410 round ball or use bullet?

[Buttonbuck]

Ok so the gun gods may bestow on me a Stevens 39a 410 to go with my 410/22 I have a .375 Lyman round ball mold. Anyone try this load in a 2 1/2 shell or go with a bullet mold in which caliber? It is a full choke. This gun I'm trading for just have to pay NICS check.

[725]

Try 'em both. Never know 'till you experiment. Watch that full choke with either projectile. I'd make sure it wasn't too tight for the load. The only RB's I've tried, ran through a cylinder bore.

[Outpost75]

Measure the tightest diameter of the choke, and pick a round ball which falls through the choke of its own weight.

Keep charges light. I use 6 grains of Bullseye.

My choke-bore H&R .410 measures actually .410" at the muzzle, whereas the bore at the approximate midpoint of the barrel is .424 and at the end o9f the forcing cone 4" forward of the breech face is .433". Soft cast .395 round balls will shoot about 3-4" groups at 25 yards, aiming with the bead at 25 yards and strike about 4 inches high.

.410" diameter 200-grain lead semiwadcutters keyhole and won't stay on a 20-inch square target paper at 25 yards.

I can tell you from experience that trying to shoot an oversized bullet through a choked .410 barrel will split the muzzle about 4" back and spread it open like the hood of a cobra. and the gun will actually recoil FORWARDS!

Factory softpoint .44-40 loads will do this on the first shot. You then take a pipe cutter, whack off the barrel at 22", behind the bulge, recrown and reinstall the front sight and you will have the best ball or shot 20-yard Game Getter ever.Yes, I have one of those, too!

[Buttonbuck]

Moral of the story slug your bore. We'll just slug and see.

[gunarea]

Hey Buttonbuck
For accuracy, go with a 9mm projectile seated into a wad with the petals cut off just below the nose. I have experience with both firearms mentioned along with a Mossburg 500 in 410. The wad is needed to serve as gas check. Under size slugs will check and keyhole, over size will rupture a full choke. Again, the wad takes up the slack. Semi extensive testing showed both 124gr and 147gr rn 9mm to out perform all 38/357 (10 different designs) in accuracy. Propellants did make small but significant differences. Bulleseye, Red dot, Green dot, Blue dot, Unique, 2400, 4227, AA #7 and IMR 3031 were those with broad spectrum ladder testing.
Bottom line. 9mm projectile pressed into wad with excess petal material removed, 11 to 12 gr Hercules 2400, overshot card and crimp. Testing was done using every range scrounged hull possible, final loading went into AA 2 1/2" exclusively. I have been told hot glue will work as well but I do not know for sure. My MEC sizemaster will put a nice crimp on this particular round. This work was done to accommodate young boys wanting to hunt Turkey with Dad & Granpa. I hope our work will be of some value .
Roy

[Oklahoma Rebel]

what about putting the pistol boolit backwards? that way it will be nose heavy, maybe getting them to fly instead of tumble? I kinda doubt it but worth a shot, heeding all the other warnings of course!

[Outpost75]

what about putting the pistol boolit backwards? that way it will be nose heavy, maybe getting them to fly instead of tumble? I kinda doubt it but worth a shot, heeding all the other warnings of course!

Hollow-point bullet with drywall screw run into cavity to act as "tail" when shot backwards should work.
Insert into plastic wad column and fill bottom with grex to keep tail centered and to protect bore from scoring, otherwise projectile might get cocked during acceleration and you make a long draw scratch down the tube.

[Jedman]

Not to say it wouldn't happen or isn't dangerous but there is YouTube video of a couple of idiots shooting all sorts of high pressure stuff thru a old 410 break action shotgun.
They fired 454 Casull many times with jacketed bullets thru a full choked 410 and it didn't burst.

I shoot 3 Ball loads .395 thru a full choked Rem. 870 Express and they group in to 3" at 25 yards.
at that distance they will penetrate thru a treated 4x4 post and are a good short range killer.

Jedman

[uncle dino]

Hopefully I'll be experimenting with these over the next few weeks.. 5/16 oz. hollow base..these measure right at .410". D

[Buttonbuck]

Neat slug who made the mould?

[Multigunner]

what about putting the pistol boolit backwards? that way it will be nose heavy, maybe getting them to fly instead of tumble? I kinda doubt it but worth a shot, heeding all the other warnings of course!

I think that has been done with fairly good results.

A method used by owners of smoothbore buck and ball muzzle loaders was to drill a hole through a round ball and slip a short length of stout cord through the hole with a knot at the front and back of the ball while leaving a tail of cord at the rear.
In flight the cord acted like the tail of a kite or a sea anchor the prevent the ball from rolling in the air and moving more or less in a straight line.
I've seen this attempted with a small bore smooth bore cannon firing a cylindrical projectile but they screwed up by using a nylon cord that melted into a lump behind the projectile. They also were using Cordite charges which burn at a very high temperature. BP charges shouldn't be a problem. perhaps the cord should be dampened before loading with a wad between charge and coiled cord.

[uncle dino]

BB... No mold, I swage the slugs.. Just pressure and a die.. D

[kycrawler]

I have an hg 10 cavity mold that has been modified to drop a 95 grain .358 wadcutter. 3 of these stacked together in a win wad will turn a coyotes feet up at 30 yards