richg Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 Friday 23rd October 2015. As promised this is a report on our second day of driven game with the little 410, our first at the end of September was a great success with 118 Partridges from three drives, but some viewers on this site were a little skeptical when i said that we planned another day that would include some Pheasants, well today was that day. Eight of us arrived on a different estate not far from Lincoln, this ground was table flat interspersed with many woods and cover crops, after the meet n greet and drawing pegs we set off for the first drive, walking out onto stubble we faced a belt of trees in front of us that concealed a cover crop behind, birds came fairly steady over the trees but did not really fly that well. we managed about a dozen birds for too many shots, with such light guns we were all over leading stuff resulting in more than enough clear misses. We soon realized that we had to steady down and be a bit more deliberate, giving minimal lead, on the second drive we were getting our eye in and starting to kill stuff and our confidence was rising. we shot five drives and finished the day on 70 Pheasants,52 French Partridges 2 English and 5 Pigeons, a total of 129. A fantastic day was had by all, Can the 410 kill Pheasants? yes it can as long as you keep the ranges sensible, out to 30 or 35 yards it kills cleanly, on the third drive i shot a very respectable left and right on two Cock Pheasants, both birds dead. for obvious reasons you would never take a 410 on any high bird shoot, but for low ground average birds, shooting a 410 gives a heightened level of pleasure and enjoyment that shooting with the 12 bore just does not give. I will never give up using my 12 bore for the bulk of my shooting but every now and then i will look forward to my next day out with the little gun. As i have said previously the 410 patterns very tight so its frequently hit or miss, we had very few runners. We are already planning our next day in about a months time. If you still have doubts, all i can say is DON'T KNOCK IT TILL YOU'VE TRIED IT. We did and we are hooked. Richard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 Friday 23rd October 2015. As promised this is a report on our second day of driven game with the little 410, our first at the end of September was a great success with 118 Partridges from three drives, but some viewers on this site were a little skeptical when i said that we planned another day that would include some Pheasants, well today was that day. Eight of us arrived on a different estate not far from Lincoln, this ground was table flat interspersed with many woods and cover crops, after the meet n greet and drawing pegs we set off for the first drive, walking out onto stubble we faced a belt of trees in front of us that concealed a cover crop behind, birds came fairly steady over the trees but did not really fly that well. we managed about a dozen birds for too many shots, with such light guns we were all over leading stuff resulting in more than enough clear misses. We soon realized that we had to steady down and be a bit more deliberate, giving minimal lead, on the second drive we were getting our eye in and starting to kill stuff and our confidence was rising. we shot five drives and finished the day on 70 Pheasants,52 French Partridges 2 English and 5 Pigeons, a total of 129. A fantastic day was had by all, Can the 410 kill Pheasants? yes it can as long as you keep the ranges sensible, out to 30 or 35 yards it kills cleanly, on the third drive i shot a very respectable left and right on two Cock Pheasants, both birds dead. for obvious reasons you would never take a 410 on any high bird shoot, but for low ground average birds, shooting a 410 gives a heightened level of pleasure and enjoyment that shooting with the 12 bore just does not give. I will never give up using my 12 bore for the bulk of my shooting but every now and then i will look forward to my next day out with the little gun. As i have said previously the 410 patterns very tight so its frequently hit or miss, we had very few runners. We are already planning our next day in about a months time. If you still have doubts, all i can say is DON'T KNOCK IT TILL YOU'VE TRIED IT. We did and we are hooked. Richard. Sounds very good. I will have to give that a try soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magman Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 Glad you had a good day good honest write up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8 90 Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 Sounds like a great day was had by all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoot and be safe Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 Sounds like a good day was had by all I think the .410 and other small bore guns are perfect for flat land, as they can extend the bag over more drives. Yes a 12 is probably the most favourite of us all, but if the birds are not that high, reduce the bore size to keep the sporting chances. A good write up for your day, thanks for sharing. ATB Sabs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunny_blaster Posted October 24, 2015 Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 What guns are you lads using out of interest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted October 25, 2015 Report Share Posted October 25, 2015 Sounds like a very good day out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stubby Posted October 25, 2015 Report Share Posted October 25, 2015 although I have a 12 bore for squirrel bashing in our woods, I still prefer either of my 410's, have both a sxs and o/u from yildiz, great for carrying around the woods, and not so much need for hearing protection Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedge Posted October 26, 2015 Report Share Posted October 26, 2015 Lovely write up and a good advert for using discretion and common sense when using a small gauge gun. I have to say that I wasn't sure when I saw another post relating to this idea but my mate uses a .410 on crows to really good effect when shooting within 30 yards. Like you said - there are plenty of birds you wouldn't want to shoot with a 12 bore that fly flat and low so why not shoot with something else? Well done. Any photos?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilts#Dave Posted October 26, 2015 Report Share Posted October 26, 2015 Have to be honest, there must be plenty of shoots around that struggle to present sporting 12bore shots where putting on small bore days would be ideal! I've no doubt about the .410's capabilities, when full choke is put in the right place and at sensible ranges those pheasants must come down no problem.....would be interested to see some footage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richg Posted November 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2015 We are in the process of putting another day together that will be covered by Shooting Times Magazine, I will contact those that have expressed an interest. Watch this space. Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.