I spent a lot of time patterning a .410 when I was young, and my best friend got a .410 Winchester single shot. He reloaded, and we shot commercial shells as well. The patterns were very thin and almost non-existant at 40 yards, even with a full choke. We found that choke did not improve the pattern of the .410 and that it patterned the same being shot from a cylinder bore gun as it did from a full choke barrel.
Inside 25 yards, it took rabbits, squirrels, and even birds okay. My friend was one of the best wingshots I have ever known, before or since, and he could hit moving targets with amazingly high percentages, even as a pre-teen. In the army he matched the Camp Qualification Score record at Ft. Leonard Wood. Because of an astigmaticism in his right eye, he actually had more trouble shooting stationary targets than shooting moving ones. He learned to snap shoot the stationary targets so that his eye did not have time to " focus ", which caused the sight picture to " move ", because of the astigmatism.( a misshapened lens)
I hunted dove with my best friend who was using his Model 21 .410 exclusively that Dove Season, because someone challenged him that he could not kill as many doves as he did the year before shooting a 20 or 12 gauge. He was knocking them down, but all his shots were at birds within 15 yards. He ran a string of 63 kills without a miss, but he would have told you this only happened because he was very disciplined in picking his shots, and passing on the longer ones.
.410 doubles are cute guns. They are light weight, ( easy to carry), they can kill small game, at reasonable ranges. But they are not a gun for beginners. They are a gun for expert shooters. Having said that, the largest market for the .410 bore is for kids. If you look at Skeet records, the last gauge that shooters will master to take 100 straight targets in that game will be using the .410. Long before, they will have broken 100 straight with the 12, 20, and 28 gauge guns, in the 4-gun competitions. Its the .410 that is the gun that separates the winner from the also rans.
You are only shooting 1/2 oz. of shot, and even shooting small shot like #8, that means you have only about 200 pellets in the total load. At 30 yards, you will be lucky if 160 actually hit the paper. At 40 yards, you are lucky if 100 hit the paper. This is largely due to the fact that the bore of the gun is so small in diameter, that much more of the shot is rubbing against the barrel as it exits the gun, putting flat sides to the shot pellets, which cause those pellets to leave the pattern early, and fall to the ground. With #6 shot, ( the most commmon commercial loading available) you have only a very small center core of shot running the length of the cartridge that leaves the barrel undamaged, and which can be depended on to hit the target beyond 20 yards.
A well made, .410 DB in good condition, should bring $1,000 or more in the market today. I have seen some go for less, but most of those that are sold for less have serious damage, or wear to them.
I would still prefer, and recommend a 28 ga. gun to anyone, including someone wanting to start a youngster out shooting, looking for a light weight, low recoiling shotgun. The Ill. Dept of Conservation runs a " Wingshooting Camp " for kids and women, and the gun chosen is a .28 ga. Remington 1100. The program has been around for about 5 years and they have trained women and kids how to shoot shotguns all over the state with those guns. There must be a good reason for that choice.
