doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 410 recomendation for game shooting

Bill, I hope that you and I both live very long, productive lives, and that we meet our end here gently. I am humbled by your thoughtfulness. Blessings on you and the lovely Ms. Linda.

BTW, your p.m. box is full and won't accept any more messages.

SRH

Agree with JR on this. I don't have any 7 1/2 lb 410s, but a friend that really drug me into 410s for game had a CSM M21 on a 20ga frame that weighed exactly that...and a matching 28ga. He hunted the country and other places in the world with that gun. More weight than I liked for upland though. My favorite upland 410 is a 1927 Ithaca NID with 28" tubes and ejectors. It weighs around 6lbs 2 oz. and swings better for me than any other upland gun. It's not the prettiest, but it takes game reliably. I found it's mate many years and 3000 miles from the first. 3 numbers apart and made on the same shop order. It too is a 28" ejector. My recollection is, Walt Snyder has no records indicating 28" 410 NID guns were made. But these are no doubt factory guns.

Some old memories...

My old "duck dog" with my dolled up 410 LeFever Nitro in foreground. She never hunted ducks, but could produce quail as well as some pointers. RIP Jasmine.



Me and bro-in-law in Kansas with my then new pointer that pee'd on Last Dollar Chuck's floor and my duck dog. The dolled up 410 LeFever again. The pointer turned into a great hunter, but Amarillo Mike had some good laughs that hunt when she busted some huge numbers of pheasant...cleared a section as I recall. RIP Sky

On the question of 2 1/2" vs 3" shells, I use both. For short distance quail shooting over a pointer, 2 1/2" is fine. Over a flushing dog 3". Dove down low, the AA Sporting 2 1/2" load at 1300 fps is deadly.

The alien Eurasian Dove is different game bird. These birds are half again bigger than a Morning Dove and the high flyers are tough as a pigeon to bring down. I switched to 3" #6 410 shells for these and I was dropping them out of the stratosphere. On one hunt in Yuma, we encountered more Eurasians than all others.
They were all very high flying past a small grove of trees we had decided to defend. My 410 mentor was using his usual 1300 fps AA load of #8s. I had several flats of different loads and after being somewhat disappointed in the performance of the #7 1/2 3" load, I went to the #6 3" load just to see whats what. The high flying Eurasians started dropping reliably. I was having so much success that my friend came over to see what I was doing to kill so many. I finally shared that I was using #6 3" shells.

I sure miss our ol'buddy Mikey....

Since Mike was asking about reasonably priced 410s, and since Chuck's photos show his engraved Lefever 410, I was going to suggest a Lefever 410 as a possibility. I believe most of them would fall within the $2 to $3 thousand range, and it seems like there usually are a few for sale on GI. Besides, looking at Chuck's photos, they seem to work.

By the way Chuck, what shot size did you use on the pheasants? It would not have occurred to me to use a 410 on wild pheasants, but perhaps my thinking is too conventional. In a good pheasant year in South Dakota, it might be fun to use a 410 and choose your shots so that you could hunt longer.

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A little hard work never hurt anyone; but why risk it?

I had a .410 NS, it was a nice gun but like most older NS's it had about 3" DAH, other than that it was okay. I used it for awhile on pen-raised pheasants when I was training my dog but got tired of having to adjust for the excessive DAH.

Steve

Colin,
The first So. Dak wild rooster I shot with a .410, that LeFever, I used a 3" #7 1/2. After a bit, I switched to #6. I've also tried #5 and #4. My thoughts are that #6 and #5 are about right. I like the #5s in a tight choke for line dancing the cornfields and can kill reliably in the 30-35 yd range. If shooting over a point, #7 1/2 or 6 are fine. Yes, you can hunt longer, waiting for "your shot" while hunting a 410 with a group.

Those pheasant hanging on the post were shot with Mike's gun. But I was rootin for him. He had hung them for his picture, which I took of him and his Britts. I just used his for the backdrop rather than hang my much more awesome roosters.

ColinM,

I have an original DT/DH Savage .410 O/U it has no SN, the 6's do a bang up job on Pheasants out to about 35 yards. I have used the 5's from time to time also, but the 6's actually hold a better pattern, and work better.

Ryman Gun Dog
L.C. Smith Man

Skeettx or anyone,
Educate me a bit this morning. Please identify and describe that "fixture" on the end of the barrels of that Superposed. This a new one for me.