Through the years shooting doves and sporting clays, I have become enamored of little .410 doubles. When I first began trying to use a sub-5 lb. S X S it was humbling, and at times frustrating. I missed birds that I could not understand the reason why I did. Only through trial and error did I find a way to switch from a 9+ lb. Perazzi to a S X S half that weight. I found that my shooting technique had to be drastically different. For the record, I shoot sporting clays pre-mounted.
I found that, for me to shoot what I consider light weight guns well at doves, or clays, I must begin my mount by having the muzzles closely on line with the bird. As the butt nears my shoulder pocket the muzzles stay in line with the moving bird and begin to slightly pull ahead of it. Almost instantaneously, after my mount is completed, the gun is triggered. Shooting these little guns in this way enabled my hit ratio to go way up.
It is my belief that the reason .410s have the poor reputation they do in the field on gamebirds is not because of a lack of killing ability, it's because the little waifs require such a different method of shooting.
