Posted: 11/30/2012 6:04:13 PM EDT
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Here in Mississippi rifle season just ended and I'm itching to stay in the hunt since I'm a month away from working again.
We can hunt with a single shot, exposed hammer, greater than .35 caliber. In my safe I have a Stevens .410 that would fit the bill if I shot a slug out of it but I'm not sure if that would be ethical. What do you guys think for shots about 60 yards or less? |
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Quoted:
Thanks for the help. Don't take it personally. I don't blame him for not wading into this one. But I will. (There was a similar question posed somewhere on Arfcom a couple months ago and it turned kinda ugly IIRC...) My advice- don't use a .410 for deer without a lot of experimenting, and range time. And ideally a lot of hunting experience already behind you so you can have the skills to handle possibly poor results-(wounded deer). There are much better choices. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Thanks for the help. Don't take it personally. I don't blame him for not wading into this one. But I will. (There was a similar question posed somewhere on Arfcom a couple months ago and it turned kinda ugly IIRC...) My advice- don't use a .410 for deer without a lot of experimenting, and range time. And ideally a lot of hunting experience already behind you so you can have the skills to handle possibly poor results-(wounded deer). There are much better choices. Thanks, this is exactly what I'm looking for since I am still very much a novice. It's just that I have a great deal of time on my hands with the layoff and my new job not starting until the end of December. I know the .410 will shoot slugs well from my past experience with it but I've only shot paper. I certainly don't want to wound an animal and cause undue suffering. I had my doubts so I asked here. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. |
| The #s are pretty close to a 44 mag & i know of a lot of deer killed with them,keep the shots in the vitals & under 75y or so & i see nothing unethical about using a 410,i thought the primative was for a blackpowder bullet like a 444 or 45/70 but could use smokeless powder?.a few folks in Tn want to do this to the muzzleloading season . |
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Quoted:
The #s are pretty close to a 44 mag & i know of a lot of deer killed with them,keep the shots in the vitals & under 75y or so & i see nothing unethical about using a 410,i thought the primative was for a blackpowder bullet like a 444 or 45/70 but could use smokeless powder?.a few folks in Tn want to do this to the muzzleloading season . Well, I pretty much agree that there's nothing inherently unethical about deer hunting while using a .410 per se. (It is illegal in Wisconsin, though.) But even if the numbers are close, the fact is that Foster-type .410 shotgun slugs penetrate rather poorly compared to hard-cast hunting bullets from a .44 Magnum or similar cartridge. I'd hate to see you lose the buck of a lifetime if his shoulder stopped the little slug on a quartering shot. Brenneke slugs would be a much better option, if they are available in .410. (I don't know if they are. Google will tell you shortly, though.) And Brenneke slugs from a borrowed 12 or 20 gauge would be far better yet. (If legal during the season you are talking about.) |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
The #s are pretty close to a 44 mag & i know of a lot of deer killed with them,keep the shots in the vitals & under 75y or so & i see nothing unethical about using a 410,i thought the primative was for a blackpowder bullet like a 444 or 45/70 but could use smokeless powder?.a few folks in Tn want to do this to the muzzleloading season . Well, I pretty much agree that there's nothing inherently unethical about deer hunting while using a .410 per se. (It is illegal in Wisconsin, though.) But even if the numbers are close, the fact is that Foster-type .410 shotgun slugs penetrate rather poorly compared to hard-cast hunting bullets from a .44 Magnum or similar cartridge. I'd hate to see you lose the buck of a lifetime if his shoulder stopped the little slug on a quartering shot. Brenneke slugs would be a much better option, if they are available in .410. (I don't know if they are. Google will tell you shortly, though.) And Brenneke slugs from a borrowed 12 or 20 gauge would be far better yet. (If legal during the season you are talking about.) I'm not sure how close the ballistics are to a .44 mag. A .410 slug is 1/5 of an ounce, or around 87 grains. 
Even at a velocity of 1800 fps or so, that's nowhere near .44 mag power levels. If I had to hunt with a .410 I'd stick to 30 yards or closer. |
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Yeah, I wasn't sure either and didn't bother to compare ballistics.
I just took mike243's statement that the #s were 'close' (whatever that means), and ran with it. I suppose there are some .410 slug loads that may be more comparable to a light .44 load than some others, but I haven't really researched the subject. Interesting subject though. I think I'll do a little reading about it to see if I can find out what sort of .410 slug loads are available these days... |
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This guy has done some experimenting with some unconventional .410 slug loads.
http://mcb-homis.com/slug_410/slugloads/slugloadheavy/reloadheavy.htm He managed to get around 1600 fps out of a 163 grain (3/8 oz. ) slug for about 915 foot-pounds of energy. But accuracy was very poor and overall, the experiment looks pretty much like a failure to me... edited to add: Brennekke USA lists a factory 2-1/2 inch load with a 1/4 oz slug at 1500 fps. for a muzzle energy of 578 ft.lbs. But their .410 data page is screwy, showing velocity increasing downrange. 
I guess we can look at that data with a bit of skepticism!
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It's a very light load, and a very light slug. Honestly, you'd be better off with a 158~gr .357 softpoint, hollowpoint, or hardcast. Or swapping for/trading for/borrowing a 20 gauge.
If you treat the .410 like a bow, and only take a money shot, you will kill a deer. |