.410 handguns
- Thread starter wudjalike2no
- Start date
ISP2605 - The Ithaca Auto-Burglars was the answer to the car-jackings of the 1920's and 30's. From descriptions my mother has given, her father had one with him when a local politico gave him a sack full of dollar bills to take from farm to farm to "entice" people to vote for him. Apparently Grand-dad thought it'd be a good idea to have "a little something" while driving rural Pennsylvania with a sack full o' cash.
I've always thought that it'd be perfect loaded with those Augila "stubby" shotgun shells with #4 buckshot.
I've always thought that it'd be perfect loaded with those Augila "stubby" shotgun shells with #4 buckshot.
what are you going to do with a .410 handgun?
A .410 handgun would be good for shooting snakes or rats. I shot a .410 derringer a couple of times and it wasn't bad at all. Anything bigger or with a more substantial grip would be relatively mild to shoot. .410 is not a serious defensive round. They even made or still make buckshot to try to get it to be more effective but it only holds three triple ought. You can get .410 slugs but you would still be better off with a conventional handgun.
A .410 handgun would be good for shooting snakes or rats. I shot a .410 derringer a couple of times and it wasn't bad at all. Anything bigger or with a more substantial grip would be relatively mild to shoot. .410 is not a serious defensive round. They even made or still make buckshot to try to get it to be more effective but it only holds three triple ought. You can get .410 slugs but you would still be better off with a conventional handgun.
Irishmtnmn2001
New member
More than Rats and snakes.......
I use my 8" barrel length .410 Contender for squirrels and rabbits constantly! It is very effective with 3 inch Remington Express shells in #6's out to about 25 yards.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT........I was on a pheasant hunt in Nebraska a few days ago and was close to my limit. I was fortunate enough to get on to some land that had no hunting pressure and the birds were busting very close to us. I switched to my .410 Contender loaded with #4's. You should have seen the look on my buddies faces when I knocked down the first pheasant. They were convinced it was sheer luck. The argument ended a few minutes later when I shot my last bird of the day at about 10 yards with the .410.
So you can indeed shoot more than just rats and snakes with a .410 handgun. Also, it has about the same muzzle energy as a 45 Long Colt. For home defense.....assuming very close range......it has the benefit of hitting hard and NOT blowing through walls and destroying the wife's china cabinet. Obviously, there are much better home defense guns but if you want a multi-tasking handgun, that can digest pistol rounds and shotgun shells.....there aren't too many other's to chose from.
I use my 8" barrel length .410 Contender for squirrels and rabbits constantly! It is very effective with 3 inch Remington Express shells in #6's out to about 25 yards.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT........I was on a pheasant hunt in Nebraska a few days ago and was close to my limit. I was fortunate enough to get on to some land that had no hunting pressure and the birds were busting very close to us. I switched to my .410 Contender loaded with #4's. You should have seen the look on my buddies faces when I knocked down the first pheasant. They were convinced it was sheer luck. The argument ended a few minutes later when I shot my last bird of the day at about 10 yards with the .410.
So you can indeed shoot more than just rats and snakes with a .410 handgun. Also, it has about the same muzzle energy as a 45 Long Colt. For home defense.....assuming very close range......it has the benefit of hitting hard and NOT blowing through walls and destroying the wife's china cabinet. Obviously, there are much better home defense guns but if you want a multi-tasking handgun, that can digest pistol rounds and shotgun shells.....there aren't too many other's to chose from.
Oh yea, forgot the small details....
Actually, from what I remember, it was no more than my Taurus Raging Bull in .44 magnum. It was late at night firing into thick woods with birdshot. Lots of flash though! I do remember that. But you will be seeing a chiropractor if you try carrying that big hunk of iron on you hip all day in the woods. That's why I carry my Taurus 85 with snake shot.
Actually, from what I remember, it was no more than my Taurus Raging Bull in .44 magnum. It was late at night firing into thick woods with birdshot. Lots of flash though! I do remember that. But you will be seeing a chiropractor if you try carrying that big hunk of iron on you hip all day in the woods. That's why I carry my Taurus 85 with snake shot.
Dan
That is a BFR from the looks of it. D-max is, from what I have learned, the company that produced the BFR before Magnum Research bought them out or bought the line (I'm not sure which is the actual occurance). From the posts in the BFR thread it sounds like the BFRs are custom Rugers by another name.
That is a BFR from the looks of it. D-max is, from what I have learned, the company that produced the BFR before Magnum Research bought them out or bought the line (I'm not sure which is the actual occurance). From the posts in the BFR thread it sounds like the BFRs are custom Rugers by another name.
Got one
I saw this at a recent gunshow. Passed it by, then thought later I couldn't live without it, been there, done that have you??
Well it does what it says it does, shoots both 45 colt and 410 shot shells. But what a horible trigger! It litterly took massive effort to pull the trigger. Well until I took it apart and stoned the sear,(it had been left as cast, never fit or finished)
There are 2 "chokes" that screw on the barrel. The one used for shot shells has straight rifling that stops the spin of the shot charge. The other is basicaly a cover for the threads for use when firing 45 colt ammo. The rifling in the barrel looks like it was done with a rat tail file! I could not get any accuracy out of several different handloads using cast bullets and some plated bullets. I'm going to try some 200 grain xtps next. Big heavy hard cast semi wadcutters would keyhole at 50 feet.
As far as the 410 part of this toy, with 2.5 inch shells, it's a grin, with the 3 inchers you get some real felt recoil! Patterns out to 25 yards are quite good, especially with the 3 inchers.
All in all, for the $140.00 I paid for it, I'm not unhappy. It would make a good camping/survival gun. I'm sure I can make it shoot some sort of bullet with close range accuracy. The destructions say not to try to make it a magnum, to keep colt sa loads in mind.
I saw this at a recent gunshow. Passed it by, then thought later I couldn't live without it, been there, done that have you??
Well it does what it says it does, shoots both 45 colt and 410 shot shells. But what a horible trigger!
It litterly took massive effort to pull the trigger. Well until I took it apart and stoned the sear,(it had been left as cast, never fit or finished) There are 2 "chokes" that screw on the barrel. The one used for shot shells has straight rifling that stops the spin of the shot charge. The other is basicaly a cover for the threads for use when firing 45 colt ammo. The rifling in the barrel looks like it was done with a rat tail file!
I could not get any accuracy out of several different handloads using cast bullets and some plated bullets. I'm going to try some 200 grain xtps next. Big heavy hard cast semi wadcutters would keyhole at 50 feet.As far as the 410 part of this toy, with 2.5 inch shells, it's a grin, with the 3 inchers you get some real felt recoil!
Patterns out to 25 yards are quite good, especially with the 3 inchers.
All in all, for the $140.00 I paid for it, I'm not unhappy. It would make a good camping/survival gun. I'm sure I can make it shoot some sort of bullet with close range accuracy. The destructions say not to try to make it a magnum, to keep colt sa loads in mind.
The H&R Handy-Gun is not just a "sawed-off with a pistol grip". It is a smooth bore shot pistol manufactured from the early 1920s to 1934 by the Harrington and Richardson Arms Co. It was a small game gun available in .410 bore and 28 gauge with an 8" or 12-1/4" and other calibers were rumored to exist. A company rep was quoted in 1985 as stating that "over 25,000" were made. Manufacture was stopped in 1934 with the passage of the infamous National Firearms Act - presumably passed to get Thompson submachine guns off the market because they were the favorite weapon of the bootleggers - never mind that prohibition was repealed the year before (1933).
It was never clear why the Handy-Gun was on that list from the beginning since it was a single shot .410 pistol chambered only for 2-1/2" shells and would never be a weapon of choice for defense, offense, or bank robbing or any such activities. It is even less clear why the BATF/ATFE has consistantly refused to remove this gun from the NFA list although they did reclassify it as a "CURIO & RELIC" some years ago.
I acquired mine as a gift from one of my dad's friends in 1934 since he knew of my interest in gun collecting - it was a birthday gift for my 8th birthday. It is duly registered and has always been. There was a period of "amnesty" for the month of October, 1968, for those owners who had specimens not registered to register their guns.
As far as I know, there is no way one of these can be legally registered now and the fine for possession of an unregistered Handy-Gun is $10,000!!
Eric Larsen published a small booklet on this gun in 1993 (Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 93-91518). At that time, he had located some 165 or so specimens and I called him to report mine. He had, by that time, located about 225 guns including mine.
I lived in a very remote rural part of western Nebraska at that time and I shot my share of rabbits and prairie dogs and even a few pheasants that I got close enough to get. The effective range was only about 15 - 20 yards so most pheasants were pretty safe.
I have heard of a couple of specimens for sale over the years but they were unregistered and, under the current regulations, there seems to be no legal way one could purchase one of these guns. In view of that, I suspect there are a good many of them around and there is no way of estimating what that number is.
Mr. Larsen and others have tried over the years to get the Handy-Gun removed from the list but, the ATFE, in all its bureaucratic wisdom, has always blocked these efforts. It is a real shame because it is only a collector's item and not a threat to society by any stretch of the imagination.
It was never clear why the Handy-Gun was on that list from the beginning since it was a single shot .410 pistol chambered only for 2-1/2" shells and would never be a weapon of choice for defense, offense, or bank robbing or any such activities. It is even less clear why the BATF/ATFE has consistantly refused to remove this gun from the NFA list although they did reclassify it as a "CURIO & RELIC" some years ago.
I acquired mine as a gift from one of my dad's friends in 1934 since he knew of my interest in gun collecting - it was a birthday gift for my 8th birthday. It is duly registered and has always been. There was a period of "amnesty" for the month of October, 1968, for those owners who had specimens not registered to register their guns.
As far as I know, there is no way one of these can be legally registered now and the fine for possession of an unregistered Handy-Gun is $10,000!!
Eric Larsen published a small booklet on this gun in 1993 (Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 93-91518). At that time, he had located some 165 or so specimens and I called him to report mine. He had, by that time, located about 225 guns including mine.
I lived in a very remote rural part of western Nebraska at that time and I shot my share of rabbits and prairie dogs and even a few pheasants that I got close enough to get. The effective range was only about 15 - 20 yards so most pheasants were pretty safe.
I have heard of a couple of specimens for sale over the years but they were unregistered and, under the current regulations, there seems to be no legal way one could purchase one of these guns. In view of that, I suspect there are a good many of them around and there is no way of estimating what that number is.
Mr. Larsen and others have tried over the years to get the Handy-Gun removed from the list but, the ATFE, in all its bureaucratic wisdom, has always blocked these efforts. It is a real shame because it is only a collector's item and not a threat to society by any stretch of the imagination.