444 Marlin to 410

[Paul Harm]

There's a thread over on shotgunsports.com titled the same. Some of us at the club shoot 410s and got interested in having brass shells - Magteck seems to be out. The fellow tried 444 Marlins [ creedmoorsports.com - 64$/100 ] . The rim is a bit too thick by a couple of thou so he sanded them down. I ordered some 444, but while I was waiting I found some 40/72 cases and did the same. My cases were a bit too small in diameter for the plastic wad so I punched some fiber ones out with a 7/16 punch. They worked pretty good. Well. that sanding down was a bit more than I wanted for a hundred so I got looking at the 40/72s and noticed the underside of the rim is flat, or parallel with the back. A couple of swipes with a wedge file to bevel the rim and bingo, the SxS closes real nice. So, when my 444 cases come a little file work and I'll be ready. The guy found it took a OP card to seal up good - the plastic wad was a bit too small. He used a hot glue gun on top of the OS card. Other guys claim the 410 is the most forgiving when it comes to a crimp. One guy claimed it didn't matter just so long as the shot doesn't fall out.We'll find out in a couple of days.

[Paul Harm]

I noticed a shotgun chamber where the rim sits is on a angle and the rifle brass is square. So I chucked up the shell in my 1/2" hand drill and using a round chainsaw file I beveled the underside of the rim. They now sit nicely down in the chamber. The 444s are bigger in diameter than the 40/72s so some circlefly 410 wads were ordered [ they're a bit bigger than my 3/8 cut ones.] So, with the OP card and plastic wad and 13.2grs of 410 powder I get a nice load. I do have to cut the finger of the wad part way off so there's enough room for everything. These are a bit more work than I expected.

[charlie cleveland]

good luck with the brass loads they should be good loads out to 30 yards or more....charlie

[Paul Harm]

Playing around with them. I got up to 14.5grs of 410 powder and no OP card, just the plastic wad, and a overshot card. I'm about out of room with 14.5grs of powder. The barrels don't have a lot of residue and a friend doing my test firing is in 20s at a round of skeet. He thinks they shoot just like his regular reloads with plastic shells. I found the OS card needs to be glued in good - about a 1/8" of hot glue along the walls of the shell, over the card. Just using carpenters glue does have enough resistance for a good powder burn. Had one shell crack for about 3/4" back. So I just annealed all the shells hoping they'll fire form a little better. A new shell measures .450 and a twice fired .470. I'll check after the next firing. It's been a fun learning process while this virus crap is keeping many of us home. Just glad we're still shooting three times a week.

[Paul Harm]

A little more testing and I settled on 14grs of 410 powder. Still burned clean and all the shells are at .470 in diameter. I believe the hot glue stuck on about a 1/8" of case [ above the card ] is giving enough resistance for the powder to burn clean. The white glue just wasn't getting the job done - bloopers. I tried swedging the end of the shell like military B.S. loads but found all the shells had to be the same length and the load the exact same distance from the end. Just too much trouble, at least for me. So the hot glue is the ticket for me when loading brass shells. It's been fun.