The 410 Bore
 

Why the never ending interest in 410 bore shotguns? I am referring to high-end 410s, not the children's variety. To me, the gun is fit for nothing more than hunting field mice and garter snakes. I understand they are rare, relatively speaking, but it seems the rarity is driven by lack of utility. I am not trying ruffle feathers. Enlighten me.

-Victor

Do you have one to sell?

No, never had any interest. However, after reading these pages for the past year, I have an irrational urge to buy one.

I wouldn't exactly say " Fit for Nothing ":rotf:

In the right hands a Parker .410 is a rare and dandy little bird gun.... as Russ has shown us.






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I love carrying the " Little Gun " I use it mostly for Woodcock ,and my Hunting Buddy and I do one Game Preserve shoot each season with our 410's and shoot Pheasant ,Hence the Photos !!!!!!!!!!! I have used it for Grouse on occasion but the heavy cover concerns me at times in case I would trip etc. ,I would be beside myself to fall and break the stock or worse !

The commonalty of putting them in the wrong hands concerns me.

I have taken my fair share of grouse with my .410s.

While I don't have a Parker in .410, in the right situation it is right at home for game. A few years back I took my .410 over-under skeet gun on three different dove hunts, on opening day and once in the freezing cold when the birds were much tougher. Each time I killed my limit of doves in far less than a box of shells, shooting only 2 1/2 inch # 8s. It was hard to miss as I was shooting doves at thirty yards or less over decoys. And the three inch shell contains only 1/16 of an ounce less shot than the 28 gauge. On rabbits in front of beagles in the thickets its just the thing there also.

A locally famous bird dog trainer, now passed on, told me his good friend who hunted over his dogs for years, left his .410 Parker with him and told him to use it. He used nothing else for years over his well trained dogs. Then his friend died and the son, knowing where it was, came and retrieved it from him, which he knew was not his friend's intention. He would have used it until he died.

I, along with my brother Tom also using a .410 side by side with our English Springer Spanials, have succeeded in shooting many daily limits of 6 cottontail rabbits each on his place near Cape Vincent NY where Lake Ontario becomes the St. Lawrence River.

Using my Ithaca Lefever .410 s x s, my choice of 1/2 ounce of number 4's in the right Modified barrel and 3/4 or 11/16 ounce of #4's in the left Full choke barrel was a great combination. The number 4's getting thru thicker brush and reaching out a little further. I was especially rewarded with my Springer Ted who not only flushed the bunnies but was equally useful in retreiving them back to me, in some cases, rabbits were still alive.

Shot good numbers of grouse with the gun also.

Sadly my brother Tom and my Springer Teddy are gone but definitely not forgotten. Made me feel good talking about them. Cheers to those delightful days.

Here is a very poor quality picture taken at dusk with cell phone last years dove season. The doves weren't to plentiful but a big jack popped up at 30 yards and the 3" #7 1/2 's bowled him over. These west Texas jacks are nearly as big as my VH 410!

Apart from the hunting side of things, the collector interest and prices are driven by rarity. As with anything else that is collected.

some refer to the 410 as the "idiot stick".

I was never interested and never had a desire to own or shoot one until a few years ago I shot my first 410 Parker and fell in love.

I really enjoy shooting subgauges. Entering subgauge events is a lot of fun and an enjoyable challenge for me. At this time in my life the 410 is my favorite of all the subgauges to shoot. The gun I am using continues to impress me what 1/2 oz of shot can do on sporting clays targets/ etc.

There are many in the target/ sporting clays world who focus on nothing but small bores and they can dominate events. Obviously it is a personal choice. Some love them some love to hate them and some just hate them.

Shoot what you want and enjoy.

Like many, my first gun was a .410. This could be what starts the trip down the rabbit hole, but as long as you know its limitations, and have some reasonable shotgun skills, the .410 can be one of the most fun guns to shoot.
These days I kick myself, when I think of the .410 Parkers I could have picked up, for what now seems like chump-change. Though I can't afford a Parker in .410, I have a lot of fun every dove season with my little Ithaca Lefever.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a19...ps6xj4hq7w.jpg[/url]

They are tiny, they are cute, they are scarce. What more could a collector want? I love breaking clay with .410-bores (a Model 42 got me started at that) but I've finished off enough birds wounded by friends with .410-bores to know that I won't hunt with one.

wish i could afford a parker 410 so i did the next possible thing got me a stevens 311 410 my dad killed a lot of pheasants with the 410 in wisconsin..i use mine to squirl hunt with sometimes..charlie

Not to get away from the topic, but if you had to choose between a 28 Ga and a 410 Ga, which one would you choose?
BillK

Just my opinion Bill ,but I would think most would take their 28's , I hunt Grouse ,Pheasant and Woodcock regularly with the 28 Gauge and they are killing guns indeed !!!!! As stated earlier ,If you are hunting tight sitting ,Pointed Birds and are hunting in a more controlled environment " Game Preserve Shooting " the 410 is a nice and fun gun but I don't believe it is intended for long range wild Roosters ! Again ,just my opinion !

I like to shoot skeet with my 410 Rem 870. The targets cost the same whether broken or missed. Fred

Todd, your Ithaca is a very attractive gun! Is that the original wood or has it been upgraded?

I've used the. 410 on game farm birds, and doves, but beyond that I go to the bigger bores.20, 16, or 12.
The. 410 will get it done out to 25 yds or so, but we owe it to our quarry to use the appropriate gun/load for the job.
That said, if you have the finances, and some shooting skills, the. 410 is a seriously fun little gun.

Thanks, David. It started out as a pawn shop acquisition, and morphed into a project.
I wrote about it a while back, here;
http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=17346

.410's are a blast at skeet and in skilled hands, with appropriate chokes, they work fine for Quail, Dove, Woodcock and Ruffed Grouse. Watch a .410 event at Skeet and you'll see a lot of "Smoke" as the targets are hit. At those close distances the .410 is plenty of gun for the birds mentioned above. Beyond 30 yards, not so much!

410
 

I grew-up on a farm in central Illinois and the Savage 24 with .22 over 410 was the perfect squirrel and rabbit gun. Killed the animal and left plenty of meat for the dinner table. On the farm if you needed to kill skunk, raccoon, snake etc.. in those days the 410 was cost effective and a lower risk to injure livestock. Today I rarely put the 410 tubes in my Superposed and shoot skeet as I really enjoy shooting the .28 gauge. But when I visit family in Illinois and squirrel hunt it seems like the Savage 24 always comes out of the vault.

I have killed many Pheasants with a 410 ,used Browning o/u, Win 42, Rizzini o/u and a LC Smith. It's really fun to shoot skeet with one. When it comes to wild birds I"ll use one on Woodcock but not Grouse. A Parker is on my wish list but we all know what they go for, so it will most likely stay on a wish list.

That's a Pretty Little Elsie !!!!!!!!!!

Mine's far from a Parker, but it's a hoot to shoot nonetheless! Targets only for me, however; no wild birds...

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...Picture010.jpg

Nice little J. Stevens No. 530. Darn few around with that much condition.

My buddy Russ knows a thing or three about the "paakah" 410.... from the little dusty plant in meriden......Killer gun Russ. Glad she is still in the right hands....great photos my friend

Well Hello Chuck ,Good to hear from you , glad you like the gun ,she still looks "Pretty Good " I think ! How have you been , that was quite a day when I bought her my wife and I had quite a ride home ,she never got to say a word I don't think I talked about anything but the Little Gun for days !!!!!!!!!:rotf:

Russ
I am good and we married well as we both know...:)
I have missed my friends and the old guns that we love..... Glad to see that a few of us... uh umm ... are still carrying the flag.... lets get together......best 410 in the country.... you own!

Traci and I are back and locating a couple of great guns ....... I am excited to get involved again. Look forward.

Good to hear from you again Chuck. Miss seeing you and Traci at our get togethers. Hope you both have a great Holiday season.

Darryl
Good to hear from you....just spoke with rich......lets get together..... Miss you guys..... great guns and great times. Labs and pointers!

Traci says hello by the way.....
Merry Christmas my friend

Chuck, I'm glad you finally surfaced, I was getting worried about you two ! Hope all is well give me a call sometime have a great Holiday. Eric

Linda and I wish Traci and Chuck a Merry Pointer Christmas.

Xxx

:shock:

I know the first two Bruce, but the one on the right is one I haven't seen.






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