7mm Backcountry
Experience the world’s most advanced 7mm rifle cartridge.
30 Super Carry
Hits like a 9mm Luger. Carries like a 380 Auto. Designed exclusively for defense.
Raptor Steel
Built in collaboration with Rob Roberts Custom Gunworks, these loads put more pellets on target through Raptor Series chokes.
FireStick
There’s never been a muzzleloading system like this. See all the benefits that set FireStick apart to provide the most convenient, safe and consistent performance ever.
Hydra-Shok® Component Bullets
The bullet that’s defined self-defense for a generation is now available as a component.
Federal X Duluth Pack
Check out the all-new lineup of Federal-branded Duluth Pack apparel and gear.
Model 2020 Waypoint Special Edition
We worked with engineers from Springfield Armory to create Custom Shop loads specifically designed for the utmost performance from the new Model 2020 Waypoint rifle.
As with many hunters who got their start on small game, a .410 was my first shotgun, but I quickly abandoned it for larger, more potent ones as I grew older and started targeting turkeys, waterfowl and more. However, now that I’ve reached middle age, I find myself carrying a .410 afield more often, and it’s not just for nostalgia. Advances in shotshell technology have made .410 ammo and the guns that shoot it more effective than ever before.
The .410 shotgun became popular in the United States in the early 1900s for use as a “garden gun” developed for dispatching small pests around the farm and home. Available .410 ammo started with 2-inch shells and eventually expanded into 2 ½-inch and 3-inch versions. These changes made .410 ammo a crossover option capable of thwacking rats without destroying a corn crib as well as hunting rabbits and quail.
Incidentally, the .410 is the only popular shotshell that uses bore diameter instead of gauge. Gauge is a measure of the number of lead balls the same diameter as the shotgun’s bore that are equivalent to one pound. The .410 would be a 67-gauge shotgun, meaning 67 lead balls .410-inch in diameter weigh one pound.
With 2 ½ and 3-inch shells, the .410 makes a fine sub-gauge shotgun for upland hunters who limit their shots to 25 yards or so. A ½-ounce 2 ½-inch .410 target shell is a mild-mannered round for shooting skeet, and with guns as light as 5 pounds, the .410 was and still is easy to carry all day.
Over time, .410 ammunition also earned a reputation as a home-defense round, particularly after Taurus released the Judge double-action revolver in 2006. Capable of shooting 45 Colt and .410 shotshells, the Judge became a best-seller for Taurus and remains a popular choice for defense.
But the real game changer for .410 ammo was the advent of Tungsten Super Shot (TSS). TSS is non-toxic but has a density of 18 grams per cubic centimeter. That makes it much denser than lead (11.3 g/cc), and since kinetic energy is a product of velocity and mass, smaller TSS pellets carry the same energy as larger lead pellets. In addition, smaller TSS pellets like No. 7 and 9 also penetrate more deeply than larger lead pellets at the same velocity because they have less surface area.
The .410 has long been considered underpowered for turkeys, but Federal offers a .410 TSS turkey load with 13/16 ounce of No. 9 TSS pellets driven at 1,100 feet per second. It has proven to be very effective at distances within 40 yards and has substantially expanded the .410’s potential as a gobbler gun. It’s an especially attractive option considering .410s weigh as much as 2 pounds less than most 12- or 20-gauge guns, making the .410 much easier to carry in the field.
“TSS pellets make hunting turkeys with a .410 a very viable option,” says Federal Shotshell Director Dan Compton. “These payloads provide the performance of conventional 12-gauge loads with a significant drop in recoil.”
TSS .410 loads make a great choice for turkeys, but they also expand.410 ammo’s capabilities for other game. I’ve witnessed first-hand that a .410 using TSS is highly effective for mallards out to 30 yards, and on a recent waterfowl hunt in northern Mississippi, fully half of the hunters in the blind were using .410 shotguns. In addition, a .410 with TSS makes an excellent early season teal and wood duck shotgun, especially for hunters on public land that hike to hidden ponds and don’t want to carry a lot of heavy gear. These same TSS loads work well for upland birds like chukars, Huns, ruffed grouse and even wild pheasants.
The .410 is a great gun that’s made much more versatile by the advent of TSS. Today it’s conceivable that a .410 might be your go-to shotgun for waterfowl, upland birds and turkeys, which was unheard of years ago. TSS certainly isn’t as cheap as lead shot, but the performance advantages arguably make the added cost worthwhile.
My old single-shot .410, which has been residing in the back of my gun safe for almost three decades, is back in action. With proper loads, I can carry that gun for almost everything I hunt, and it will be the shotgun my son uses to bag his first game animals.