I love shooting .410s. Two things to never do with a .410, never open a shell and see how few pellets of 7 1/2 or larger shot are in a 1/2 ounce load. Looking at them you get the feeling so few pellets can never kill a bird. Second is to not freak out about the pattern. Either size, or lack of size, or the holes you see. Every shell will have some flaw in the pattern and if you worry about them you will become hyper perfect in aiming you shot which never works with a .410.
I killed two Dove this year at ridiculous ranges with my .410, without any extreme effort. Smooth swing and shot. Both birds had been slightly hit by other shooters and would have almost certainly flown off to die. Weve all seen it happen too often. A wasted death. If I had thought about it I either would have concluded the chances were very low or worse I would have tried to be exacting in my shot which with a .410 is a sure miss for me. A .410 can kill a bird at distance, just like a 12 but everything has to come together perfectly. After all shot does not care what size the bore was. 1150-1200 FPS is just as good from a 12 down to a .410. You just dont get much room for error.
