.410 this fall

[fallhunt]

Got a .410 Remington 870 the other day that looks new.I'm going to run some shells through it on the patern board and fall turkey hunt with it.I've heard Remington shells work good for a factory load.I was thinking 7 1/2 shot.This will be a tember hunt with shots being 20 -25 yrds. tops depending on the patern.Any thoughts?

[kygobbler]

Make sure to check your patterns before you go because 20 yds might be tops. I dont know what state your in but you might also want to check your state regelations also. The reason why I say that is because here in KY you can only use between a 20 ga to 10 ga. If it is legal fire away man. If you don't see any turkeys you could always blow some squirrels out of the trees with it.

[Duke0002]

Sounds good. As kygobbler said, check your state regs. Also, check if 7 1/2s are legal to use for turkey. Some states have shot restrictions.

[retranger]

I have a New England single shot that I have hunted snowshoe hares with for years and love it. I would tend to think 20 yds might be max and I would look at the # 6's. See what your pattern does but remember you might have a good pattern but do you still have the energy in the shot to do the job. Good Luck

[Steve_In]

I agree with using the 7-1/2 shot. You hold the shots to 20-25 yards and it should have plenty of power. Even better would be some HTL shells. With the .410 more is better.
If it were me I would just go with a 20 to give a better margin of error.

[fallhunt]

I am looking into HTL.Most guys have said for a factory load Remington was the best patern.I did check the regs on .410 bore and it is a go in MO. but not in my home state of IL. I will make sure on shot size.I will also post pics of the patern and what I learn.

[fallhunt]

Checked shot size regs too.Good to go there also.The reason I wanted to use 7.5 was shot count in a 10 in. circle @ 30 yrds. I will look for 100 holes and move closer until I can count 100 holes in a 10 in. circle and call this my effective range. Does this sound like a good judge of range? What do you guys think? I don't use guns much and have only shot a patern in the past to make sure I was "close" to center at what I was shooting at.Any advice would be a plus.

[charlie elk]

For the what it is worth department in my humble opinion-
I am not a big fan of under-gunning which the .410 clearly is for turkeys. Yea, yeah.......I know it will kill a turkey when everything goes just right; But why risk hitting birds that may run off looking fine, but took piece a shot and then die later?
If you insist on using a .410 please consider having a dog on hand for retrieving cripples.

[grizzly]

i tend to agree with some of the other guys i feel that a 410 is a little on the light side for turkey hunting but if i were to make a suggestion on shot size i wouldn't use any thing smaller then number 6 shot

[fallhunt]

I have taken all of this into consideration.I again will only use the gun in fall and in my exsperience hens and poults will die from fear.Fat chance I will see a gobbler.This hunt will also be a tember hunt with in your face shots.I will also shoot 6 shot and will NOT shoot past my effective range.Again I'm in the testing stage and if it don't work I won't use it.I will post what I find in my testing/paterning.