Guns that you turned your nose to but have changed your mind

[charlie cleveland]

i quit looking to soon i did find a box of 410 shells that had the warning to not shoot them in wire twist or Damascus barrels...the box that had the warning on it was a peters box with the flying duck on it 2 1/2 inch shell box...the outher boxes i looked at were as old and older than the box the warning was on....i have no wire twist barreled 410 so i guess i m safe.....charlie

[Researcher]

That is a great looking Type 3 Nitro Special. I was thinking the Type 3s were using up left over A-Grade frames, but lately I've noticed they use the same type forearm and cocking cams as the earlier Nitro Specials. The A-Grades use the same cocking cams and forearms with the J-spring latch as the 1935 and later Ithaca NIDs. A 20-gauge Lefever A-Grade above and a 28-gauge Ithaca NID below --

300713 08.JPG

[Joe from MO]

I always thought the Lefever A Grade, and Ithace NID has more in common than the Nitro's......... Always put the Nitros in same category as 311, BSE, Win 24's..... A step below the field grade guns of Ithaca, LC Smith, Fox, Parker, etc....

[Researcher]

I thought maybe I had seen some composite barrel 410 s but I may be remembering wrong....does anybody out there have a Damascus or wire twist 410......charlie

The .410-bore shells were first introduced by our North American ammunition companies in the 1914-15 time frame. Apparently Remington Arms - Union Metallic Cartridge Co. being the first out with them, according to Encyclopedia of The 410 Shotshell in America 1914 - 1942, by Greg Bickford. Apparently their first .410-bore shells were produced at their factory in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. From the 1915-16 Rem-UMC catalog --

1915-16 Catalog Small Gauge Loaded Shells.jpeg

J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. claimed their No. 106/108 single as the first .410-bore gun in North America.

Catalog No. 54, No. 106 & 108.jpeg

However, just to muddy the waters, the 1910 Harrington & Richardson catalog offers their Model 1905 for the .410 Eley --

H&R 1910 Catalog Model 1905.jpg

For a couple of decades prior, out mail order houses, importers and our manufacturers of small single barrels offered guns for the .44-40 shot and .44XL --

.44 shot cartridges.jpg

Little Ladies .44 Caliber Shotgun 1902.jpg

Imported little guns 1912 SD&G Catalogue.jpg

Many of these imported JABCs (Just Another Belgian Clunkers) had twist barrels. Many of the .44XL guns have been bored out to take .410-bore shells. If they have .44" bores like my H & R Model 1905 --

Model 1905 02.JPG

Model 1905 03.JPG

they couldn't have had much of a gas seal with the old fiber wads.

[charlie cleveland]

I too have a stevens 410 single barrel with 44 caliber marked on it...some good info here...how about the imitatin twist steel barrels..i have heard of this before but never seen it in writing...charlie

[todd allen]

My opening day gun is a Nitro Express .410
LFNE Doves.jpg

Lefever NE .410.jpg
This is my backyard Eurasion dove shoot.

[todd allen]

Not a very good picture, but I think this gives a good feel for the little dove killer
Lefever NE.jpg

[charlie cleveland]

the little 410 doubles are the best...charlie

[Researcher]

Some of these little "entry-level" .410-bore doubles getting are pretty spendy!! Steve B. has a fully optioned Lefever A-Grade listed at $12,500! In 1984 I handled a similar one at the Kittery Trading Post with $750 on the tag and I didn't buy it.

[BRDHNTR]

My first shotgun was a single barrel 410 ga Springfield with plastic stock and fore end. Hunted rabbits with it at age 13. Only shot it for one year till my dad let me shoot his Parker 16 ga. While over the years I have acquired and shot Brownings, Berettas, Winchesters and Ithaca shotguns, I've always returned to my Parkers. But recently I purchased from Dean R. a near mint 20 ga Fox Sterlingworth, and have not touched any of my Parkers since. I must be loosing it...