ok i dont really understand much about why a .410 is called a .410. it doesnt really matter to me but its just one of those things that just dont set right with me and im just trying to figure it out so if any1 has any info it would b greatly appreciated!!

SO FAR I UNDERSTAND :
- the .410 is a shotgun........but its a calliber not a gauge
- on some of my shells it says .410 AND 57mm

[:@]WHAT I DONT UNDERSTAND :
- it a friggin shotgun so why is its cal/gauge a CAL?! and in some casses a CAL AND A MM???!!![:@]
- why isnt it just a gauge?


Sincerely,
[&:]~~CONFUSED~~[&:]

That's just one of those things best not bothered with. It is a measure of the caliber, but it is a shotgun. Who knows, who cares why. The mm measure is length of the overall shell. There may be some guns out there with chamber lengths designated in mms instead of inches like we use here, or possibly it's just the ammo that's marked that way because it's made elsewhere. Whatever, as long as it is correct for your gun.

You could go mental trying to figure out all that cartridge/caliber stuff.

I un derstand that .410 are more popular over seas than here. That may explain the occasional metric measurement.

I have to add than I love my .410. It's a great rabbit gun.

The .410 originated in the 19th century, when someone started experimenting shooting shot charges in the .44/40 Winchester case. (Probably exhibition shooters like Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley!) They eventually lengthened the .44/40 case to hold more shot, and then started making regular paper shotgun shells for it, at which time it became a "shotgun shell". The actual smoothbore .410 shotguns followed after the origin of the cartridge, although some of the exhibition shooters used 1873 Winchester rifles with smooth bores made especially for shooting at glass balls inside the arena.

The older, larger bore shotshell sizes originated earlier, when the "gauge" meaurement, or bore size terminology, was still in use before most gun bore diameters began being described in "calibers" or fractions of an inch or in millimeters. "Gauge" sizes are expressed in terms of "the number of pure lead round balls the size of the bore of the gun that it takes to weight a pound". Ie., a 16-bore (gauge) uses 1-oz balls, 16 of which weigh a pound. A 20-gauge uses balls that weigh 1/20th of a pound, etc. etc. Sir Samuel Baker's 2-ga. rifle "Baby" (Jinnah Al-Mutfa, "Son of a Cannon") used 1/2 pound round balls!!