Mike,
I don't want to mislead about the little guns. With 11/16 oz. loads I really believe they should be restricted to 35 yards or less. And that 35 yards is the equivalent of a 60 yard shot with a 12 ga., IMO. I have said this before about shooting the .410 on doves ....... the hardest part of it is making yourself stick with those limits. KY Jon uses markers to help himself do this. I admire him for that. I probably should train myself to do the same.
One thing important to this discussion, too, is what presentation the shot is offering you on the bird. A straight incoming bird can be killed dead as a hammer much further than can a straight going away, because all the vitals and both wing bones are looking at you. One shot I attempted yesterday was a going away at no more than 25 yards .......... when my brain said shoot. By the time the reaction time, lock time and flight time of the shot "screwed it all up", the dove was probably 30 yds.+. I knocked a hatful of feathers out of him and he flew on, maybe to die somewhere later. I hope not. I shouldn't have taken that shot, and I will remember that.
Most of the "expertise" of using a .410 on game isn't how well you shoot it, it's how well you restrain yourself from shooting it, IMO. Everyone has to learn the limits of range with a shotgun. The .410's is just closer than the others.
SRH
