Thread: 410 / effective or not ?

ok having used one for best part of 30 years......
they are great to around the 25 yard mark.....YES they will stretch further but its up close that they excel.
you NEED to try out different loads and shot sizes to see what your gun likes as the .410s are fussy wee tarts.
a good starting point is Winchester 2 1/2" #4 and also the 3" version
whats the difference???? about 50% more shot in the 3" eg 1/2oz Vs 3/4 oz
the cheap loads are sometimes 3/16th oz so plurry useless that's not many pellets at all.
great gun for possums up trees.
between my son and myself we have taken just about every gamebird in the country with one over the years including black swan and Canada goose which isn't to say that's normal use for wee gun it isn't,just we had opportunity up close and took it.
they really shine when you reload for yourself, price is then very little as you aren't using much components per shot.
just about every book will tell you that you should be using #6 shot and every single gun we have used HATES it with a passion and produces horrible patchy patterns but makes great patterns with #4. yet the smaller sizes like #7/8/9 it again goes great and they work at the sub 25 yard range....perfect for headshooting woundie birds on the water (my son got so good at this I didn't even bother trying with .12ga as he could do job so much better)
loaded with mixture of shot works good but time consuming.
full choke is best in my opinion you either hit and kill or miss completely.
guys in stated are loading with heavy shot which brings it up to if not better than .12ga steel.....bugger its too expensive to bring in components.
perfect for rabbits in areas where ranges will be under 30 yards and it teaches you to get in as close as you can then 5 steps closer,perfect for young people .
feel free to PM me if anything else you need opinion on, the wee guns are great once you know whats what.