.410 for deer
12-25-2007, 08:06 AM
#21
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Columbia SC USA
Posts: 376
RE: .410 for deer
ORIGINAL: thundermug
A 410 shotgun is actually a 41 calibre smooth bore rifle. If you can take your muzzle loader out with black powder, why not a .41 smooth bore using smokeless powder? Not much difference except the 410 has a higher muzzle velocity.
A 410 shotgun is actually a 41 calibre smooth bore rifle. If you can take your muzzle loader out with black powder, why not a .41 smooth bore using smokeless powder? Not much difference except the 410 has a higher muzzle velocity.
With in its limitations it will be fine for deer. It is legal some places that rifles are not and is more kid friendly than the recoil from the BP rifles I have seen. Winchester makes a rifled 120gr slug at 1800 fps. That is not to far behind a light 30-30 reload. It defininately is not for long range but, will definitly get the job done with in 50 to 75 yards or so.
mello
12-25-2007, 08:16 AM
#22
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 321
RE: .410 for deer
50 - 60 years ago - when my father and his family started hunting, you took what you owned.
All my dad owned at the time was a .410 and all my grandfather owned was a .410 Bolt Action with a clip.
They traveled 50 miles one way just to get to the woods and then hunted all day and then came home - in a 1937 Chevy. No heater!
The whole town hunted in that section of woods and only the richest of them all had a center fire rifle and most of them were old army guns.
They shot lot's of deer with a .410 - and it shot just as good as some of the rifles of that time period. The 3 inch paper shells were of a very high quality and still shoot good today!
When I was about 12, my friend from school lived on a farm and rode the bus home with me after school. He went behind his house with his .410 and waited to see if he could see anything before it got dark outside.
Some people from my church lived on the next hill - about 4 miles away. They shot a buck at 9 AM in the morning and tracked it about 4 miles and shot at it several times, never knocking it down, but it was bleeding.
At 4:15 PM it made it's way down to my friends house and their land and when it walked by his treestand - he dropped it with one shot. It was a 10 point buck with 18 inch spread. Not bad for a kids first buck, not hunting all day like the big guys and not having a centerfire rifle.
My other friends who were tracking it couldn't do anything except congradulate him on his success. It was his land and his deer.
The other half of my grandpa's story was about a time when they went hunting with one of the other neighbors. They called him Mattea - which in Polish means mother. They were hunting rabbits with dogs and a rabbit ran past Mattea and he shot and sawed the rabbit in two.
You could imagine the look on Mattea's face. He was wondering what had happened to his rabbit. Nobody ever saw one that was all blown up like that from a 2 3/4 inch .410
Well back then, people didn't have different suits for hunting and when they went hunting they threw their shells into their pocket and went hunting.
Mattea never looked in his pocket before he went hunting and when he reached in for a shell - he grabbed a slug instead of a bb shot.
Now how many guys do you know of that could shoot a rabbit on the run with a .410 slug!
Definately a good gun in my book and an even better gun than a 12 gauge.
All my dad owned at the time was a .410 and all my grandfather owned was a .410 Bolt Action with a clip.
They traveled 50 miles one way just to get to the woods and then hunted all day and then came home - in a 1937 Chevy. No heater!
The whole town hunted in that section of woods and only the richest of them all had a center fire rifle and most of them were old army guns.
They shot lot's of deer with a .410 - and it shot just as good as some of the rifles of that time period. The 3 inch paper shells were of a very high quality and still shoot good today!
When I was about 12, my friend from school lived on a farm and rode the bus home with me after school. He went behind his house with his .410 and waited to see if he could see anything before it got dark outside.
Some people from my church lived on the next hill - about 4 miles away. They shot a buck at 9 AM in the morning and tracked it about 4 miles and shot at it several times, never knocking it down, but it was bleeding.
At 4:15 PM it made it's way down to my friends house and their land and when it walked by his treestand - he dropped it with one shot. It was a 10 point buck with 18 inch spread. Not bad for a kids first buck, not hunting all day like the big guys and not having a centerfire rifle.
My other friends who were tracking it couldn't do anything except congradulate him on his success. It was his land and his deer.
The other half of my grandpa's story was about a time when they went hunting with one of the other neighbors. They called him Mattea - which in Polish means mother. They were hunting rabbits with dogs and a rabbit ran past Mattea and he shot and sawed the rabbit in two.
You could imagine the look on Mattea's face. He was wondering what had happened to his rabbit. Nobody ever saw one that was all blown up like that from a 2 3/4 inch .410
Well back then, people didn't have different suits for hunting and when they went hunting they threw their shells into their pocket and went hunting.
Mattea never looked in his pocket before he went hunting and when he reached in for a shell - he grabbed a slug instead of a bb shot.
Now how many guys do you know of that could shoot a rabbit on the run with a .410 slug!
Definately a good gun in my book and an even better gun than a 12 gauge.
12-25-2007, 08:20 AM
#23
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 321
RE: .410 for deer
One year at camp, my cousin Beth Ann decided she wanted to hunt and the only gun her dad had for her to use was a J.C. Higgens .410
All day long her brother and his friends shot to sight in their rifles. They couldn't even hit a 1 inch bulls eye at 100 yards.
Right before it got dark, my Uncle gave my cousin one shot gun shell and told her to take a good aim and shoot at the target.
You guessed it - bulls eye - and with no sights, scope or anything else to help her get the job done!
All day long her brother and his friends shot to sight in their rifles. They couldn't even hit a 1 inch bulls eye at 100 yards.
Right before it got dark, my Uncle gave my cousin one shot gun shell and told her to take a good aim and shoot at the target.
You guessed it - bulls eye - and with no sights, scope or anything else to help her get the job done!
12-25-2007, 08:36 AM
#24
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Blissfield MI USA
Posts: 5,293
RE: .410 for deer
A .410 will work for deer, I know plenty that have used them. You just need to keep it's limitations in mind. They are good for bow hunting ranges and not much farther really in my opinion. Maybe a bit farther with the Brenneke slugs since they are a bit heavier and faster.
The .410 is not like a 41 caliber rifle though. The ballistics are closer to a .32 pistol.
A .357 is actually better than a .410 when you compare ballistics.
I have a winchester 9410 that is a lever action 410 and I am seriously considering using it next year for deer season. However I have some experience hunting and will keep the range limitation in mind and pick my shot placement carefully.
Pretty much any projectile through the lungs of a deer will kill it. It just won't drop it in it's tracks like a high powered rifle can.
If centerfires were legal where I live though I would most likely never shoot a shotgun of any type again during deer season.
Paul
The .410 is not like a 41 caliber rifle though. The ballistics are closer to a .32 pistol.
A .357 is actually better than a .410 when you compare ballistics.
I have a winchester 9410 that is a lever action 410 and I am seriously considering using it next year for deer season. However I have some experience hunting and will keep the range limitation in mind and pick my shot placement carefully.
Pretty much any projectile through the lungs of a deer will kill it. It just won't drop it in it's tracks like a high powered rifle can.
If centerfires were legal where I live though I would most likely never shoot a shotgun of any type again during deer season.
Paul
12-25-2007, 11:55 AM
#28
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 59
RE: .410 for deer
Yeah, my first gun was a Mossberg bolt action .410....I used it while deer hunting but never took one with it...lot of squirrels saw the light because of it though.
But yeah....I think it'd be one of the last calibers I'd chose for whitetails....I've seen a lot of .410's over the years, and there's only one I"ve ever seen with a set of rifle sights, and that was the 9410 that Paul spoke of. Slugs+bead front sight=no accuracy past 30 yards.
I'd say let the kid use the .410 for squirrels, and just pick him up a H&R .243 and mounted a fixed 4x scope on it. If you shopped used you could probably get out for less than 300 with the whole package, and it'll be a good, safe, and reliable gun.
But yeah....I think it'd be one of the last calibers I'd chose for whitetails....I've seen a lot of .410's over the years, and there's only one I"ve ever seen with a set of rifle sights, and that was the 9410 that Paul spoke of. Slugs+bead front sight=no accuracy past 30 yards.
I'd say let the kid use the .410 for squirrels, and just pick him up a H&R .243 and mounted a fixed 4x scope on it. If you shopped used you could probably get out for less than 300 with the whole package, and it'll be a good, safe, and reliable gun.
12-25-2007, 02:41 PM
#29
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Lake County, Florida
Posts: 3,313
RE: .410 for deer
my first gun was a .410 single shot. i shot slugs out of it. more than capable of downing deer at ranges under 100 yards. definately has more knock down power than a .223. truth be known the .22 lr has taken more deer on this continent than any other round (due to poachers). shot placement is the key, it doesn't take a "magnum" rifle to kill a deer.
