Shot size for 410
 

I am taking my daughter youth hunting and she is using a youth model single shot 410 with a full choke turkey barrel. What size shot Should I use? What would the range be with. 410. Thanks

I think you are going to have to shoot it at paper to know your range, with whatever shot size you go with. You are still limited by retained energy of an given size shot, but since a .410 carries less load, I would bet your pattern limits you before loss of retained energy does. Personally, I would probably go with No. 6, and check the pattern to figure how far the pattern holds up, but others might have a different opinion.

With the .410 try to keep your shots inside of 20yds, but 10-15 or even less would be better.

1/2oz of shot out of a .410 is a pretty light payload, so you gotta go with #6. At ranges of <20yds, a head-neck shot with #9 will kill a turkey, but #6 is likely the smallest shot that's legal for turkey hunting.

Is there maybe a semi-auto 20ga around that you could borrow?

I assume your gun is a 3", if so then stick with the 3/4oz 6s or 5s. (4s just wont have enough pellets IMHO, only 101 in a 3/4oz load. Nearly 170 in 6s!) Keep your shots inside 25-30yds and MAKE SURE she is DEADLY ACCURATE, otherwise your running a REAL risk of her wounding that bird with a shot that were she shooting a 20ga or larger, she would've killed the bird!

If the guns only a 2.5" chamber then I'd seriously have reservations about using it as you'll only find .5oz loads. (Only about 65 pellets in a .5oz load of 4s. In a .5oz load of 6s you'll have about 110 pellets!) What the 2.5" loads lose in pellet count to the 3", it gains in velocity. (2.5" appx 1250fps vs 3" appx 1100fps) If she can put 4-5 pellets in the head/spine then the birds lights WILL be out. But you've GOTTA be honest as to range, guns patterning abilities and most importantly... HER abilities!!!