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CHAPTER THREE

BALLISTICS OF THE 410 CARTRIDGE

History

Although the 410 shotgun appears in British Proof House records as early as the 1870s, Greener did not mention this bore in 1884 [1]. He discussed Rook rifles from 295 through 380 caliber with box or back-action locks, hammer or hammerless, breech opening, usually single-barrel guns. He discussed the Express rifles up to 600 caliber. He discussed all smoothbores from 4 through 28, but not the 410. He discussed “walking stick guns” but not in the 410 bore.

In 1891, Greener again reviewed in detail all bores up to the 28 and, once again, was essentially silent on the 410. However, he did list in a chart the 410 bore as requiring a 2-inch cartridge with 3/8-ounce shot and 3/4-dram powder [2].

The “Archives of The Guild” at the London Proof House reveal a set of “Instructions to Proof Master” for the 410 bore [3]. A February 23, 1887, instruction ordered “the 410 bore for nitro proof to be proofed with 1-1/4 drams* (34 grains) of powder** and 1/2-ounce shot.” A September 29, 1903, document reports that the London Proof House proofed the walking stick 410 in the “same manner” as at the Birmingham House. The provisional proof used 2-1/4 drams with 3/8-ounce (164 grains) shot. The definitive proof used 3/4 dram with 3/8-ounce shot, and 1-1/2 drams (41 grains) with 1/2-ounce (218 grains) shot.

An August 4, 1904, letter from Mr. Turner of the London Proof House to Mr. Athol Purdey, discussed the 410 being “bored up” from 400 to 405, 410, or 415 with the .005 allowance for this bore “quite enough.” A firm English directive typically couched in velvet. At this time, the 1904 Rules of Proof required for nitro proofing 1-1/4 drams (34 grains) of “T.S. No. 2 Powder” and 9/16-ounce (245 grains) shot. This is confirmed by Greener in 1910 in which proofing the 410 bore required 1-1/4 drams of powder for 9/16-ounce shot charge. This was modified November 2, 1911, when the drams were increased to 1-1/2 for both 2-inch and 2 1/2-inch cartridges for nitro proofing.

Six days later, on November 8, 1911, perhaps after a bottle of claret plentifully stocked in the bowels of the London Proof House, the 2-inch cartridge proofing was changed back to 1-1/4 drams for the 9/16-ounce shot. The 2 1/2-inch cartridge was kept at 1-1/2 drams for a larger 11/16-ounce (302 grains) shot— clearly an empirical decision!

It appears that in England the 410 cartridge is a direct descendant of the 44-40 rifle cartridge [6]. This cartridge is analogous to the American 44 XL pest cartridge that O’Connor claims is the progenitor of the 410 smoothbore cartridge [7]. Remember, the 410 bore is a caliber .41 inch and is equivalent to a 67 gauge. For example, the 12 gauge has a bore diameter of .729 inch, the 28 gauge .550 inch, and the 410 gauge .410 inch or 10.414 millimeters.

Photo 1: Greener’s illustration of a cane 410 smoothbore.

Glenn Campbell photo

Originally a bottleneck configuration with a paper shot container, it was followed by a 2-inch straight brass case. This led to a 2-inch paper case with 3/8-ounce shot and by 1900 to a 2 1/2-inch case with 1/2-ounce shot. In early 20th century America, shotgun shooters were making 410 brass shot shell cases from 444 Marlin rifle cartridges [5].

The smallest bore Greener discusses in his subchapter on “Small Bore” game guns is the 28 gauge. He recommends this bore as a first gun for boys or young women. It is “the smallest caliber of any practical use as a game gun” [6]. This observation may be the genesis, in part, for the 410 phobia retailed by the gun gurus of the middle third of the 20th century in America such as Askins, Keith, and O’Connor.

Later gun writers described the 410 as a “misunderstood” gun, using the language of psychology to explain a utilitarian concept. Namely, that this gauge is not a beginner’s gun but one for the expert and its use is limited to taking game for the pot or for shooting clay targets [5].

So, the 410 “hasn’t much use”? Did anyone not start with a 410 and bag plenty of game or clay targets? Even more recently, and by someone who knows better, McIntosh confesses to a “bad attitude” towards the 410 as a game gun. The cartridge is a “patchy-shooting, bird-crippling piece of ballistic crap.” In partial atonement, he admits that 410 skeet shooting is “great fun” [8].

Greener’s one allusion to the 410, as late as 1910, is its use “by naturalists or for such weapons as walking stick guns.” He shows one such walking stick 410 (page 517), which is identical to one that recently surfaced in Scotland [6] (Photos 1 and 2). This reference, by the way, under section entitled “Odd Size”, recalls Askins’ reference to gender ambivalence! [9]

The Cartridge and Gun

Notwithstanding his contempt for the 410 bore, Askins discussed the ballistics of a 2-inch cartridge with 3/8-ounce shot for small wing game [9]. For quail shooting, he thought it best to use No. 8 shot with a full choke barrel. Of 150 pellets in the charge, 105 will be in the pattern at 40 yards with 0.85 pounds of energy per pellet delivered to the bird and a kill requires 2.25 pounds or three hits. For snipe, he recommended No. 10 shot giving 366 pellets in the charge, of which 329 will be in the pattern at 35 yards and 225 at 40 yards. Energy delivered to the bird, in this instance, is 0.54 pounds per pellet, and a kill requires 0.89 pounds or two hits. Interestingly, as he wrote this, the 1920s had been the decade when the 410-bore cartridge was dominated by the 2 1/2-inch case with 7/16-ounce shot for small game and 1/2-ounce shot for American skeet shooting, of which Askins was apparently oblivious [10].

*“Dram” is a term of measurement equaling 27.34 grains (1/16 ounce) and originates from the black-powder days of the 19th century. The use of the term in modern smokeless cartridges is a misuse. For example, a 3 1/4-dram 12-gauge load contains less than one dram of smokeless powder. Joseph Manton’s typical 12-gauge shot shell load in 1800 consisted of 1-1/4 ounces of shot and 3-1/2 drams of blackpowder. Today, the use of “dram” is, in fact, “dram equivalent,” meaning the amount of smokeless powder used that is equivalent in propellant powder to the number of drams required of black-powder. For example, one dram of blackpowder performance significantly differs from that of 27.34 grains of smokeless powder. The term is of historical and aesthetic interest and should he honored by its retirement.

**“Powder” has an extraordinarily simple history in comparison to the complex destruction wrought by its use in the good hands of the human species. By the 9th century, the Chinese were producing stable explosives and propellants from a combination of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur [4]. Saltpeter, as potassium nitrate, created oxygen and charcoal and sulfur provided the fuel.¹The elimination of potassium salts, very corrosive to barrels, was accomplished by the nitration of glycerin in the 1840s. The result was nitroglycerin. Later other organic substances replaced glycerin such as wood pulp and cotton. When cotton, a cellulose, was treated with nitric and sulfuric acids, the result was nitrocellulose.² This propellant, a single base powder, is the primary American powder [5]. The British historically have tended to use a double base powder, a combination of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin, otherwise known as cordite. The British powders have been very corrosive on barrels. When combined with primers compounded of fulminate of mercury, which turned to salt when combusted, the result was deep pitting of barrels. A primary reason why so few vintage 410 British shotguns exist today is that the 410 cartridge was the last to eliminate mercury from the cartridge and did not do so routinely until after 1950.

Photo 2: Action and stock of an English cane 410 smoothbore.

Cameo photo

O’Connor called the 2 1/2-inch cartridge the “sub-small bore” and the 3-inch case with 3/4-ounce shot, pioneered by Winchester-Western in the early 1930s, the “small bore” [7]. These cartridges were chambered by a wide variety of American 410s in the 1920s and 1930s.

The American 410 bore in the late 1920s and 1930s included the premier double-barrel side-by-sides such as Parker, L.C. Smith, and Ithaca. Lesser quality but well-made doubles included Ithaca’s Grade A Lefever manufactured from 1934 to 1942, L.C. Smith’s Hunter Special, The Fulton manufactured from approximately 1930 to 1951, and the Marlin Model 90 over/under manufactured from 1939 to 1952.

A number of cheaper 4l0s were developed prior to and subsequent to the classic doubles in boxlock, bolt, pump, hammer, or lever action and in various single- and double-barrel configurations built for the 2 1/2- and 3-inch cartridges. These included the famous but short-lived Marlin 410 lever action, the Remington 11/48, the Noble 410 semi-automatic, the Stevens over/under 410/22, and the Savage Model 99 takedown with interchangeable 410-smoothbore and 300-caliber rifle barrels.

These also included the post-World War I Winchester Model 20, a boxlock hammer gun manufactured between 1919 and 1924; the Winchester Model 37 top-lever break-open action manufactured between 1936 and 1963; the Winchester Model 41 bolt-action single-shot 410 manufactured between 1920 and 1934; and the Iver Johnson Champion single-barrel hammer with auto ejectors manufactured from 1909 to 1956. Iver Johnson also made a Hercules-grade 410 double-barrel hammer-less boxlock from post-World War I to 1948. Savage-Stevens made a boxlock side-by-side double. Crescent made a serviceable back-action sidelock between the two world wars. In the 1930s, the premier single-barrel 410 was the Winchester Model 42 (for details of the above guns, see relevant chapters).

Barrel chambers were available for the 2 1/2- and 3-inch cartridge. The latter cartridge proved to be very effective in the field for small wing and ground game.

It is estimated that 4 to 10 percent of all shotguns sold in America in the middle third of the 20th century were 410 bore [7]. Eley, who currently supplies 60 percent of cartridges in Great Britain, reports that in a sample 3-year period in the 1970s, 6 percent of all cartridges sold were 410 bore, second to the 12 bore which was 87 percent.

Keith, after many caustic comments such as its use to “bag game shows damn little intelligence”, concedes that the 410 can be used effectively under 30 yards for quail, dove, woodcock, snipe, and ruffled grouse if a 3-inch, 3/4-ounce cartridge is employed [11]. He patterned a 2 1/2-inch, 7 1/2-shot cartridge using the lever-action Marlin 410. At 40 yards, using a 30-inch pattern, three or more pellets would hit a pheasant or mallard. Using a Marlin over/under Model 90, with the same cartridge, at 40 yards, four or five pellets would hit a big bird. At 35 yards, there would be enough force to kill a grouse or a duck. He recommended a full choke for greater kill density and a No. 8 shot for a denser pattern.

By the 1960s, a resurgence of interest in the 410 occurred in target shooting, and the 1970s saw a maturing development of interest in 410 collecting. In the 1980s, there was widespread use of the modern 410 for appropriate small wing and ground game by the sportsman shot gunner.

Today

William Hovey Smith, an American moviemaker, wrote enthusiastically about the hunting and ballistic capabilities of the 410 [12]. He, like other shotgun writers of the 1980s and early 1990s, extols the merits of the 410 as both a practical gun for close-range shooting (15 to 30 yards), producing minimal game destruction, as well as a challenging bore for the shooter who fancies a challenge. Smith’s first 410, as for so many of us, was the Stevens over/under 410/22. From this, he progressed to the Savage-Stevens side-by-side 410.

Smith argued for modified and full chokes to minimize cripples and escaped but wounded game. The 3-inch cartridge with 11/16- to 3/4-ounce shot gives a maximum effective killing range of 25 yards for 8 shot and 30 yards for 7-1/2 shot. He uses the same ounce of shot with 5 or 6 shot for rabbit and squirrel that loads 117 and 151 pellets respectively. For quail, dove, or woodcock, he prefers 7-1/2, 8, or 9 shot that loads 234, 280, and 392 pellets respectively. Interestingly, the 392-pellet No. 9 shot 410 cartridge compares favorably with the 400-pellet No. 8 shot cartridge in bigger bores.

The 410 has become more than a “misbegotten” gauge reserved for the taxidermist or small kids.

A recent ballistic assessment for the modern 410 loads proves very reassuring for the game shooter [13]. The striking energies of 6- and 7-shot 410-gauge cartridges at velocities of 800 and 900 ft/s at 25 yards are over the 1 ft/lb of minimum energy necessary to effectively kill small wing and ground game. At maximum powder loads, a 3-inch 11/16-ounce 410 cartridge of shot sizes 5 through 9 has a muzzle velocity of 1135 ft/s, slower than any gauge from 12 to 28, but sufficient for an effective kill.

This compares favorably with Askins’ original data. The 2-inch cartridge contains 3/8-ounce shot and is effective up to 20 yards with a pattern density of 80 to 90 percent. The 2 1/2-inch shell with 1/2-ounce shot is effective up to 25 yards with a density of 80 percent. The 3-inch shell with 3/4-ounce shot is effective up to 30 to 35 yards with a density of over 90 percent. The pellet count at 30 to 35 yards in a 30-inch circle for the 3-inch 410 cartridge is superior to the shorter shells at shorter ranges.

Short of wild pheasant, big duck, and geese, the 3-inch cartridge is effective in the hands of a good shooter for all wing game under 30 to 35 yards. Recent essays on self-loading the 410 cartridge illustrates the many variables in producing a custom load [14,15].

Chris Cradock, once the grand man of British clay target shooting, started shooting with a 410 as a 10-year-old boy [16]. Despite the obvious advantages for a beginner—small size, small recoil, small price—he couldn’t refrain from recalling that “not for nothing do our American cousins dub these guns the ‘idiot sticks’” [17]. He is certainly referring to earlier American shotgun writing by big bore aficionados such as Askins, Keith, and O’Connor.

Commentary

This is fair enough when we consider that for upland game shooting in the wide-open American West—“rough shooting” not dreamt of in Britain or Europe—long-range accuracy is at a premium. Anyone who has hunted wild chukar among the rocky outcrops and mesas in the California and Nevada high deserts, offering but a small handful of shooting opportunities over a long and hard day of trekking up, down, and around inhospitable terrain, will so attest. All who have tried to walk or run down the wild ruffled grouse in the broad undulating plains of South Dakota will quickly agree that big bore shotgunning, especially for meat or survival hunters, will always dominate certain shooting or hunting venues.

Nothing could be more inappropriate than a 410 bore for large wild upland wing game or for smaller game that flushes at 30 or more yards. It is equally inappropriate for waterfowl, pass, or decoy shooting at almost any range. Greener acknowledged that for the naturalist, the taxidermist, and the gamekeeper, the 410 was in demand because of its portability and stock detachment but that “its killing range” was up to only 25 yards.

Shooting instructors dislike teaching a beginner with the 410, especially if the 2-inch cartridge with 3/8-ounce shot is used. This yields a meager number of pellets, and because many guns were full choked, a pattern “like thrown by a rifle bullet” occurs. This results in many more missed than hit targets, a demoralizing experience for a novice. This also raises the issue of how does the choke affect 410 ballistics.

Photo 3: A typical very effective pattern of a cylinder-choked 410. Photo courtesy of Shotgun Digest, 4th Edition, 1993.

The Effects of Choke

Choke boring was patented in England by W.R. Pape in 1866 but may have been developed earlier by Fred Kimble of Illinois [11]. Greener brought it to its first commercial success in the 1870s by holding a number of clinics and trials to demonstrate its value [6].

Choke is defined as the amount of constriction at the barrel muzzle in thousandths of an inch. It is generally accepted that 40 thousandths is full choke, no constriction is true cylinder.

Although it is demonstrable that the degree of choke is relatively unimportant in determining pattern density under 15 yards, in the 15 to 35 yard range, choke becomes increasingly important. Moreover, there is considerable controversy as to what choke is appropriate for game shooting.

This writer, a 410 shooter all of his life, argues that a full choke reduces the number of cripples; hence lost birds. This is especially true with wild Valley and Gambel’s quail in California, Gambel’s and Scale quail in Arizona, Scale in Texas, and the three major quail species in Mexico. The problem of crippled “runners” is nearly insoluble without dogs, and much western quail hunting is done without our canine companions.

This is less a problem for snipe, woodcock, mourning dove, or whitewing dove shooting. They are not “runners” and a cripple can usually be retrieved with or without dogs. Southeastern bobwhite hunting in America is always done with dogs, and “runners,” therefore, are not a problem. With retrieval dogs, wing game can be shot with a more open choke, improving the kill-to-cartridge ratio without a significant loss of crippled birds.

A recent essay in Shotgun Digest presents a powerful argument for a straight cylinder choke when hunting in thick woodcock and quail coverts where shotgunning is fast and close [18]. At 15 yards, the 3-inch 11/16-ounce load 410 cartridge with the cylinder choke will open more uniformly, faster, and wider than any other choke and gauge duo does. Photo 3 illustrates pattern uniformity and density at 15 yards with a cylinder 410 cartridge.

Furthermore, based upon Askins’ pounds of energy per pellet, only two or three 8 or 7-1/2 shot will take down any small game bird. Modern powder will propel the shot at over 1100 ft/s.

The essay does agree that rabbit, squirrel, and pass shooting for high dove requires a more restricted choke, notwithstanding the problems of a long shot string and shot deformation with patchy perimeter pellet hits.

Cradock points out that a full choke is problematic for even an experienced shot. At 25 yards, in all bores 12 through 410, the full choke shot pattern has a diameter of 21 inches (340 square inch area). At 25 yards, the improved cylinder choke in the 410 bore has a shot pattern diameter of 32 inches (800 square inch area). This latter choke is a more practical choice for some small wing and ground game species. There is still sufficient pellet density to kill, depending upon cartridge length and range [17].

A recent paper has recommended full-length plastic wads and slow burning powder giving an approximate velocity of 1200 ft/s of hard quality shot [19].

Physics

There is a well-known and interesting characteristic about the 3-inch 410 cartridge that results in its being called a “ballistic abortion” [13]. This is because this cartridge has the longest shot “string” or “column” of all cartridges in all bores, due to the soft lead shot and to a poor velocity-to-pressure ratio.

For example, the 410 shot column (the amount of shot deformed by contacts with the cone of the choke) is 2.175 inches long, compared with the 12 bore at .69 inch and 28 bore at 1.21 inches. This “rifle bullet” or “balling of the shot” effect results from the deformation of pellets and may throw the charge out to 100 to 150 yards. In general, the smaller the gauge, the longer the column and the less dense the pattern.

This was first described by Burrard in 1888 [20] and this phenomenon of a long shot “string” appears to have two physical causes. First, under high pressure, the soft lead shot column results in the welding together of the lead pellets. Second, hot gasses get past the wadding and into the shot charge causing fusion of the pellets. This is called poor “obturation.” Poor obturation also occurs when 2-inch cartridges are fired from 3-inch chambers, because of the difference in case length and chamber depth.

Ultimately then, the long shot string is due to poor velocity-to-pressure ratios. The proof is in the high proof pressures required for the 3-inch 410 bore. The 2-inch 5/16-ounce load and the 2 1/2-inch 7/16-ounce load in the 410 bore require proof pressures of 3-1/4 tons per square inch. For the 12 bore 2 1/2-inch cartridge, it is 3 tons. But, for the 410 bore 3-inch 10/16-ounce load cartridge, the proof pressures are 5 tons per square inch! This may also be expressed in “bars,” whereby one bar equals 14.5 pounds of pressure per square inch. Therefore, one ton equals approximately 138 bars.

Personal Note

This writer graduated from the Stevens under/over 410/22 to the Marlin 410 lever action. This was followed by the Webley & Scott 400 series boxlock side-by-side, and finally rested with the Belgian-made Browning Superposed over/under. A variety of configurations have been used with clay targets and wing game from the single-shot hammer Purdey with 2-inch cartridges to the Winchester Model 42 single-barrel 3-inch cartridge to the classical 410 doubles made by Parker, Boss, Purdey, and Winchester.

Each has its own style, quirks and enjoyments. My workhorse is the Browning in full choke with a 3-inch cartridge for game and a 2 1/2-inch cartridge for targets. Seldom is a hit bird not retrieved. Furthermore, the gap between human technology and nature is somewhat narrowed, making for a more rigorous stalk, hunt, and shoot. Even at appropriate game and ranges, these may still be “idiot sticks”; however, the “idiots” are more content with the bigger challenge and the greater satisfaction. Furthermore, the state of idiocy connotes irrational choices. The 410 use is non-rational rather than irrational. That is, it is emotional, intuitive, and aesthetic, gender ambivalence be damned. Let the big-bore apologists wrestle with that ambiguity. The beauty of shooting the 410, especially for the youngster, is that good form and patience are usually rewarded with a broken target or harvested game.

Ballistics of the 410 Cartridge References

1. Greener, W.W., The Gun and Its Development, 1884, 2nd Edition, Cassell & Company, Ltd., London.

2. Greener, W.W., Modern Shotguns, 1891, 2nd Edition, Cassell & Company, Ltd., London.

3. British Proof House records (London), researched on site 1985 to 1990.

4. Jackson, Tony, ST&CM, 1995, February 9-15.

5. Wallack, L.R., American Shotgun Design & Performance, 1977, Winchester Press.

6. Greener, W.W., The Gun and Its Development, 1910, 9th Edition, Cassell & Company, Ltd., London.

7. O’Connor, Jack, The Shotgun Book, 1965, Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

8. McIntoch, Michael, Shooting Sportsman, 1994, July-August.

9. Askins, Charles, Modern Shotguns and Loads, 1929, Small Arms Technical, 1929.

10. Hastings, MacDonald, The Shotgun, 1981, David and Charles, Newton Abbott, London.

11. Keith, Elmer, Shotgun, 1967, Bonanza Books.

12. Smith, W.H. The American Shotgunner, February 1983.

13. ST&CM, 1990, September 27-October 3.

14. Greevy, Les, Shooting Sportsman, 1999, July-August.

15. Williams, Marshall, Shotgun Sports, 1999, January-February.

16. ST&CM, 1991, March 14/20.

17. Cradock, Chris, Cradock on Shotguns, 1989, B.T. Batsford, Ltd., London.

18. Christian, Chris, Shotgun Digest, 4th Edition, DBI Books, Inc., 1993.

19. Woodhouse, Tim, “Fun With a 410,” The Shooting Gazette, April 2002.

20.Burrard, Major Sir G., The Identification of Firearms and Forensic Ballistics, 1934, 1st edition.

1This is the basis for blackpowder, which generated force by heat expansion.

2 This powder, smokeless, generated force by gas escaping under high pressure.