Shot Talk

Wow, Silvio Calabi’s feature on the .410 (“The 67 Gauge,” Sept/Oct ’07) certainly struck a nerve. Vilified by some and defended by others for daring to proclaim the .410 could be used as a hunting gun, Silvio and SSM’s editors never could have predicted that the topic was such a hot button. Then Michael McIntosh added fuel to the fire in March/April by referring to the .410 as “a piss-ant cartridge that should have been the first declared outside the law.”
Criminies! I hardly know where to begin, but let’s see if we can approach the .410 with a view to the ballistic facts, ma’am—just the facts.

Fact: It must be recognized that the standard US factory-loaded lead 11/16-oz 3" .410 shell has almost as much shot in it as the standard lead 2-3/4" 28-gauge 3/4-oz shell. Shotgun writers traditionally have charged that because this .410 load has 1/16 oz less lead shot, it can never pattern as well as practically the same shot-charge weight in the 28 or larger gauges. They usually also point out that 3/4-oz lead loads in the larger gauges can be had with faster instrumental velocities than 3" .410 11/16-oz loads.
Fact: Lead-shot 3/4-oz 28-gauge loads definitely can be purchased or reloaded with instrumental velocities faster than those of 11/16-oz 3" .410 lead shotshells by 100 fps or more. But, as I’ve discussed here before, a 100- to 200-fps increase in instrumental velocity for shotshell pellets does not translate into greatly increased downrange lethality, although it might help your shooting (read: hitting). And because the physics of spheres (which are substantially different than the physics of bullets) always will cause higher launch velocities to be shed ever more quickly, launch velocities of lead pellets much above 1,200 fps contribute very little practical increased lethality. They do substantially increase recoil, however, and usually degrade patterns.
Let’s examine the patterning issue further. The claim is repeatedly made that .410 lead shotshells inherently pattern poorer than the same pellets launched from larger gauges. This is true, it is argued, because the 3" .410, with its longer cylinder of shot, exposes a greater percentage of its shot charge to the pellet-deforming effects of bore scrub.
Although this was certainly true with older-style .410 cartridges with fiber filler and no shot-protection devices, all you have to do is a little patterning to discover that it’s much less true with today’s .410 ammunition with plastic shot-containment devices. These devices have reduced bore scrub deformation substantially in bismuth and lead .410 loads.
To clarify another detail, there’s a big difference between the patterning performance of an 11/16-oz lead-shot charge in the 3" .410 to, say, a 1-1/4-oz lead-shot charge in the 2-3/4" 12-gauge. That’s an apples-to-oranges comparison. But if you compare the patterns of modern 11/16-oz 3" .410 lead loads to modern 3/4-oz larger-gauge lead loads, you will find slight differences but seldom any great ones. Fact: In my pattern tests using lead shot no larger than No. 7s and properly designed plastic shot-protection devices, 11/16-oz 3" .410 loads commonly have placed at least 85 percent of the number of pellets contained in a 2-3/4" 28-gauge 3/4-oz lead load within a given area out to 25 yards. True, one choke designation tighter usually is needed with the .410.
For ultimate lethality the .410 obviously has limitations, just like the 28-gauge. Granted, the 28 has the advantage that up to 1 oz of lead shot can be loaded in its 2-3/4" shell. And of course the 2-1/2" .410 1/2-oz lead load contains significantly less shot than either the 3" .410 or the 2-3/4" 28-gauge. So obviously overall the .410 provides less lethality downrange. But does it have sufficient lethality for anything? Yes, it does.
Pattern testing quickly will teach you that the 1/2-oz lead-shot 2-1/2" .410 is essentially a 20-yard proposition. You also will discover that this cartridge develops an effective pattern no greater than about 22 inches in diameter at 25 yards. That’s the main reason skeet scores drop substantially when shooting the 2-1/2" 1/2-oz .410 lead load versus heavier lead skeet loads in the larger gauges. Due to plastic shot-protection devices, it ain’t the fault of the bore; it’s just that you have a puny 1/2-oz shot charge. Fact: Load the same 1/2-oz lead charge in the larger gauges and you’ll struggle just as much to shoot good scores.
The 3" .410, on the other hand, contains almost 50 percent more shot than the 2-1/2" .410. So let’s look at the lethality of 3" .410 loads when fired through well-designed chokes. Fact: Pattern testing will show that modern 3" .410 lead loads can almost match the patterning performance of 3/4-oz 28-gauge lead loads to 25 yards. Both of these loadings can provide deadly, effective patterns 22" to 24" in diameter with small shot sizes out to 25 yards—and with select loads and chokes out to 30 yards. Don’t believe it? Get out there and do some pattern testing with No. 7-1/2s, 8s and 8-1/2s and long, high-quality .410 choke tubes with a parallel section.
Concerning the charge almost always leveled against the .410 that it develops outrageously long shotstrings, this usually is pronounced by those who have not actually measured the shotstring lengths. When shotstring lengths of modern .410 lead loads with plastic wads are measured against lead loads in other gauges, yes, at 40 yards the .410 does develop a substantially longer (about 30 to 40 percent longer) shotstring. But the 3" .410’s effective lethal range does not exceed 30 yards—and for most .410 load/choke combinations does not exceed 25 yards. So shotstring-length comparisons involving the .410 should be made at 25-yard distances. When measured at its maximum effective range, the differential shrinks considerably.
Fact: My acoustical testing at the Oregon Institute of Technology of the shotstring lengths at 25 yards of .410 lead loads with complete plastic shot protection found them, on average, to be only 15 to 20 percent longer than shotstring lengths of lead loads up to 7/8 oz in other gauges similarly choked. For example, through Modified chokes the shotstring lengths of 3" .410 11/16-oz lead loads measured about 7.3 to 8.5 feet, versus about 6.1 to 7.2 feet for 7/8-oz lead loads from a larger bore.
Given these realities, you simply can’t humanely employ 3" .410 11/16-oz loads for taking gamebirds much beyond 25 yards and no more than 30 yards. We’re not talking about large gamebirds either. But if we’re talking small birds—blackbirds, doves, quail, woodcock or anything up to about chukar size, modern 3" .410 factory loads (and especially select reloads) can make the .410 a 25-yard gun and possibly a 30-yard gun provided such loads are fired through carefully designed chokes. If we’re talking about shooting at larger gamebirds such as ruffed grouse and even released pheasants, where shot sizes as large as No. 6 are needed for efficient lethality and the muzzle-to-bird distance is no greater than 25 yards, then the 3" .410 can again do it if you have the shooting skill.
Fact: If you want even more lethality out of the .410, then you have to reload buffered lead or bismuth shot. Better yet would be high-density, soft, tungsten-composite pellets, but that’s another story.
Now why do I state the above so confidently? It’s because besides gun love for the 28 gauge, I also suffer from gun love for the 3" .410 for taking small birds at close range. I have shot literally thousands of blackbirds, doves, quail and a few hundred ruffed grouse with 3" .410 No. 7, 7-1/2 and 8 lead-shot factory loads and reloads. I also have shot tens of thousands of depredating blackbirds and starlings out to 20 yards with 1/2-oz No. 8-1/2 lead shot 2-1/2" .410 reloads. And I’ve done all this through my high-grade Browning Feather over/under with 30" barrels and Browning’s relatively new Midas Grade long screw-in chokes. So that’s my personal experience for you.
The principal challenge in using the .410 as a bird hunting tool is that it is harder to hit with the .410’s effective 20" to 24" pattern spread than with the effective 28" to 36" pattern spread provided by 1-oz or heavier lead shot charges in the larger gauges.
The great onus, then, falls on the hunter to exercise self-restraint in shooting within the inherent limitations and ballistic realities of today’s .410 ammunition.

To correspond with Tom Roster or to order his third-edition reloading manual on buffered lead and bismuth shotshells, his new HEVI-Shot reloading manual, his 75-page manual on shotgun-barrel modifications or his instructional shooting videos, contact Tom Roster, 1190 Lynne-wood Blvd., Klamath Falls, OR 97601; 541-884-2974; tomroster@charter.net.