Turkey hunting with Contender .410

[woody]

Dec 31, 2023 14:45:10 GMT -5 northerngos said:

Dec 31, 2023 1:50:57 GMT -5 gregs said:

I picked up a SxS 410 shotgun for Chrismas. Due to the non existence of 410 ammo on the store shelves, I have resorted to CBC brass 2.5" brass shot shells and 9.3x74R brass for 3" shells. The 100 each that I purchased should last the remainder of my time left here. I say this cause I've done alot of patterning and experimenting trying to raise my scores. You get 1 good reload from a factory shell, after that, the strength of the crimp gets weak and your pattern shrinks about 2" each reload. I couldn't break a 90+ average without shooting factory new shells in competition.

I shot alot of 410 when I shot skeet competently so I know my way around a 2.5" 410 shell. Generally, the 410 is considered a 20-30 yard gun. There is a diminished return trying to stretch the killing power of the 410 further because of the small 1/2oz payload space in a 2.5" shell. Try to go to larger shot = less pellets in the pattern. There is a balance and 7.5 is about as large as you can go in a 2.5 shell.

3" shells are a different animal with the additional payload space.

While getting ready to start experimenting with loads for 3" shells, I found the TSS rabbit hole on a turkey hunting forum.

These guys are getting 100 pellet 10 inch patterns at 40 yards with a 410 using #9 and #10 size TSS shit. TSS is speedy but it is pretty impressive.

Material Properties:

Steel shot weighs about 7.5 grams per cubic centimeter (g/cc) and is harder than lead.

Lead shot weighs about 10.6 g/cc and is a relatively soft metal, deforms easily and is reasonably gentle on a gun barrel.

Hevi-Shot weighs about 12 g/cc and is a mixture of tungsten, nickel and steel and is a much harder metal than lead. It can damage the inside of the barrel of a shotgun and therefore must be loaded with thicker shot wads for more barrel protection.

Hevi-13 weighs about 13g/cc but is otherwise similar to regular Hevi-Shot.

Federal Heavy Weight weighs about 15.2 g/cc and has a higher percentage of tungsten in the metal which makes it heavier than the previously mentioned materials.

TSS weighs about 18 g/cc and has the highest percentage of tungsten of any shot available today and is therefore the heaviest shot currently available. It is an extremely hard material and requires even more precautions than the others to protect the shotgun from damage.

TSS comes in three densities, 13 (hevishot), 15 & 18

Non-toxic shot has come a long way. Good luck on the hunt!

This breaks it down very thoroughly. It would have saved me an hour or two of digging at the least if I had access to it a couple of weeks ago 😅

Lots of great info there. If you Google TSS or Hevishot pellet count you will find tables thatlist the pellet count per ounce from steel all the way up through TSS. That will give you an idea how shooting smaller pellets in the heavy stuff gives you a higher pellet count advantage.

Here is a link

outdoorproductguide.com/steel-lead-hevishot-tss-shotshell-pellet-count-table/

[gregs]

It was funny cause I just went down the TSS rabbit hole Friday then I see a post about 410s and turkeys. That was the clearest and most concise comparison to really explain the densities of the different types of shot.

Some guys are wacking them in the 60 yard neighborhood with #8 & 9s.

Gobblernation.com

[hgunhtr]

Thank you all for the information. Have a line on a super 14 with a rib - should do the job

[onegoodshot]

I’m up to 4 or 5 gobblers with my 14” t/c in 410 and all have been inside 30 yds using TSS. I have 3 contender barrels and keep thinking about sending one to get the Schultz straight rifling done, but haven’t had a need to stretch the distance out.

[junebug]

Can't hunt turkey in Ky with a pistol as the regs say shoulder fired shotgun. I do however hunt rabbits with mine.

[hgunhtr]

states vary on pistol use for sure. my super 14 VR barrel deal fell through. Still looking for a 14" barrel. 30 yards is 10 yards further than i have ever shot a turkey. as one of my hunting buddies said, it aint turkey hunting until they get to 20 yards, thats when everything starts to go wrong.

[northerngos]

Jan 8, 2024 23:52:29 GMT -5 onegoodshot said:

I’m up to 4 or 5 gobblers with my 14” t/c in 410 and all have been inside 30 yds using TSS. I have 3 contender barrels and keep thinking about sending one to get the Schultz straight rifling done, but haven’t had a need to stretch the distance out.

With those 14” barrels, can you remove the choke?  Curious if there is any sign of ill effect from that TSS shot, since it is so hard.  Choke could be replaced of course but I’m curious what you see.

[northerngos]

Jan 10, 2024 11:03:54 GMT -5 hgunhtr said:

states vary on pistol use for sure. my super 14 VR barrel deal fell through. Still looking for a 14" barrel. 30 yards is 10 yards further than i have ever shot a turkey. as one of my hunting buddies said, it aint turkey hunting until they get to 20 yards, thats when everything starts to go wrong.

Something to consider, not sure if anyone has compared patterns with the 14” barrel vs the 10”, but I know with a paradox revolver barrel length has no effect on pattern. That’s a smooth bore followed by an inch or two of rifled choke. I wonder if with these tc’s a longer barrel would be counterintuitively be worse for a good pattern at distance. Seems like the longer tube might allow the rifling to put more spin on the shot column (destroys a tight pattern) which would be harder for the choke to counteract?

[onegoodshot]

Neither of the 14” SS barrels show any signs I can see. But I probably haven’t shot more than 10 rounds of tss in each barrel. Most of my shots have been 15 yds or less the last few years.

[northerngos]

That’s the sweet thing about it, a couple of rounds to pattern, then more or less only have to consume as many rounds as turkeys!