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Is a .410 Shotgun Effective for Deer Hunting?

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  • candcallen

    Crotchety, Snarky, Truthful. You'll get over it.
    Emeritus - "Texas Proud"
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    2   0   0
    Jul 23, 2011
    21,358
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    Little Elm
    NO! Not even slugs except at extreme close range with no other options.


    Not unless you're putting down a wounded fawn at 10 feet.

    Ofcourse anything's possible on a lucky day.
     

    Huntsman52

    Active Member
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    5   0   0
    Jan 15, 2011
    281
    26
    San Antonio
    At close range why not? Under 50 yards in the boiler room of the deer. Balistics below as well as a small article to back it up


    Arrows have taken game for years. All about shot placement.

    410 shotgun slug ballistics
    . 410 bore
    Bullet mass/typeVelocityEnergy
    14 oz. Federal 212″ slug1780 ft/s1043.1 J
    14 oz. Winchester 3″ slug1800 ft/s1066.7 J
     

    satx78247

    Member, Emeritus
    Emeritus - "Texas Proud"
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    1   0   0
    Jun 23, 2014
    8,479
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    78208
    What are your thoughts on a .410 for deer hunting? Leave a comment below!

    Johnson,

    IF you CAN FIND ANY (And NO, in the USA, I know of NOBODY who normally sells those "specialized" shotshells), the 3" "High Velocity" .410 shells loaded with five 000 buckshot will definitely KILL our small Texas Whitetail deer out to 20M or so BUT there are a GREAT MANY & FAR BETTER CHOICES than ANY .410 shotgun is for hunting any animal that is larger/tougher than squirrels/coons/possums/foxes/coyotes.

    Fyi, in several Asian nations, where more potent calibers of handguns/rifles/shotguns are PROHIBITED for civilians to possess or "difficult to get licensed to own/use", the .410 shotgun IS allowed for "pest control" & "other lawful uses".

    In those places, the 3-inch "000 buckshot round" is "better than nothing" for pest control/hunting/defense BUT ONLY "better than nothing" to defend yourself or hunt with..

    just my OPINION, satx
     

    Hoji

    Bowling-Pin Commando
    Rating - 100%
    36   0   0
    May 28, 2008
    17,700
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    Mustang Ridge
    Go for it then.
    You asked, got the opinion of at least one person that has killed deer for a living and has a comma in the number of deer he has killed, and several others whose opinion should be trusted, but want to pull numbers off of an ammo box and try to counterpoint with that?

    go elsewhere to find your Billy Goat
     

    skfullgun

    Dances With Snakes
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    7   0   0
    Oct 14, 2017
    5,430
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    In the woods...
    I would echo the prevailing opinion and say, "no, unless that is the only option you had and there were extenuating circumstances".
    I would never suggest .22 lr, either, but I do know of one individual (former family-member) who routinely used 22 WMR for close-range shots on many a poached whitetail. And just for the record, the only "poaching" I condone involves EGGS.
     

    Glenn B

    Retired & Loving It
    TGT Supporter
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    3   0   0
    Sep 5, 2019
    7,450
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    Texarkana - Across The Border
    I've got about 25 boxes of 410 slugs and was hoping to shoot them out of my Yildiz, thinking it may have been a cylinder bore since no choke size was marlked on the barrel. Then I discovered the choke is modified and not cylinder. I gladly would have accepted anyone's challenge and gone deer hunting with them in the gun had they been safe to shoot out of it. Of course, while trying to bag a deer with a 410 slug I may never have gotten close enough since I only do real hunting. None of that target practice over a pile of corn or other bait for me; so no commas for me in the number of deer I've taken but I have taken a few. How many deer you've taken with larger calibers, while nice to have that comma in the number of them, means very little though when saying you'd not use a 410 because you think it would be ineffective. That is unless you have tried to do so and found the 410 to actually be ineffective.

    I mostly have used a shotgun to bag my deer, granted a 12 gauge but my point being I needed to be in fairly close to get them. Most of my deer have been with 30 yards, some within 20; I'd guess a 410 slug, at that close of a range, would bring down a whitetail pretty easily. I know of quite a few that have been taken with 22 LR ammo, not by me but by scum sucking poachers, and would think that a 410 slug would be much more effective than a 22 rimfire round. My guess is that anyone saying he would not use a 410 on whitetail, because it would be ineffective, probably has never tried it (otherwise why not just come out and say you have tried it and failed) but as I said that is just a guess. Has anyone here actually ever tried it and found they needed more than one well placed shot with a 410 to finish off a whitetail?
     

    Hoji

    Bowling-Pin Commando
    Rating - 100%
    36   0   0
    May 28, 2008
    17,700
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    Mustang Ridge
    I've got about 25 boxes of 410 slugs and was hoping to shoot them out of my Yildiz, thinking it may have been a cylinder bore since no choke size was marlked on the barrel. Then I discovered the choke is modified and not cylinder. I gladly would have accepted anyone's challenge and gone deer hunting with them in the gun had they been safe to shoot out of it. Of course, while trying to bag a deer with a 410 slug I may never have gotten close enough since I only do real hunting. None of that target practice over a pile of corn or other bait for me; so no commas for me in the number of deer I've taken but I have taken a few. How many deer you've taken with larger calibers, while nice to have that comma in the number of them, means very little though when saying you'd not use a 410 because you think it would be ineffective. That is unless you have tried to do so and found the 410 to actually be ineffective.

    I mostly have used a shotgun to bag my deer, granted a 12 gauge but my point being I needed to be in fairly close to get them. Most of my deer have been with 30 yards, some within 20; I'd guess a 410 slug, at that close of a range, would bring down a whitetail pretty easily. I know of quite a few that have been taken with 22 LR ammo, not by me but by scum sucking poachers, and would think that a 410 slug would be much more effective than a 22 rimfire round. My guess is that anyone saying he would not use a 410 on whitetail, because it would be ineffective, probably has never tried it (otherwise why not just come out and say you have tried it and failed) but as I said that is just a guess. Has anyone here actually ever tried it and found they needed more than one well placed shot with a 410 to finish off a whitetail?
    Since I’ll assume the dig was directed at me, I’ll respond to it.
    I have used .410 slugs on corral trapped pigs. Once. Will not ever be happening again. At a range of approximately 30’, the slugs shot from a Mossberg pump with a 20” barrel did not exit 70 lb pigs shot in the boiler room. I am sure they would have eventually died, but after a full 30 seconds of watching them run around the trap, I finished them with head shots from a .22 pistol.

    Experience tells me that it would not be an effective, humane round.
    As to “real” hunting, maybe you should go back to NY. All you seem to do is bitch about everything here. Why stay if Texas and Texans are so distasteful to you ? Oh, that’s right, your retirement neckbearding ventures would not be as profitable if you were still in NY.
     

    skfullgun

    Dances With Snakes
    Rating - 100%
    7   0   0
    Oct 14, 2017
    5,430
    96
    In the woods...
    I've got about 25 boxes of 410 slugs and was hoping to shoot them out of my Yildiz, thinking it may have been a cylinder bore since no choke size was marlked on the barrel. Then I discovered the choke is modified and not cylinder. I gladly would have accepted anyone's challenge and gone deer hunting with them in the gun had they been safe to shoot out of it. Of course, while trying to bag a deer with a 410 slug I may never have gotten close enough since I only do real hunting. None of that target practice over a pile of corn or other bait for me; so no commas for me in the number of deer I've taken but I have taken a few. How many deer you've taken with larger calibers, while nice to have that comma in the number of them, means very little though when saying you'd not use a 410 because you think it would be ineffective. That is unless you have tried to do so and found the 410 to actually be ineffective.

    I mostly have used a shotgun to bag my deer, granted a 12 gauge but my point being I needed to be in fairly close to get them. Most of my deer have been with 30 yards, some within 20; I'd guess a 410 slug, at that close of a range, would bring down a whitetail pretty easily. I know of quite a few that have been taken with 22 LR ammo, not by me but by scum sucking poachers, and would think that a 410 slug would be much more effective than a 22 rimfire round. My guess is that anyone saying he would not use a 410 on whitetail, because it would be ineffective, probably has never tried it (otherwise why not just come out and say you have tried it and failed) but as I said that is just a guess. Has anyone here actually ever tried it and found they needed more than one well placed shot with a 410 to finish off a whitetail?
    Here is another perspective for you...
    If anyone arrived on my property to hunt deer with a .410, i'd give them two choices:

    1. Borrow one of my centerfire rifles and leave the .410 at the house.
    2. Head out the gate and back up 35 North.
     

    tonelar

    Well-Known
    Lifetime Member
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    4   0   0
    Aug 9, 2009
    1,329
    96
    El Paso
    Nope, I have not hunted deer with a .410. However, if 4 out of 5 folk advise against doing so, use a .30-30 or 12 guage.

    Maybe .410 is different, but I thought slugs didn’t need a cylinder bore.
     

    Axxe55

    Retiretgtshit stirrer
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Dec 15, 2019
    47,022
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    Lost in East Texas Elhart Texas
    There was that time, many years ago, probably back in the 1970s', I took down a rabid 14 point buck, at 200 yards, with my custom built famous gunsmithed H&R 410 shotgun, with a Zeiss 6 to 24 power scope on it, using some Super Duper Game Getter slugs.

    One shot! Through the tailpipe of the deer! And that rabid deer never even knew what hit him. Dropped him on the spot, field dressed, processed and wrapped and all I had to haul out of the woods was 250 pounds of venison!

    True story folks. Happened many years ago on our East Texas family plantation. When I got home, Daddy started up the pit for a family BBQ, and StepMommy started frying up venison steaks for the hundreds of people that showed up for the family shindig. My Daddy and all my uncles got right toasty on all the corn liquor that Daddy made in his still out in the barn too!

    Y'all just ain't any kind of hunters if you can't take down a deer with a 410! Y'all need to leave this deer hunting to us country boys and stay in them cities with your big guns. Country ain't no place for city folk, I tell ya.
     
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