Thread: Quality "everlasting" .410 shells

I've recently restored a 100+ year old .410 folding poachers gun. It is the lightweight model with the skeleton buttstock and half octagonal barrel. Ive been on the hunt for the side by side model of this gun for some time but still havent found one.




The bore is good but the firing pin was missing so I made a new one and repared/refinished the stock.



These guns were designed to fit under a trench coat and were availablein 2", 2.5", and 3" chambers. Unfortunatly this one is chambered in the now obsolete 2" which left me a couple of options. Rechamber it or make custom shells for it.

I carefully measured the chamber length and cut one of my 3" brass cases down to 2" to fit.
I also had a handfull of .444 marlin brass which fits perfect!



I spent days researching historic 2" .410 loads on the net and in old books but drew a blank on even starter loads. All I found was info from 1917 stating they used very light payloads with black powder. No mention of velocity but my guess is they were subsonic.
Historically the 2-inch .410-bore carried 3/10 ounce of shot, but later commercial cartridge makers such as Elley made 3/8 ounce in a 2" paper case.
That 3/8 ounce was also the original 2 1/2 inch paper case load.

I saw no reason not to try a 3/8oz load in my brass with H110 and a plastic wad with the petals cut back to suit.
Unfortunatly even after trying 3gr more than my 3" brass loads and a tight rammed nitro card I couldnt get them to propperly ignite. Just a small pop and the lead rolled out the bore with a lot of unburnt powder. Such a small amount of shot couldnt build enough pressure in the brass case loads with H110.
I decided to ditch the plastic wad for a couple of felt wads and up the lead load to a 1/2oz.

These worked a treat once I found the right load of H110 that gave me 1200fps and a nice tight patern with #5 shot.



There is actually room for more pellets so I might just fill the case to capacity and change the charge to suit.
It doesnt quite have the reach and payload of my other 3" through the full chokes but it's a fun little lightweight gun. I have some #9 lead shot to try in it that will be great on the stoats and rats.