.410 patterning ...

Has anyone ever patterned a standard full choke .410 with those high dollar #9 tungsten type shells? I have a couple .410's with fixed full choke and doubt I'd ever actually use them since I really don't even like spending nearly $30 on a tag to shoot one turkey and then spend the money for them high dollar shells too. Just curious is all. I don't care about the guns with the special chokes and all that BS.

It's a stunt that some are doing.

I've killed deer with a 22lr, so it can be done. But not something I would recommend.

Was big debate about it. I didn't see the benefits since I already had a 12 gauge and 15 boxes of Winchester long beard shell.

I couldn't care less about that.

All i want to know is if the stuff patterns good out of a fixed full choke.

Again I do not care about that debate. Like most everyone else I imaging, I'm tired of hearing it.

They're all junk

Back when we could shoot lead shot I shot a swan over decoys with a 1/2 ounce of lead 9 shot. Win AA skeet load. I shot it in the head as it flew past at 25-30 yards. One shot and my tag was filled. I am sure the tungsten would work out of a 410 on turkey. The biggest thing to remember is a shotgun is a short range gun. Some pattern better than others, but they all have a limit.

Coondagger is the guys you wanna talk to ADC he's a load of knowledge when it comes to .410 and turkey

Yes, but he uses a special choke with his.




I shot a coyote once with 7 1/2 shot 3" .410 at short range too. However I've never patterned that high dollar ammo in a factory fixed full choke to know how far the "short range" is.

Most of the turkey I have shot would been no problem with a 410

I don't doubt it. A .410 is a very capable gun and at close range I don't think you'd see a difference, dead is dead, but I wonder how far the tungsten shot extends that range with a fixed full choke. I know it extends it a lot with the special chokes designed for it.

Someone was posting they were shooting Canada geese over decoys with tungsten and it seems like it was 9's.

My .410 never missed so I have never tried to pattern it.

I bought a Savage 301 single shot .410 last year….i have five young grandsons who might want to hunt someday. I put a compact 4X scope on it. It came with a turkey choke. I patterned it at 40 yards, it put 88 number 9 shot TSS in a 10 inch circle. I hunted with it last spring, killed two gobblers with it.

I bought my son a Henry Youth Single shot 410 for his first shotgun. At 5 years old I had not planned to take him turkey hunting to be the shooter but as an observer. Last winter I had him shooting stationary clay pigeons with 2.5” shells off of the Bog Deathgrip tripod. He was disintegrating the pigeons at 15 yards and was very consistent. I figured if I tagged out on gobblers I would take him to hunt out of the hay bale blind he helped me build over the winter. I patterned his little 410 with its factory full choke and Apex Turkey Ninja Tungsten and I was pleasantly surprised it was actually tighter than I wanted it to be for a 5 year old at 15 yard but I wanted to really try to control the situation with decoys right at 15 yards. Honestly I didn’t figure he had a chance due to excitement but I was wrong.

15 yards stock full choke pattern from Henry youth 410 (My experience with the Tungsten has been a tighter choke is not always better)


As luck would have it I tagged out and the recon that week told me there was a group of Jakes hanging in the area of the hay bale blind so Saturday morning my son and I sat the hay bale blind with decoys at 15 yards and his little Henry clamped up in the death grip pointed in the direction of the decoys. Shortly after fly down 6 Jakes came running to my calls and immaturely gobbling all the way. They ran right into the decoys, I reached over and cocked his gun, and before I could say pick one the gun cracked and one was flopping. I was one proud dad.

Based on the pattern of the little Henry I would not be afraid to shoot one at least 25 yards with my limiting factor being eye sight as I prefer a shotgun scope on my turkey gun (Remington 11/87 20 gauge)

Yeah, it’ll pattern…to a certain distance. I thought of it and quickly decided against it. Heard of a few wounding them with .410’s. I don’t take exceptionally long shots or unethical shots, but I know with my 20ga and the shells I shoot I’m 1000% confident with any shot to 40+ yards and if there’s a little brush in the way it’s still a DEAD bird. Those out of state birds can be tough sometimes, lol. Mountain birds look over a ledge and if they don’t see anything the next gobble is 200 yards away. If that ledge is 35–45yds away I’m pulling the trigger with confidence.

Thanks! What size shot? Did you shoot any pattern at longer ranges?

ttt

ADC - the load was 7/8 oz of 9-1/2 shot. I did not pattern the tungsten any further as I was running low on shells. I did shoot some regular Remington 3” #6 shot lead loads at 25 yards and the pattern was adequate not as dense as the tungsten but very adequate which is what he used for squirrels this past fall with good performance

I have patterned 2 .410's with factory full chokes. One was a rossi stuffy turkey that I accidently put the wrong choke in and the other was a TriStar cobra 3. Both were shot using the apex ninja shells which are 7/8 oz of 9.5 shot. Both guns were solid 40+ yard patterns. I'll see if I still have pictures of the pattern.

This is the rossi at 40 yards. Ended up putting a turkey choke in it and honestly I don't think it did any better. I would suggest the apex Ninja's for the .410. I have patterned 3 different .410's using 3 different tss loads and the apex patterned the best in every combination I tried.

We messed around with hand loaded tungsten out of Tristar viper’s in 410 and 20 gauge last spring, different loads, different chokes etc, the 410 with full choke is a solid 25 yard gun, to be honest, without a scope or a red dot I would shoot full choke. I decided on the 20 gauge but the 410 is more than capable. I have hunted turkey with a custom barreled 870 wingmaster mag for 30 yrs,, it may never leave the gun cabinet again.

When I started bird hunting that is what I was given to hunt with. Many grouse and ducks were taken with my 410. Still own it, HnR Topper model.

Thanks for the info.



Thank you as well. In recent years Scheels has had some good sales on the tungsten stuff. If they do again I may have to try to pattern it.

I shoot the vast majority of the pheasants I kill with a .410 but sometimes I cheat and go overkill with the .28.