pistol shot shells vs 2 1/2” 410

410 from a shotgun length barrel the 410 is much much better than a handgun shotshell. From a pistol length barrel like a Judge/Governor its still better but not as dramatically.

The pistol shot shells are pretty pathetic. They are pretty much only useful for snakes or rodents at a couple yards max.



I recall when I was a kid before I got a 410 single shot I bought some 22lr shot shells with visions of shooting birds on the wing with my 10-22. Boy was I disappointed when I found you could barely hit a coke can with it at 10 yards and if you did it would only dent it.

Shotshells shot through a rifled barrel will spin the pattern, giving you a doughnut effect. Shooting a .410 through a smoothbore will work fantastic. Besides, you're packing a lot more pellets into that 410 hull than you could ever pack into any pistol load.

George P said:

Shotshells shot through a rifled barrel will spin the pattern, giving you a doughnut effect. Shooting a .410 through a smoothbore will work fantastic. Besides, you're packing a lot more pellets into that 410 hull than you could ever pack into any pistol load.

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A Taurus Judge, for example, is also rifled (by law) so the advantage claimed is non-existent. True, the .410 has more pellets, but they will still be spinning when they exit the barrel.

One thing I have notice is the with the short barreled Judges, given that they are .452 diameter barrels and most 410 shot shell wads do not have a deep enough gas seal cup to expand all the way to full bore diameter the amount of spin imparted by the relatively short rifled bore is not all that great. I have patterned my fathers 4-inch Judge and the pattern opens extremely quickly (as the face of my chronograph can attest) but the patterns end up being fairly uniform with no obvious donut pattern. The velocity lost is pretty bad though, loads that got 1136fps from my 24 inch 410 shotgun only got 839 fps from my father's Judge (that is a 26% loss in velocity or a 45% loss in kinetic energy).

Still as far as anti-snake handguns go I can think of few choices better than a 410 revolver. For just about any other job one might employ a handgun for there are likely better choices than a 410 revolver.

I love .22LR shot for carpenter bees and Japanese hornets.

They will stop snakes or small rodents but you pretty much have to be on top of them and it may take more than one shot.

They're also very quiet even out of a pistol.

I wonder how the A Salt rifle will work on bees, wasps or hornets

As others said. Pistol Shotshell loads are very short range rounds. I tested them a long time ago just before a trip to Arizona. If I remember it was around 7'. I loaded my own with #6

Pistol shot shells typically are loaded with very small shot -- typically between #9 and #12. Such small pellets crap out pretty quickly. If you want to use pistol shot shells for hunting squirrels, you'll have to load your own. You can buy the empty shot capsules and load them with #6 or #8 shot and they will perform better. But expecting a short-barreled handgun to compete with a full size shotgun is unrealistic.

I use reclaimed shot to load 38 spl, 44 spl and 45 acp shot shells. That is mostly 7.5 and 8 shot, with some smaller and larger mixed in. They are good for snake at very close range. I like the 45/410 revolvers, they carry more shot, (410); but still a close range affair. Less than 10 yards. Get the shortest barrelled revolver you can, they pattern better.

Best is my H&R Survivor 45/410. It has a straight rifled choke tubes to stop the spin. It is good to 20 yards or so. Remove the choke tubes and the 45 Colt is good to about the same range, maybe a little further. It needs acrear sight.n

Catpop said:

So going back to OT, what % effective are pistol shot vs a 2 1/2” 410
10%, 20%, etc.?
And I was at the lgs today and saw a 25 round box of 2 1/2” 410 shells for $15.75. And I used to by them for $2.75 a box in the 50-60s. But that $2.75 represented 25 squirrels for the table. One shot - one kill was the rule back then! My how times have changed!

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$15.75? What shells were those? Walmart sells .410 for about $8-$9, and that is Winchester AA

% effectiveness? MAYBE 3-5% that of a 410. Pistol shotshells are good to 5 feet, whereas 410 is effective out past 25 yards.

George P said:

$15.75? What shells were those? Walmart sells .410 for about $8-$9, and that is Winchester AA

% effectiveness? MAYBE 3-5% that of a 410. Pistol shotshells are good to 5 feet, whereas 410 is effective out past 25 yards.

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Your not going to get 25 yards out of a Judge. You might get 10 yards if your are lucking with most 410 shot shells.

Not from a Judge, from a shotgun.......my mistake for the lack of clarity.

George P said:

I wonder how the A Salt rifle will work on bees, wasps or hornets

View attachment 800102

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No on wasps...ectoderm .

George P said:

I wonder how the A Salt rifle will work on bees, wasps or hornets

View attachment 800102

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I have the garden version (a bit more powerful). It will kill a fly with a direct hit of table salt. I killed a mud dauber from about 3 feet but it took three shots plus a stomp to be sure. I thought about using heavier salt but never tried it.

Let's keep this focused on firearms and their ammunition. The Bug-a-Salt guns are cool, but they aren't THR material.

I've had much better luck killing snakes with 1 round with legit shotgun rounds than any type of pistol shotshell.