 yd line. I pulled a 23 out of my axe. (probably couldn't do it twice) That was high score for the squad. I guess I distracted them enough to get them out of their rhythm or something.

Beautiful Mearn's(Montezuma) Quail, Chuck. They are "trophy" quail, hope you had it mounted.
.410s are wonderful. I love my M 42 and I just added a new Marlin L.C. Smith (Zabala) to the "gun rack". It's a much nicer gun than I first though it would be.

Mornin' Chuck;
Not to get off topic, or pirate your thread.....spent the last few minutes looking at your shotgun. Were those Nitros or 311s the same frame that was used on A grade Lefever Skeet specials? Thinking there may be enough extra metal on one to do some serious re shaping if I could find one that is really clapped out, and needs to be redone. Any of you folks know? Anyone tried it?
Kraft

I had both a 410 and 20 gauge NS at the same time and when I compared the frames it appears that the width is the same but top to bottom the .410 frame is thinner by may be 0.5" or more. Also the .410 barrels are really thick in the chamber area.
Steve

Kraft,
I dunno what is common to the A Grade. That's a Walt question.

Both this gun and another plain brown NS .410 I have is for sale. You can hack on either of them if you buy em. The plain brown one is in good mechanical condition and just needs prettying up.

Just shot my first 410 straight at skeet today. It's taken me about 1,000 targets to get this far. The thing is quite demanding of good technique.

In the end, I'll be a better shooter. But... this is a 7.75 lb target gun.

I find the trick is to not even look at the dinky shell when loading, and just pretend it's a 12 gauge. Don't change anything, don't compensate, don't 'aim', don't try sustain lead on targets that don't require it. Just shoot.

Still, I don't have the ability to shoot a sub six lb. gun so the 410 is a target gun only...