doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Driven .410 in stormy weather

Thanks, Parabola. That reflects my experience with constrictions in .410s, too. My years of shotgunning birds tells me I need plenty choke in a . 410 but I haven't been able to prove that in real life hunting. IDKW.

I know KyJon has no small amount of experience hunting with .410s too and, unless I have misunderstood his stance he believes in more than a little choke. I hope he checks in and expresses his current feelings about it.

Thanks for the reply, SRH

Stan, I heard my name. Thanks. I do shoot a lot of .410 and use tight chokes on all live birds. In fact I just use tight chokes on everything these days. My clay scores are not bothered by a miss here and there and tight chokes work well with my style of shooting. IM and Full, mostly Full are my go to choices for .410 use on all live birds. But what one maker calls Full is often another's IM. When I was shooting a lot of Skeet I used .012 and .015 as my regular chokes,

As you know, I try to get all conditions in my favor, whenever I can. Distance determination is very important to how I shoot. Most shooters are bad at that one key skill. And with the .410 knowing the difference between 25, 30 and 35 yards is everything. As a general rule I limit my shots to 31-33 yards as a outside limit but like them to be between 21-31 yards. But at that end range, being off just a bit means a difference of a foot plus lead. That matters when your pattern is effectively 16-18". With a 12 gauge, a foot is nothing the pattern does not help correct. The .410 has no margin for error which is why it is so hard to become proficient and even harder to become consistent with a .410. I put that skill right behind understanding my wife and understanding why it is Global Warming which I am shoveling.

Keep well Stan, hope your Spring comes early, with gentle rains only at night, so you can keep planting going.

Not everybody wants to shoot a .410 I know but I think if they used a 28 instead, they would see a lot of potential for a "small-bore". The half ounce shot payload is limited but the more generous 3/4, 13/16, 7/8 or heavy 1 ounce loads in the 28 are much more forgiving. I killed many a duck in my youth with a ounce of lead shot in my 28 model 12. I have a small box of 28 tungsten shells someone gave me to use on ducks this next season. I've heard amazing stories about how effective it is and am looking forwards to seeing it myself. While Swan hunting in North Carolina a few weeks ago the guide told me he had a group of hunters who used 28's and .410's with Tungsten and it was crazy how far it worked. I am not up to shooting a swan with a .410 yet but if they come in as fat and happy next time I might just try my luck with one of my 42's. Swans are impressive birds but show little fear of being hunted. Still a mounted flying swan ought to look good in the gun room. Just do not know what I'd do with another one.

I got my middle son into shooting a 28 gauge for Dove a few years ago and he loves it. He has learned a lot about chokes and range estimation in just a few years. Now his wife is asking for one of the 28 gauge Red Labels for this upcoming season. I do not have a proper 28 side by side to give her but I do have several Red Labels, a Ithaca 37, couple 1100's and my Model 12 28 from my childhood. Early season Dove come in fat, slow and happy so a .410 or 28 are a great option. So if a .410 seems intimidating to you, try a 28 instead, It is about the experience more than anything else. A 28 is fully capable of taking birds, with a decent margin of error, along with a real sense of challenging yourself to be a better shot.

Boy this from KY Jon is so true "it is so hard to become proficient and even harder to become consistent with a .410" As a new .410 advocate I get frustrated with a poor round following a decent round, using the same gun. After several rounds with 410, using 3/4 oz in 20 ga almost seems like cheating. I must say though when you drop a bird or bust a clay at 30+ with 410 there is a real feeling of accomplishment

WRT chokes, Dave Carrie did a video wherein he shoots the .410 at old cd’s at his scrap yard.
I believe he says what the chokes are during his testing.

If I'm not mistaken that was the first one I saw him do on .410s and he very unfairly made comparisons of the patterns to those of larger bore guns. At least, I thought the way he stated it was unfair to the .410. He's come a long way since then, though.

Thanks for the tip off re Dave Carrie. Well worth the watch. It got me going back to Bob Brister late last night and he talks about shot deformation and big shot spread, especially comparing magnum 410 to 28 ga, which he feels has one of the shortest shot strings. So now I need to look for better shot.

Not suggesting that anyone use it totally, because of it's cost, but the patterns I get in my magnum 3/4 oz. loads using BP's nickel plated 8.5s are to die for, so to speak.

Of course, my patterns disregard shot string length, but for hunting conditions that's not something that keeps me up at night.

8 and 8.5 are excellent choices for the .410. The harder the shot, the more round, the better. Your result may be different than mine, but velocities above 1300 fps do not work well for me. Those 3/4 ounce 3" .410 loads are about 1150 fps and I expect they pattern well. We use to say too much velocity would blow a pattern. Maybe you could do better with higher velocities with other than IM or Full chokes. I try to find sweet spots with loads, chokes and style of shooting. I no longer have the reactions for strict swing through shooting style. Sustained lead shooting style never seemed to work well for me with the .410. Too much measuring and then failing to continue the lead needed. In fact I often say the more you think while shooting a .410 the less great results seem to occur. Short, quick shooting seems to work best for me. Think it, see it and shoot it.

My findings exactly. My 3/4 oz. load of Ni plated lead 8.5s are running about 1150-1165, right where many of my S X S guns of any gauge seem to regulate best (heavy-for-gauge payload and with lower velocities).