Possibilities of the .410 Bore Shotgun 
Discussing Ammunition and Patterns—-Conclusion 
N patterning .410 bore guns, all 
shots were fired outdoors, and all 
distances were measured from the 
muzzle of gun. With double barrel 
guns, right and left barrel were fired 
alternately and numbered, and are here 
recorded in the order in which they 
were fired. All circles are selected 
circles, i. e., are drawn after the shot 
is fired, and inscribe the greatest pos- 
sible number of pellets. With a good 
gun and load, the center of the circle 
is nearly always at or near the center 
of the thickest distribution of pellets. 
After firing many test shots at vari- 
ous ranges, we finally decided on a 
20” circle at 30 yards from the muzzle 
of the gun, as the correct pattern 
circle. This size circle was easily chosen 
because this is the normal pattern 
spread of a good full choked gun and 
a good load at this distance. 
The writer knew as little about the 
.410 as any one else, prior to the be- 
ginning of this study, so that much 
preliminary patterning was done to 
learn how to record the shooting in a 
systematic and helpful manner This 
preliminary shooting is not recorded 
here. 
All series of patterns recorded in 
this article were shot exactly as 
written, and every pattern was care- 
fully counted, and no pattern in any 
series was discarded. 
For percentage comparison with 
other gauges, some shooting was done 
at 35 yards in the well known 24” 
circle, but it was soon found that a 
rabbit or a bird would have to be 
caught within an 18” inner circle to be 
anything like sure to be killed. So at 

No. 8 chilled, 30 yds., 20” circle. 
Western 21%4” cartridge. Full choke barrel. 
Number of pellets in 20” circle, 128, or 79%. 
596 
By JAMES VANCE, M.D. 
all 35 yard shooting, an inner circle 
of 18” is described and has the same 
center as the 24” circle 
Cartridges Tested in This Article 
The following cartridges were used 
in the series of tests that follow. A 
number of cartridges of each make 



No. 10 chilled shot, 30 yds., 20" circle. 
Remington 2144” cartridge. Left full choke 
barrel. Number of pellets in 20” circle, 217, or 
65%. 
were cut open and their contents care- 
fully examined. The powder was 
weighed in every shell examined, and 
the pellets counted in each charge of 
shot. The wadding and everything else 
about each cartridge was carefully 
noted. 
Ne of these cartridges are beauti- 
fully loaded, and high class wad- 
ding, perfectly seated, is used in every 
one. The crimp is perfect in all and a 
B thickness (.045 inch) card wad is 
used over the shot in each instance. The 
exact wadding over powder is given 
below for each cartridge. The shot 
pellets are nearly perfect in all of 
them, and, as is usually found, nomi- 
nally the same shot sizes vary in weight 
and diameter with each make. 
1. Winchester cartridge—(a) Paper 
case 2%” long with brass head 4” 
deep. The powder weighs 10 to 10% 
grains for all sizes of shot examined, 
and looks like Du Pont smokeless shot- 
gun powder. The wads, over powder, 
are a thin nitro felt plus 3 regular 
black edges—total wadding +5 inch. 
(b) Paper case 2” long with brass base 
%” deep. In those examined the 
powder weighed 10 grains, and as in 
the 2% shells, looks like Du Pont 
smokeless. The wads over powder 
are a thin nitro felt plus 2 thin black 
edges—total wadding is inch. Shot 
perfect in all sizes examined. 
2. Remington cartridge—(a) Paper 
case 2%” long, with low brass base 
32” deep The powder weighs 13%- 
13% grains of a smokeless powder that 
looks like a fine grained Du Pont 
smokeless, but bulk for bulk weighs 
half again as much as that powder 
and does not burn cleanly in either the 
12 or 14 millimeter cartridges tested. 
Over powder wads—card plus two 
black edges to fill—total 1% inch. 
HOT in shells examined—(1) No. 
7% chilled—pellets perfect and 
beautifully polished. (2) No. 8 chilled 
—pellets not as uniform as they might 
be in .size. These 8’s were probably 
old cartridges, though the boxes looked 
new. (3) No. 10 chilled—surprisingly 
uniform in size but only fairly well 
polished. No. (b) paper case 2” long 
—low brass head 3%” deep. Powder 
looks like Du Pont smokeless and 
weighs 10 grains. Over powder wads 
—card plus one thin black edge. Total 
wad columns 7%”—too little wadding. 
3. Western cartridge— Paper case 
2%” long with a deep brass base 
measuring %” and tightly crimped onto 
the paper case. This is by far the best 
of all the 12 millimeter shells ex- 
amined, and compares favorably with 
the best 12 and 20 gauge shells. The 
powder used is No. 93 Du Pont smoke: 
less—the same as is used in _ theiy 
“Super X” 12 and 20 gauge cartridges. | 
The charge weighs from 9 to 9% | 
grains for all size shot examined. The 
powder charge is very exact, just as 
in the Winchester and Remington car- 



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No. 8 chilled, 35 yds., 18” and 20” circles 
Western 24%" cartridge. Number of pell 
18” circle, 87, or 58%; 24” circle, 114, or 70%. 
Note how the 18” circle will kill quail very we 
at this extreme 410 range, 
