.410 Project Field Testing

[hortontoter]

Couldn't hardly wait to try this .410 project out this morning. Was a bit odd hunting with a scoped shotgun after years of only using a bead. I saw 9 deer today, most were well out of shooting range. At 11:30 I saw two adult does slipping through the woods about 70 yards below me. They worked from my right to left and I just knew they were not going to get close enough for a shot. About the time they were directly in front of me they started up the slope towards me. I pulled back the hammer and started trying to follow them in the scope. I did OK until they were about 40 yards out. The two never stopped moving and were coming to me head on and downhill from my position. I finally got on the one and told myself to keep her in the scope. At about 15 yards she saw me and turned to my left. Not quite broadside, still quartering towards me pretty hard, but close enough. I settled the crosshairs on the base of her neck and pulled the trigger. The shot hit just a tad high. Went in the neck and exited behind the shoulder on the other side taking out the one lung. She hit the ground at the shot and hardly even twitched. Not the broadside double lung shot I wanted to get to test this guns performance. But, I had to take what I was given. Pretty happy with the results today.
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[mrbb]

well seems to me it all worked just fine, and Congrats to you on a fine doe there
now for that big buck!

[ghunter]

Congrats Dick. That is a great looking doe. I was going to call you today to see how it went after I got off work but ended up taking a nap.

[Mike F]

Very well done, congrats

[Seeker Bp]

Very Nice Toter!! Meat in the freezer!! Great story also. Congrats!

[Stonegod]

Very nice buddy!!!! Glad to see that everything worked out nicely for you!!!! See!!!!..... even though it's gun season ya had one within range of your xbow if you has been using it instead of the .410. You keeping that one or are you giving it away as usual?.......almost coon hunting time buddy!!!!!

[hortontoter]

Thanks for the congrats guys. This proves only one thing, you can teach an old dog new tricks. As much as I like bowhunting I did miss hunting with a gun. I'm surprised it took me this long to think of using a .410.

I gave the deer to my stepson that was up from WV hunting with me. And to be honest SG the range was close enough for the crossbow, but I never would have taken the shot I did with it. Quartering towards me and shooting for the neck wouldn't have been feasible.

[Stonegod]

Well I'm out in the blind now, saw a monster at first light but he slipped into the blur of trees. No other day today so far.

[Stonegod]

Hey Dick....way did toy come home early???.......what happened to those Saturday/Sunday all day sits? I know you got the doe......but why not stay and try for your buck??

[radicalxl]

Congrats Dick, nice looking doe. As I said before, good deal around.

[hortontoter]

Hey Dick....way did toy come home early???.......what happened to those Saturday/Sunday all day sits? I know you got the doe......but why not stay and try for your buck??

As I told you on the phone Friday I took my wife to the ER Thursday after I came home from bowhunting. I wasn't going to hunt at all yesterday, but she insisted that I go. She spent the day with her daughter yesterday in case anything came up. I told her if I took a deer on Saturday I would come home instead of staying Saturday night and hunting today.

[longdraw]

good job,,,I wonder how you would do with a muzzeloader without a max load say 60gr. of powder and a light bullet?????? also if they allow straight wall pistol cartridge rifles you should be able to shoot them too....good job

[Stonegod]

As I told you on the phone Friday I took my wife to the ER Thursday after I came home from bowhunting. I wasn't going to hunt at all yesterday, but she insisted that I go. She spent the day with her daughter yesterday in case anything came up. I told her if I took a deer on Saturday I would come home instead of staying Saturday night and hunting today.

I must be getting old and feeble Dick....I don't recall that.LOL

[Big_Holla]

Great job Hortontoter!! Looks like that gun is a shooter!!!

[hortontoter]

I had entertained the thought of a .45 caliber ML for a while. But, I just never got around to looking into that prospect. Seems everything readily available is for the .50 caliber. After the .410 entered my mind I knew it would be the easiest way to go. I didn't think you could use a straighted walled pistol cartridge in a rifle in Ohio. For now I'm going to stick with the .410. If it gives me undesireable performance over time I will have to make a change.

Yes, Chuck, it worked like a charm. It weighs just under 4 1/2 pounds and very easy for me to shoot even on an offhand shot if need be. I took the doe while sitting with my elbow resting on my knee to help steady the shot. The shot was a bit hurried under the circumstances, but did the trick.

[Big_Holla]

Along with what Longdraw mentioned, the muzzleloader my daughter Jenna used we ended up playing with the loads to get it down to a manageable amount for her. Ended up with 70 grains of Pyrodex for her to hunt with. We actually worked down the load to 30 grains at the beginning and it still shot well with very little kick. I just wanted to make sure she had enough behind it to do the job if the shot was a little longer.

[mrbb]

I am not possitive but I think the rule with straight walled calibers is the barrel must be under16 inches, making NO rifle legal , as rifle bbls are 18 inches plus

and that .410 should be all you ever need if you stay at the ranges it hold the energy to do the job
and there way less work to clean than any inline muzzleloader would be, even with the cleaner powders, and less work to shoot, not having to carry podwer, and bullets and primers
SO I say stick with that .410
unless your just looking for a new project, then by all means
have at it
lots of .45 cal inlines stil out there
but after reading up on them, the recoil between them and the .50's is very small in Ft
lBS of energy, when comparing like loads
and the .50 is just easier to get stuff for
but light loads in them can be plesant to shoot, but then your again limited to range again, so I still say your .410 is all you will ever need

[hortontoter]

Thanks for the input Chuck. I wondered how light of a powder charge one could use in a ML. I'm assuming the one Jenna uses is a .50 caliber. I figure I would gain a few more days to hunt in Jan. if I had a ML. But, as Stan mentioned a lot more to mess with with the ML over the single barrel .410. For a few more days I'll stick with the .410. And Stan brings up a good point, if I lighten the charge in the ML I may be in the same boat as far as range and kinetic energy that I am with the .410. This is one thing that I really like about this site. Guys on here that are knowledgeable always bring things to my attention that I just don't think about.

[mrbb]

well one thing I didn't add, and its not a cheap option
is there are custom muzzleloader bullet makers that have sabot slugs down to about .40 caliber, and they can be loaded lighter, get higher fps, and even some great energy without a lot of recoil as a .50 cal slug would make
but they are costly to play with, till you find what your gun like, and then your still dealing with black powder and or sub black powder to carry and primers, and again more work than any .410 round once dialed in

but they are fun to play with as for a project!
here is a link of one of the better sabboted smaller sized bullets for something to look at if you have the time!

http://www.prbullet.com/pt.htm

[Big_Holla]

Yes, the muzzleloader we have is a .50 cal Remington 700. For me I put 90 grains of Pyrodex in it and use Hornady sabot's w. a .45 jacketed hollow point bullet. Back when I originally sighted it in I could cover 3 shots with a quarter at a little over 100 yards. Since then I just shoot it once or twice at distances under that to make sure it's still on. Jenna was able to keep about 3" groups with it at about 60 yards the day she gave it a try. Was surprised at that distance the real light load only dropped less than a couple of inches, the 70 grains shot just as good as the 90. It's a pain to clean but it's very reliable (knock on wood! :smash: ) and accurate!!