Anyone hunt rabbits and hares with a .410? What is your favorite shell?

My favorite rabbit gun , is my mod.42 Win ,
I just aim for there head , that keeps the
shot in the meat at a minimum .

Bear Cat, hunting ANYTHING with a Model 42 is an exercise in panache!
What I have is an old, forlorn Remington 11-48 with full choke. I think it want to go rabbit hunting though. I have a box of Federal high-base 3-inch magnums in No. 7 1/2, and a box of Remington high-base 3-inch Magnum in No. 6. I feel reasonably well equipped, although lacking a brace of beagles ...

Nothing in the world wrong with kicking cottontails out of the brush yourself... I have very fond memories of taking my grandfather's single shot .410 and working over the briar patches just beyond the aluminum gate. Grandma was even good enough to cook the too-often body shot bunnies...

Oh, for the good old days, when life was still simple...

My daughter and I love to hunt cottontails with our.410 side-by=sides shooting 3" #7.5s. Her side-by-side is choked full/full and patterns very nicely at 35 yards.

As a side note, I prefer 3" #4s for squirrel.

My nine year old son Ely was just given a Mossberg bolt action 410 by a buddy of mine and I got him some 2.5" 1/2 oz #6's for the rabbits. The Mossberg has a poly choke on it that really works well. I was pleasantly supprised. Will let you know how they work.

God Bless, Louis

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Bear Cat, hunting ANYTHING with a Model 42 is an exercise in panache!

Bill, I agree....that's styling! He must use his H&H Royal for crows :-)

A Savage 24 410-22 LR. with 3" No.6's is in a scabbard on the ATV running bear baits and trap line, for a stray hare or grouse.

For a hunt for hares or grouse a CZ Ringneck 26" barrels with 3" No. 6's. I like 6's better just a little more penetration than 7 1/2's, keeping shots under 25 yrds.

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:

quote:

Bear Cat, hunting ANYTHING with a Model 42 is an exercise in panache!

Bill, I agree....that's styling! He must use his H&H Royal for crows :-)

I don't know what " panache " means , and I
don't have a H&H . I just kill the crows with
my old Parker . LOL

I have hunted game farm quail with my Browning reproduction M42. It works quite well. I had the full choke bored out to .004 constriction for skeet shooting. Have also shot a few snipe w/ it.
joe

A 410 is a good gun for an experienced shooter. The small amount of shot and the size of the pattern can lead a new shooter to missing more than hitting.
A 20 gauge will give a larger dencer patten and with the right loads the regoil won't be much more than a 410.
Most of the bolt shotguns I've handled are lighter than a pump gun. So recoil will be more with the bolt over a pump.
Leo

Call me cheap but 410 costs about twice as much as 20 gauge ammo does, so I've never owned one.

Used to shoot lots of rabbits with our 410 shotguns when we were kids. My father made them out of the old 303 LE rifles. Bore and ream the barrel leaving a good length choke, bore and ream the chamber for 3" shells. Did not feed from the mag but just used single shot which was easy being a push feed. Made strong and relatively light guns, safe for youngsters to use with a half open bolt until ready to shoot.

I made a few of these up later in life too. The little 410 3" with #4 shot was very effective on rabbits and ducks over decoys.

One of the old boys at my old rifle club used to use 3 inch shells #4 shot and open the crimp and pour hot candle wax into it then close it back up and he would head shoot rabbits out to 70m with them.
I use a AYA single shot for rabbits and idian minor birds very effective.

I have an old mossberg bolt actio 410 that I occasionally use for rabbits. I use 3" 5 or 6 shot.

My Contender pistol , with the 410ga. barrel
is also effective , and carried in a shoulder holster leaves both hands free for handeling the beagles .

Years ago when I was selling guns, 2 of the coolest little 410's I've ever seen were a Ruger Red Label O/U 410 & a Franchi semi-auto 410. My own rabbit rig is a Browning/Parker SxS 20ga repro & an Elmer Fudd hat :-)

Back in the day, I bought a .410 Citori and was much impressed with the performance on Pheasants. and no it's not the ideal pheasant gun but it works within it's limitations.
I was using 1/2 oz loads of copper plated 6's and a 3" factory load in the top barrel. I soon found out that the 3" shells weren't needed.
As much as I like .410's and 28's, if i were you, i'd look for an 1100 Remington 20ga. with a youth stock, and when the time comes, change out the wood and keep on shootin'.

Stepchild

I had a Mossberg bolt action 410 I hunted small game with,an I killed my first deer with it when I was 12.i miss that gun.

My Winchester model 42 is my go to rabbit gun. I like #6s myself.

I shoot a .410 870 Rem. on bunnies and assorted vermin like starlings. Pretty much all with handloads, my bunny load is a 2 1/2" Win. AA hull (old style), AA wad, WW 209 primer, and 1/2 oz of nickel plated lead #4's or 6's.

You can get the nickel plated shot through Precision Reloading Inc., I used the same load with nickel plated 8's for doves and quail.

Interestingly enough there are factory .410 steel shot loads now too, which I tried out on bunnies and they worked fine. And there are now .410 wads for the non toxic shots, steel, Hevi-Shot, ITX, etc.

There's another species in Oregon that's perfect for .410's, the nutria, I shot a whole bunch of them with the above load in 4's.

I hunt in such thick pines that I like my 12g....that being said, 90% of the bunnies I kill could've been shot with a .410....including these from this past weekend.

I have been shooting them for the last several years with a T/C 14" and have found that the 2 3/4" #6 pattern better in mine.

Jim

Norton ,
What make is that SS over under you have ?

Bear Cat, it's a Ruger Red Label....they stopped production like 8 years ago but I had to have one and found it NIB on gunbroker for about a grand 2 years ago. Love it.

quote:

Originally posted by Bear Cat:
My favorite rabbit gun , is my mod.42 Win ,
I just aim for there head , that keeps the
shot in the meat at a minimum .

+1

I have a pre-war Winchester 42 with a true cylinder bore I use for this type of hunting. Somehow when I take it out in the field, I have visions of my Grandfarther running beagles back in rural Illinois where I grew up. He used a Winchester 42, and it was all he needed for rabbits. He always seemed to have rabbits being cleaned or cooking in the back of his tavern.

Speaking of panache, whenever I really want to humble myself, I take the 42 out for quail. I do kill birds with it, but you really have to be on them and take them fairly close. For quail, there seems to be no difference to me in using 2 1/2" or 3" shells. I shoot 8s, and they work fine. For rabbits, I stick to 6s and usually shoot a 3" shell - no particluar reason for this other than that is what my Grandfather used to use.

There is just something about ;
A young teenage boy , with his beagle ,a 410
single shot , and a cotton tail rabbit .

It's about as american as apple pie !!

There is also something about an old man with a beagle, a shotgun, and his wife as a hunting partner.

Trust me, I know these things.

Tom aka rinkydink

Here is my wife's first bunny with her little 940 Stevens single shot .410.

Nice pic Crazyhorse , but where's the wife ?

The other gun that is sporting , when talking cotton tails , is the single shot 22 .

quote:

but where's the wife ?

She simply does not like having her picture taken anytime. Getting her into family photos is a chore.

I love hunting late winter cottontails w/my Rem. M-1100 English-stocked, 21" bbl. in .410. It only feeds 2.5 inch shells well, even after a gunsmithing overhaul, but #6 shot does it well me.

I haven't hunted rabbits or squirrels in a whole lot of years. Been thinking this might be the year. Have an old Win 62A but eye's aren't good enough anymore for open sights. So I also have an AyA matador in 410 and a whole lot of 2 1/2" #6 shot shells. I've taken the little 410 quail hunting and it's great to carry but haven't shot any with it.

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Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Anyone hunt rabbits and hares with a .410? What is your favorite shell?

I've harvested a "ton" of Cottontails with many .410 shotguns, that I've owned in the past. My current favorite is my Stoeger "uplander" S/S using 3" #5 shot.

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Originally posted by Don Fischer:
Have an old Win 62A but eye's aren't good enough anymore for open sights.

I was never any good with open sights, put peep sights on all of the rifles and three Savage 24s.

I've been killing cottontails,hares, and arctic hares in front of a beagle or 2 with 410's for 45 years,,never lost 1 !

I was in my friend's gun shop in northeast WI the day after Christmas and watched a young man buy a Browning BPS in .410. His 20 gauge was tearing them up too badly when they kicked them out of the briars at about 30'.

I suggested he get in the habit of shooting the ears. It is my experience that when this is done, invariably a pellet or two strays from the pattern, and that typically is enough to do in the little guys.

I miss rabbit hunting back home in TX. Unfortunately, the feral hogs have really taken their toll on the cottontails where I live...

I've added to my .410 fun with a Remington 1100 and a new Beretta 687 Grade V O/U. Dove, quail, and rabbits are super fun with a .410 and really keep you on your toes. Nothing more needed for rabbits.

Had a 410 870 wingmaster once. Hunted everything but deer with it.Reloaded no 9s for quail and doves no 6s for everything else. Man those were good times.

My daughter with a few rabbits and squirrels she took with her .410 side-by-side.