Hello everyone, this is my first post and it might be a series of really stupid questions, observations, and somewhat related backstory, I apologize in advance.
I am getting a new gun for Christmas from my fiancé, she claimed my 20 gauge and one of my 44 magnums both in one year so to try and make up for some of that she decided to buy me a replacement. I am looking at a 357, 44, or 410 lever action. I want a caliber I already own and I want to venture into reloading for the first time. I don't hunt much, but I do from time to time. I love to squirrel hunt (99% of my hunting is squirrel) and typically do so with an air rifle. On occasion, I hunt dove, and every blue moon have been known to hunt pig, coyote, and deer. I will also go ahead and say I have a 12 H&K import m1super90 as well as a Ruger mini 30 so all of my bases are covered, I don't "need" a gun to hunt pig, deer, or coyote with, but if I had another one that could that would be nice.
After some research I discovered one can legally hunt squirrel, dove, crow, rabbit, nutria, quail, turkey, bobcat, coyote, fox, raccoon, opossum, waterfowl, pig, and deer all legally with a 410 shotgun in my state. Now... I understand that a 410 is not ideal for any of those things, (hence me mentioning the 12 gauge) but I can legally do it. I probably never will, but the opportunity is nice. Im trying to avoid some of the questions and flaming I see on some other forums, so for the record, on the rare occasions when I do hunt, I take head shots (except on pigs). Im in it for the meat (except coyotes, those are just during calving season), I don't care about a rack on my wall, a boar's head over the mantle, or any of those things, Im not knocking it and I don't have a thing in the world against it! However, Im there only to eat what I kill and there isn't anything for me to eat in the brain box. Now that Ive got all that out of the way, on to my question.
I was curious about reloading slugs for 410, this gun will be used mostly (99.8% of the time) for tin cans, pop up targets, skeet (I know its hard but I enjoy it), and some squirrel, BUT occasionally I get a call to clear out some "piglets" at a friends farm. If I can work up a cartridge that I feel has the proper gusto, I wouldn't mind taking the little lever gun out pig or deer hunting if the opportunity arose. If I can't work up such a cartridge I won't bother and I will stick with with the 12 or 7.62, but I would like to try something different. That project sounds like fun. The marlin 410 has a 2.5 inch chamber so a lot of the 375 grain loads Ive seen wouldn't work. My thought was to use the brass shells I have seen available. My second thought was to use a sizing die to cut them down for correct OAL and a crimp die for a 41 magnum or 414 super magnum to seat and crimp a cast lead bullet into them.
Essentially I would like to figure out how to make a 410 slug that is really closer to a 414 super magnum. I know that I will need to find a hollow base bullet to do this so they are more weight forward and will fly straighter. What I don't know is if I am completely off base here? Is this possible? I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be. I know that according to the pressure tests I have seen, solid projectiles create lower pressure than shot filled wads do over the same amount of powder. What do you guys think? Thats why I am here. Is it possible to create this round? What are the problems I am not seeing?
Thank you for any help and insight you can provide!
Revolver
