.410 slugs

banditt007

New member
as i remember a .410 slug has the same if not more power than a .44 magnum, i could be wrong but its what i think i remember...
 

sm

New member
.410 slugs are surprising little buggers.

More than one deer has fallen to one just out the back door out in the country.
Funniest was the lady at home doing chores while her husband went 2 hrs away to hunt deer with his nice deer rifle. Spike buck got into her new landscape project out the back door, grabbed the single shot .410, and shot him.
Husband comes in, no deer. Wife has one out back waiting for him. :p

Racoons, feral cats, and other predator needs.

Physically limited folks , such as recovering from detached retina, back, shoulder surgeries - etc., are restricted by Doctor's orders on when and what they can shoot.

Slugs are another tool in the tool box for someone that cannot use the usual home defense shotgun. They cannot handle the heavier gun, and the recoil is too much.
1100 in .410 with slugs affords home options to these folks. Some just use a Single shot, a bit lighter, easier for them to handle.

.410s are often called an Expert's Gun, harder to run a straight in skeet for instance. Not the best gun to start a kid with- 28 ga is.

Still, for too many years the single shot .410 has been a staple in barns, behind the back door and all , with pellet and slug lods, on farms, ranches and other rural applications.

Fun? Oh sure! Lobbing slugs at a coffee can way out yonder is fun.

Then again taking out a critter on property, and not wanting to hit the tractor, barn, house - just works with a .410 slug.

Ballistic Products even has a slug reload kit available. Quite a few folks reload slugs for .410 and 28 ga.

hth
 

chemist308

New member
A .410 single shot was my very first deer 'rifle.' I can't say I ever managed to shoot at a deer with it, but I've no doubt it would have done the job inside of 50 yards--which is all you could try for anyway with a single bead for a site.
 

kudu

New member
2 years ago Indiana added the .410 as a legal deer hunting round. It has more oomph than a .357 by far. No rifles allowed for deer in Indiana. And they are surprisingly accurate out of my .410 shotguns.
 

Diggers

New member
There is alot of argument about the .410 slug for deer. Some say that it looses power to fast, so when the slug get to target it doesn't have enough to do its job. Others say this is not an issue, you just have to know the limits of the slug and hunt within them. Makes sense I guess.

I really think the .410 is cool. I fun little gun. There are also 3" 000 buckshot shells, 5 pellets each, for the .410 that I think would make a good HD. At HD ranges that would be 5 74 grain pellets each at a bit over 200 foot pounds of energy. Seems pretty good.
 

Death from Afar

New member
A lot of interesting stuff. I sliced up one of the slugs and was surprised to see that a lot of the shell is filled with sawdust or similier!
 

Powderman

New member
Filled with sawdust? Whoa!!

I was always under the impression that they were solid cast lead--like any other slug.

Also, just as an aside--would .45 caliber bullets work well as slugs, with perhaps a rifled choke tube?
 

Greybeard

New member
"sawdust" within shotgun shell (not the projectile) is likely "filler" or buffer between powder charge and projectile.

.45 bullets in a .410 ? Look at dem decimal points (.451, .452 etc.) then go figger ... :eek:
 

chemist308

New member
Also, just as an aside--would .45 caliber bullets work well as slugs, with perhaps a rifled choke tube?
Of course, don't try this for obvious reasons, but I heard from my great uncle that 44-40 rounds could work. I tend to think this was way 'back in the day' and the bullets were cast lead.
 

jeager106

Moderator
.410 bore shotgun, or the T-rex killer.

Oh, groan!
Another debate on the merits of making the .410 shotgun into a deer rifle.
Here's the agrument.
"sure the .410 will kill deer just fine. You only have to limit your shots to 50 yards.":rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Now back to reality. If a novice hunter sees ol' mossy horns 80 yards and is armed with a .410 the novice is darned sure going to shoot!
We all know the difference between real life and what is written on paper don't we?
Try some real ballistics data:
Here is what a FORTY FIVE caliber muzzle loading rifle has to offer.
Buffalo ball-et. A bullet much like a .410 s.g. slug. Muzzle velocity of 1452 f.p.s., m.e. of 937 foot pounds. Barely legal muzzle gee whiz for big game as set by some state agencies. In fact flat out out illegal ballistics as set by some state game agencies.
At 100 yards the m.e. is 394 foot pounds. Do you want to put that in the hands of a deer hunter? Don't we owe the animal a little more respect than that?
B.P.I. makes a .410 slug loading "kit".
Now hang on to your shorts because the ballistics of this "kit" makes the .410 into a slayer of T-Rex. The kit uses a .375 roundball , wieght 79 grains, with various powders that earn record shattering velocities that range from 1280 f.p.s. to a whopping 1320 f.p.s.
Fellas those ballistics are pretty darn close to the ballistics of the .32 Mag. pistol round. Hot diggity fire up the barbque grill we're gonna have fhresh venison now!
By the way. That .410 'kit' supplied by BPI is made in Europe where it is used as a pest control load.
The .357 Mag. pistol has better ballstics. Much better.
I argued with one gun nut who claimed (read full of ****) he had a custom .410 and has taken deer out to 150 yards with it.
He descirbed it as: a H&R action, rebarreled to .41, RIFLED barrel, loaded with brass cases reworked from .303 Brit rounds.
Bullets were 210 grain made for the .41 magnum pistol.
The gun nut, if his story were even true, didn't realize that he was NOT shooting a .410 s.g. anymore!
So would some of you that advocated the .410 as a viable deer killer please copy some real ballistic data and paste it here for me.
I can hardly wait to be shed of my hard kicking 12 bore!
 

publius

New member
Yes, a .45 long colt will fire out of a single shot .410. Probably not a good idea, but I,ve seen it done successfully.
 

suemarkp

New member
And probably only in a gun marked 45 Colt/410. There are a few guns like this (Taurus 4410, T/C contender, some derringers, and maybe a NEF rifle).

Doing this with a normal 410 is just plain dumb. I don't even think the round will chamber since a 410 hull is about .455 in diameter, and a 45 colt is .465 at the brass case mouth.

A 410 slug that has a wad around it will measure about .375". If it only has a wad behind it, then it could be maybe .400". I believe the .410 bore measurement is a little less than .410 with a full choke.
 

Maser

New member
I have always wanted to try .410 slugs, but was too scared to because my .410 shotgun (now belongs to my little brother) was a fixed full choke and I have always heard horror stories about a slug fired from a full choke would blow the barrel up. Of course now I realize the only thing that happens is very poor accuracy.

Anyways, i'm sure a .410 slug would work fine on small deer at close ranges such as 75 yards. Please don't quote me because I have no experience and am just assuming. ;)
 

roy reali

New member
Re:maser

I see that you live in California. Until recently I did to. You should know that Golden State deer are unique. No mere .410 slug will drop one. Even the good ole' .30-30 will just bounce off their hide. It is the BALCO thing you know.:D
 

jeager106

Moderator
Given the fact that most .410 shotties are single shots with an itty bitty bead excuse for a front sight I doubt you could hit a deer at 75 yards.
It would be better for the deer that you didn't hit it with a .410 slug.
I see a lot of "I heard" stories but not one post with any personal experiences at all with the .410 slug.
My only experience with the tiny slug was with a single shot H&R and the 2.5" Winny slug.
I benched the thing at 25 just for grins.
The slugs tumbled and keyholed the target.
Well those that even hit the target.
How about someone with some real experience with the .375" slug in the .410 bore post some pics of the targets for us dummies?
Any takers?
 

kudu

New member
How about someone with some real experience with the .375" slug in the .410 bore post some pics of the targets for us dummies?
Any takers?

I'll see what I can do, it was 70 degrees here today, but a storm front is moving in tonight with T-storms and a high tomorrow of about 40 with snow predicted for the whole weekend.

If I get a break tomorrow I'll put 4 rounds through a target at 75 yards through my SxS. In the past it will group them in about 4"-5". I use Federal slugs, they are about .398 diameter and my chokes are mod and full in the gun. It is very well regulated as both barrels shoot very close to the same point of impact. The full choke measures .390, mod is .394.
 

kudu

New member
The weather is lousy, rain all day. I got out about dusk when it was just lightly raining and shot a 50 yard group. I used my Huglu SxS .410 with the full and mod barrels. I have added a mid bead for target purposes, it is very close to ideal for aiming slugs.

Using Federal Power-Shok slugs. 1/4 oz with advertised muzzle velocity of 1775fps. I had 4 shots in 1.9" with a fifth shot as a flyer opening it up to 3.8".

I am having problems with my pics, don't know if they will come up.
 

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