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To all of you who own Dickinson .410s, may I ask how they are choked? I know some are screw choked and some are not. I was given the choice when I ordered mine, and chose fixed chokes. They are .008" and .008".

Please tell us if yours has interchangeable choke tubes, or fixed. And if fixed, do you know what they measure?

Thanks. No deep research going on here, just curious.

SRH

8&8 Wow. I used tighter chokes than that when I was shooting registered Skeet. I did have a Skeetmaster tubes back in the 70's which were 7&7. I know you can shoot 3" .410 Roman Candles but what is you effective range 25-30 yards?

Or have you been getting lessons from one or more of our Texas shooting instructors? The ones who teach you the secret of killing birds without even the need of shot in your shells. Very impressive are their teaching skills I am told. If only they had a corespondents course I could take.

.008" patterns pretty snug in most .410s I've used. It worked very well last year on doves, even late season ones, with 11/16 oz. loads. I don't shoot at them out past 30 yds., with any .410, and I prefer 20 or less.

SRH

Fixed chokes on mine. I can't get my equipment into a ,410 bore but....I believe mine is I/M & Full.

Not a Dickinson, but I'm shooting .011" and .017" in my AOC/SG Uggie, and I wish they were a little tighter.

Stan I know constrictions do not directly translate into patterns but that is IC type chokes in a .410. I could see them being a light modified in use, but not much tighter than that.

The old double .410 I use, that was my late uncles, is choked .005, skeet and .030+ laser beam XXF. Worse it has trigger pulls of about 8 pounds and 3 1/2 pounds. It was choked that way and triggers altered that way by my late uncle. I suspect he never put the safety on when hunting alone and would rest his finger on the heavy first trigger but this is just a guess. I do remember him shooting the oddest triple one morning. A double on a covey flush, then as fast as he could reload he shot a cotton tail that made a dash for it.

Thanks, Lloyd. I bought one of these, but for much less money (I think it was around $40) to measure the .410s. It will reach in far enough to get past the choke so you can get a pretty accurate measurement of the constriction.

https://www.amazon.com/Internal-Dial-Caliper-1-375-Range/dp/B001CTJOJ6

I agree with that , KY Jon, and it seems to be tight enough for me on doves and quail if I watch my range closely, like you said your Dad used to do. My Yildiz .410 S X S is tighter, at .011" and .015". I have a Verona that I use for tournament sub gauge events that is choked .004" btm and .011" top. That works good for these events because there is invariably a bird that can be taken inside of 15 yards on nearly every station.

SRH

I highly suspect that .008" choke in a 4.410 would pattern more like a modified than I/C. Choke will I bel;ieve perform more according to % of reduction of the more than on actual Thousandths of an inch reduction. Based on percentage of reduction .008" in a .410 is equivalent to .015" in a 12ga. With modern day plastic wadding that is consider modified range.

I haven't taken the course for birds, but have seen this phenomenon 1st hand while deer hunting in TX. A friend was given a long sleek Weatherby rifle in .240 with a 20X plus power European scope. It was kept in a custom hand tooled leather slip with a retaining flap and strap. He had to keep it COMPLETELY covered, or the rifles mystical effect would take place. As the rifle was slid from its sheath, most deer in sight would fall over dead. Some of the younger deer would just get on their knees and beg for their lives. He had to be careful how many were in the group and their sex. The limit is 5.

Deer hunting isn't about a taught skill, it is about the equipment and how much you spend. Oh, and tactical equipment kills them deader. This year I'm using a Steyr SSGP4 with a detachable mag, suppressor and S&B with mil-dots.

Well, at least the last sentence is true.

Rule number one with a .410 is to never pattern it. If you do the magic will be gone forever and you will be forced to buy another one. Odd thing is that you can check it for POI but never notice the pattern. A very fine line.

Stan I know that .410 has been a lot of fun for you. I doubt a few thousands more constriction would make very much difference. If you limit your range as you do it will be like lighting to those poor dove.

We are about to get a cool spell here with lows down to 60 at night. I hope they don't drop much below that or we will get a lot of Doves migrating out of our area. Had this happen last year and a third to half our birds left a week before the season. Fun for those South of us but not for us.