:)
There has been many a big debate over the 410 shotgun, like it's a good learner for little kid's, the kick want put them on there butt's, and it starts you out at being a good marksmen, or it's an expert's shotgun, I never grew up on a 410, my first shotgun was a Savage model 24 in 20 ga/.22, That was the gun I was to use for sometime, I just started using the 410 3 years ago when I got a winchester model 94-410 shotgun, and it's been a meat getter on squirrel's, and rabbit's, When I go bird hunting this fall, it's going along with the 12ga.
The 410 shotgun's are generally the lightest weight shotguns and kick least, So they are good for the person of small stature or very sensitive to recoil, depending on the load recoil is about 7- to 10 lbs. But still some hunters just don't like to use it, they say it a poor killer ,frequently wounds game, Dang that can be said about any shotgun, or rifle in the hands of a bad shot, You have to understand that the 2 ½ 410 shells contain less shot and the patterns are thin about 4" from my 94-410, it's not the 3 ½ " or a full choke model, as long as I keep it under 25 ft, She's brings home the meat. I've used Winchester high brass #4 ,#6 and # 7 ½ they best for my 410, Anyone know why 3/4 ounce shot was reduced to 11/16 ounce in the high brass 3" a few years back I read that they did buy don't know why, Ole squirrel season opens in 3 weeks, and I'll be back out in the wood with my 410 shotgun.
   There is a lot of 410 out on the market, mossberg and remington have two good model pump guns, out and new england has a fine single shot  to name a few, you just can't beat a winchester model 37  best single shot ever made to me, good luck finding one.
 

The Ole 410 She's either a beginner's or an experts gun.  Ron

Good points Ron, but...
 
If the .410 is good for beginners, and is also an "expert's" gun, then it really ought to be good for just about anyone in between those extremes too, right?
 
Personally, I consider the .410 to be more of an experts gun.  Sure, kids can get away with using it, and it will (most often) teach them marksmanship.  Hey, they'll even appreciate the low recoil, but to really know and use a .410 well takes a bit of shooting/hunting skill IMO.
 
I have a really old .410 single shot, and though I use it once in a while just for fun, it's really not suited for serious shotgunning.  It has a rifled barrel, and when that's combined with the already thin pattern, you really have to get close.  One of these days I ought to try shooting some .45 Colts through it, just to see what kind of groups I get.  Might make for a fun review?
 
Daryl

I am going to come in on Ron's side on this one as both beginner and expert rated.

410 was my beginning center fire as I grew up, a bolt action borrowed from the extended family and returned when I graduated to buying my Win Mod 12 in 20 gauge. We would go after squirrel and rabbit primarily and ammo was cheap then. Lower cost than the set up in comparison to other shot gun shells today. If we wounded a critter more than likely we were able to stay with them and finish it off. To me the cost to issue a biginner a weapon always enters the equation, they have to shoot a lot to become capable. 20's are cheaper to feed than 410's today, not better beginning guns.

The deer hunting came along with a slug and adult to tell young hunters what shot to take and when to shoot it. The usual arrangement being sitting with dad while he looked for his wall hanger and the young hunter taking a doe just as the pair would get ready to come off stand at lunch or dinner. That is another good point in allowing a youngster the importance of providing meat for camp and home. Trophy hunting should come after learning "HUNTING" I digress sorry.:o

Wing and clay bird shooting bring in the Expert part for me. Someone wants to put in the practice with the little shotgun and go out and embarras guys with 12 gauges. That is fine with me. They need to know what shots to take and have the discipline to pass on bad shots. That starts the definition of expert anyway.:)

:D Darly I'm just a beginner, LOL, I read some where someone shot 410 out of a 45/70 , or maybe the other way around, I heard people say they shot 45 lc's out of a 3" 410, I got my nephew a rossi .22/410 for his birthday, now he's 5 but after shooting it one time he's past on it for now, like's the .22,
 
Alboy, yep practice and at 7-10 dollars a box it can get high, it's pay'ed off for me I know the shots I can make,  When rabbit hunting some times i'll pass on a shot and let another hunter take it, I may lose a rabbit or two a trip, but I still bring some home, Ron

Ron,
 
I've heard of folks shooting .410 from a 45/70. Not sure I'd want to try it the other way around, since the pressure of the big boomer might cause problems.
 
.45 Long Colt (standard pressure. I'm not sure I'd want to mess with Ruger level loads) can be shot from a .410. Heck, I've even played around making short shotshells for my .45 Colt by cutting down .410 hulls and loading them up.
 
Kinda makes for an interesting firearm when folks start talking about "survival guns".
 
Daryl

Ron,
That is a fine looking gun. One like it would sure look good in my gun cabinet and even better in my hands in the field.
 
I have not shot a .410 for years. I don't know what happened to Dad's single shot, but it is the one I grew up with. It was my do all gun.
 
I have a brother that is eight years older and he was born in 1942 missing his left lower arm and hand. He loved to shot trap and would go around to the small towns and shoot in their turkey and bacon shoots about every weekend. He has a left elbow and about two inches of lower arm, just enough to steady the forearm of the shotgun. He would shoot any kind of a shotgun, including pumps. He was so fast on a flushing pheasant, that many times he would have a another shell pumped into the shotgun and shooting a second bird before anyone else would have their first shot off.
 
He was pure smoke at the trap range. It seemed to me that people really didn't like to shoot with him. When we would first get to the shoots, he would get on a couple of cards and win the bacon. After that he would find out that there just wasn't any openings, so he would head to the car and get a little SxS .410 and walk around with it until he could find an open card. He would smoke all five targets with that gun that looked way too small for his 6' 4" stature, then go to the back line for the shoot off and win the bacon from that line. Then, needless to say, we were then headed home with a trunk of turkeys and slabs of bacon.
 
Thinking about this brings back some good memories. I would have been about ten at the time. I just wish I could see that little SxS again. I sure couldn't hit much with it, but my brother didn't miss much with it.
 
Maynard

:) Maynard thanks for sharing that, I'd say that was someting to see,  Yep I've been stopped two times, by game wardens, thinking i was hunting deer out of season, the jokes on them it looking like a 30/30, Ol rockinbbar has one of the models also,I've seen some nice sxs an o/u 410 out and not bad on the price, Ron

Ron,
I was recalling the SxS to be a Stevens. I picked up my Gun Trader's Guide and it appears there is a Model 311 and a Model 530. I don't have any idea how it would have been choked, but know when on the back line, my brother would shoot the rock very soon after it left the trap house. I think the gun was fairly new when my brother got it. Thinking about it, it was probably about 1962 and I would have been twelve and my brother twenty. I just know when he would finally get some shooters in with the .410 and it was over, we were leaving pretty quick. A little like some of the hustler scenes in the movies.
 
Maynard

Maynard I thank they went choked like M/F C/M and F/F, I seen a lot of those model 311, I thank marlin is now putting out the Fox model shotgun, Ron

I have an older break action .410 that my uncle used when he was young.  I was
thinking of using it to get my daughter started on squirrl or rabbit.  In my state one
is only allowed to use non-toxic shot on those kinds of game.  
 
What does the group think of useing steel or other nontoxic shot on an older break-
action .410?
 
Nomad

Depends on the personal value of the gun to you.
 
Irreplaceable family handed down relic I would spend the money for bismuth shot and go that route. It is expensive. Probably would require handloading as I do not ever recall seeing bismuth offered in 410.
 
Just an old gun that is around. I would see about eliminating the choke. Most old single shots have full chokes in my experience. Once the choke is taken out to IMP CYL or cylinder bore it should handle steel just fine.
 
With out doing something about the choke I would worry about ringing the barrel or other worse failures in the gun using steel or any of the matrix tungsten stuff on the market.

The first CF firearm I 'owned' was a Mossberg M87 410 with the adjustable choke. I shot mostly doves and pigeons with it, but I got the occassional rabbit or squirrel. It was a bolt action, and I got pretty good at cycling the bolt, but mostly I shot it as a single shot. I took some 'poor' shots, but I learned from them. And that's kinda why I decided to post here. I often hear talk about .410's and other guns used for 'starting someone out'. But often, in the same breath, there always comes caveats (yeahbuts) of how the new hunter should be guided (or better yet, mentored) by an older, wiser hunter so they can be told what are the "good" shots and which are teh 'bad' ones. Can't argue with that much, but the truth is, I sincerely believe that too often, especially today with "Hunter Ed" and other "training programs", that new hunters aren't allowed to make enough mistakes. At least a very earnest effort is made to limit the number of mistakes. I just can't go that, myself. It is my opinion that there are just some lessons one has to learn by doing, and by "doing", I mean by 'failing'. In my opinion, most, but not all, of  the important lessons associated with Hunting are best learned 'the hard way'.
 
So... while I do happen think 'mentoring' is great, I also appreciate the hard lessons one can learn from using a .410 by one's self. I really am not concerned about a badly chosen shot here or there by a youngster using a .410. If his mettle is really that of a Hunter, I won't need to tell him what was 'wrong' with the shot. He'll remember it for the rest of his life. If his mettle isn't, then no thousand words of mine will "teach" him what was wrong.
 
Paul

Paul I agree with on that,
Nomad, I have never shot steel shot out of any old shotgun that was made for lead shot,now I have read about the ringing in the BBL's, the steel shot will not compress like the lead shot, I go along with Alboy on taking the choke out to imp or cyliner bore. Ron

Hey guys I am brand new to the site and am excited to see the responses re: 410's.  I have dove hunted a 410 O/U for about the past ten years.  It is fun to shoot and I'm not beat to  death ant the end of the day.  My only suggestion is that shot selection is probably the most inportant thing in using these little beauties.  They are efficient killers 20 to 20 yds but the pattern deterioates rapidly after that.  I hunted opening day at Ketemcy TX the first day of the season and had limit within an hour.  I would also suggest that if you are really interested in these little guns borrow on and take it out and use a pattern board starting at 40 yds and work back, in 5 yd increments.  It will really open your eyes to the patterns.  The late Bob Brister has stated that a 410 Full choke and a 12 ga full choke would have the same killing pattern at 20 yds.  The doubting thomas I am I didn't, couldn't, wouldnt belive this to be true.  I had to find out for may self and sure enough he was right.  I reload my shells for purely monetary reasons, $2.00 for reloads as opposed to $9+ for store bought 3 in. mags.  Be patient, pratice and have fun.  Good LuchK jb

jebottoms-
Welcome to the forum. I would about bet the farm that a Texan would have something to say on most subjects.:D Seriously, welcome. I will look forward to seeing around the campfire. I am just an old country boy from Dodge City that enjoys the great outdoors. BTW, I do tease at bit here and there. I do hunt upland game, deer and Colorado elk.
 
God Bless,
Maynard Reece Byrd