What was your best shot? Biggest game took? and absolute most fun you can remember with your .410?

I remember my granddad had an old double barrel rabbit eared .410. He thought that hand me down shot gun could take on anything. (If it hadn't been stolen right after his death I too might have felt that way) I remember going camping and and granddad telling me not to worry "old Betsy" could take on Rhinos. Hmmm Never saw a rhino on our camping trips but I sure did anticipate them. :o)

Hope ya'll are ready for Christmas. And that all of you have a great one.

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), December 11, 2001

Answers

Kenneth, Too bad someone had to take your Grand-dads 410! I bought the one I use all the time for my oldest son's 14th birthday. He gave it back to me 10-15 years ago. He thought the shells were too expensive. It is a single shot. All my guns are single shots so I had better not miss. lol I did have a 3 "possum nite a few months ago. My granddaughter came by and said she had seen a "possum fighting with my mama cat. We went into the barn with my little Jack Russell, Sugar, and sure enough there was one. Then, Sugar flushed out another one. I got them with one shell each and we went to look at a new baby goat. On the way back I looked into the barn and there was another one! I have learned to put extra shells in my pocket and Beccy thinks her "possum shooting grandma is way cool!!

-- Kare in Kansas (kansasgoats@iwon.com), December 11, 2001.

Don't know about my memories, but my husband has a .410 he received from his dad when he was 12. Father-in-law had been given it from his father, who bought it used, for father-in-law's 12th birthday. I'm a little anxious -- only 6 1/2 more years and my oldest will be getting the same present, I'm sure. Better also get him some gun safety classes for that birthday!

-- Christine in OK (cljford@aol.com), December 11, 2001.

I inherited my grandpops 1929 model .410. It hold 3 rounds, but the ejector is broke and no parts to be had so its a singler shot and pick the shell out with a knife. I got a buck with it this year- a .410 is LETHAL. 41 caliber hollow points. Yup, I'll bet you could drop a rhino. I have dropped a husky at 40 yards using #6 shot (raiding the rabbit coops) at night it was raining and no moon, either! Sounds like how my dad had to go to school and he liked it... anyways, I love my .410. Darn thing shoots 18 inches HIGH with slugs though (at 30 yards) but it will drop a squirrel at 100 yards no problem. Hav to compensate for that over shot when firing slugs big time- I call it aiming for the ankles. Ive had lots of problems with (this year) Federal ammunition, so anybody who is buying ammo: get Winchester or Remington, federal rounds are worse than junk! As a side note, I heard an account of an old alaskan indian who used a .22 caliber single shot rifle to hunt grizzy bear. Apparently he would lay up along a little hill side and make his hand look like a ground squirrel, and shoot with the other hand... he would aim, I was told, for the eye. If that old guy can hunt grizzly witha .22, I guess I might be willing to hunt rhino with my grandpops .410 (thank god they are protected and no one can take me up on this one=)

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), December 11, 2001.

I've never owned a 410 but the best story I have about one involves a golt tournament I attended about 30 years ago. One of the guys in my 4 sum started taking a shot of Jack with each drive. Needless to say it didn't take long before his game went to pot. At the end he turned in a scorecard with 145 on it. They awarded all the prizes and announced they had one for the most honest golfer. He won a "beautiful" over & under 410 made in Spain and inlayed with silver.

-- Paul (treewizard@buffalo.com), December 12, 2001.

My first shotgun was a Savage 94 single shot .410 Youth Model . . . man, have I had that one a while. Dad bought that when I was knee high to a chopping block.

Couldn't hit doves worth a darn (I probably averaged a bird a box!), but rabbits were another matter; that gun made many fine meals. Picking shot out of the meat convinced me to switch to a .22 later on, I nearly broke some teeth on a few ocassions. The only problem I ever had with the gun was a broken extractor. A knife blade worked for a while, then I replaced the extractor myself.

Favorite story? The "kamikaze dove". On one of the few times I was able to kill a bird on the wing, I opened the shotgun, turned around to smile at my dad (nothin' to it), when the falling bird, knocked my hat off my head. Scared the hell out of me, that bird definitely had the last laugh. Dad really lost it, he couldn't talk for a few minutes.

-- j.r. guerra (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), December 12, 2001.

My favorite .410 memory.....

Watching my little brother get "kicked" by his the first time he shot it. ;)

-- LBD (lavenderbluedilly@hotmail.com), December 12, 2001.

A diverse opinion, perhaps. My best memory was "graduating" to a 20 guage, and one with an improved cylinder choke as well. Previously, only the most accident prone rabbit or (especially) partridge was harvestedby me. Once I had the 20, I suddenly became successful. The .410 (actually a caliber, rather than a guage) is really an expert's gun. At the farmstead, it is handy, and I do indeed have one in the barn for dispatching varmints (only 4 legged, for 2 legged I have more serious armament). But it is for slow moving things, or those sitting still - skunk in the daytime (they're actually friends, and at night I welcome them), raccoons, possums, democRATs, and other varmints. What I'm getting to here is that it has it's place, but if you are teaching a youngster, please go with the 20. He/she will be much happier hitting something with the 20, choked improved cylinder, and carrying 1 oz of shot, than with the 3/4 oz in the full choked .410, which is the only choke available, as far as I know, in that gun. And the difference in recoil is negligible. Differing opinions welcome, although obviously wrong! GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), December 12, 2001.

mine is a Monitor single shot 410 also stamped 44 cal. Purchased new in Odel NE. by my great grand father as a buggy gun He gave it to my grand mother to shoot civicats in the chicken house. she gave it to my uncle. he gave it to me after I shot a running rabbit with it All the rabbits are in town now so the old gun is not used, still I think of that first rabbit I ever shot running

-- larry crawford (ld2@winco.net), December 12, 2001.

I got a .410 for Christmas the year after I turned 12,spent many hours ,days really in the Piedmont of Virginia with a couple beagles chasing squirrels and rabbits over the hills and mountains.We still have the same farm and when I'm cutting hay or cultivating vegetables I have alot of memories to get me through the day.

-- Gary (burnett_gary@msn.com), December 13, 2001.