.410 - good for ...?

[Ds J]

What is a .410 shotgun good for?

Not joking here. Treeman donated a .410 "poacher's gun" to my kids, and we are in process of licensing.

It seems that it is a love/hate calibre. Some folks adore them, and others won't touch it with a pole.

I simply want to get the kids into shotgunning with it. They currently use the .22 rifle on doves, pigeons, guinea fowl etc.

[oafpatroll]

My take on it is that it's as much of a shotgun as any other bore, it's just for use on things that are closer and/or smaller.

[Treeman]

My take on it is that it's as much of a shotgun as any other bore, it's just for use on things that are closer and/or smaller.

****************************
Exactly, Cody shot duck with it, but not Geese. Ratting at dairy sheds is great fun. Find a sand dune spot and throw clays.
They also good for eradicating European starling pests.
The process of reloading and understand what happens and why is easily shown understood on a shotgun shell.THe little cartridge can be loaded after school on a kitchen table with the kit I am sending. You give your kid 20 cases teach him,her how and values are learnt - play, work, reward.
Runs outa steam very quickly so mistakes are less likely to kill a neighbour across the hood.   

[223]

They are good for small kids.  You can teach them the art of shotgunning flying targets, without the recoil of a 12 gauge.

[Ds J]

My first objective would be to get them to shoot with both eyes open.

Flying targets would have to wait until I can do it myself.

[oafpatroll]

Flying targets would have to wait until I can do it myself.

Pls let me know when you figure it out as I could do with some pointers.

[Ds J]

Flying targets would have to wait until I can do it myself.

Pls let me know when you figure it out as I could do with some pointers.

Will do.

For now, I will do the pattern-board-thing with a twist. My idea is simply to shoot on a large piece of paper or soft wood with both eyes open until I can put the shot where I want them to go.

[oafpatroll]

Will do.

For now, I will do the pattern-board-thing with a twist. My idea is simply to shoot on a large piece of paper or soft wood with both eyes open until I can put the shot where I want them to go.

I was half or maybe a little less joking. I've been shooting birds for a long time but every now and then, or more often than that, I miss more than I hit and it drives me spare. When I have the rare honest moment I admit to myself that it's because I don't practice enough. When i first started shooting birds I would spend months before the season practicing mount and tracking of starlings and bats in the garden and when season started I would be shooting every weekend for a couple of months. Now both of those things have reduced substantially and with it my ratio of hits to misses. Your patterning idea is on the money, without being able to visualise your pattern at various distances everything else gets much harder to do. Enjoy the 410 when you get it, I'm sure it will be great fun and your kids are bound to love it. A real gun in every way but less obnoxious and intimidating.   

[Treeman]

I just repacked the reloading kit, all the bits and pieces. Hell I collected a lot of bits and pieces.