If a .410 will fit a .45 Colt, will a .45 Colt fit a .410?

[snaketail]

Suppose I was stranded on a desert island and all I had was a single shot .410 and a hand-full of .45 Colt ammo. Should I throw away the ammo and use the shotgun as a club, or shoot the .45 Colt in the .410 to feed myself? And, yes I am fully aware of the safety issues - but would it work in an emergency?

Michael

[cja245]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-lyk1WyyJ4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAnbDvLIAac

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwX9mJvss1k


I don't suggest anyone actually try this.

[hardy]

Who was it that said a little knowledge is a dangerous thing? Mike.

[snaketail]

I'm not gonna try it, but that little Tuffy .410 is looking a lot better now.
M

[RoyEllis]

Many, many moons ago I lived in rural northern Mississippi & had an elderly neighbor who hunted everything he ate with a single shot H&R .410.....silly bastage poached deer with it, shooting 30/30 shells from said .410. He carried a long steel rod & ball peen hammer for an extractor. Needless to say once was enough "hunting trip" for me.

[Iowa Fox]

My old Uncle had to polish his chamber with crocus cloth to get a 45 LC to chamber. He used the 45 case with his home loaded shot shells for sparrow control at the farm. He was in his 80s when he did it because his eyes wouldn't let him use his 22 anymore.

[RPRNY]

Despite the video, most .410 shotguns are relatively delicate and tightly choked. So, provided you can force a .451 or.452 bullet down a .410 barrel, it will be none the better being pushed through a @ .390 - .395 sizer (called a choke) at 800 fps. Unrifled, the barrel will impart no spin so the chances of hitting anything more than 10 yards away are very slim. Now you have to consider the
.410. Yes, the little Rossi in the video seems tough. But many are not. Shooting a 1/2oz of shot over 14 grs or so of H110 is one thing. 25.5 grs of H110 pushing 255 grs is going to seriously spike pressure.

So, will it work? Maybe. Is it a good idea? NO.

[Outpost75]

DO NOT EVER shoot bulleted .45 Colt or even .44-40 ammunition in a CHOKED .410!

You will blow the muzzle end off the barrel.

Cut the muzzle off behind the choke and then slug the remaining bore FIRST!

Don't ask me how I know.....

[Lloyd Smale]

Weve got a 410 single shot savage at camp thats older the dirt and has digested many hundred 44 specails loaded lightly. It barely has the recoil of a 22 loaded with them and im sure the pressures alot lower then factory 410 shells are. At least if recoil is any factor. Im not recomending you do it but if i was stuck on that desert island id be eating game shot with it.

[HABCAN]

Many, MANY moons ago at a Fish & Game (seized) gun auction in New Brunswick, I was asked by some locals why I thought their .410 single shot would not even 'hit a tree, yonder?' After much inquiry, it turned out their ammo was military .303 Brit hardball..............! Gun never suffered, nor did they, but 'the darn thing wouldn't hit s**t, so t'was OK the Warden took it!' <Sheesh!>

[dbosman]

Who was it that said a little knowledge is a dangerous thing? Mike.

Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744) is credited with it in An Essay on Criticism, 1709
But... like many things, There's more.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-little-knowledge-is-a-dangerous-thing.html