I've killed lots of small game birds with a .410; doves, quail, etc. I favor size 8 or 8 1/2 for the little bores. The energy will be fine with those sizes at maximum .410 hunting ranges. You don't need to be shooting at any game bird with a .410 much past 30 yds. anyway, because density gets so sparse that you may not get a sufficient number of hits on the bird to kill it cleanly. My favorite load in my .410s for hunting doves and quail is 3/4 oz. of true nickel plated 8s or 8.5s.
In larger gauges I often go to 7 1/2s on later season, tougher birds.
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