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As many on this forum know, I love the Savage 24 series of over-under shotgun/rifles. These combo guns give me a great amount of pleasure and versatility in the field.
My very first of these guns was Savage 24 in .410/.22LR. It is about as much fun as someone should be allowed to have with a walk around the field gun! It is one of the older models with the side lever to open the action, and is still in nearly mint condition after many years of continual (but careful) use.
The .22 barrel on this gun shoots better than my eyes can acquire a target, and shoots equally well with .22 shorts and CB's.
I rarely shoot 3" .410 shells in it though, preferring to use the standard 2 1/2" shells loaded with 1/2 oz of shot. Generally I load 7 1/2 shot for most uses I give the .410, shooting farm/forest pests, grouse, rabbits and such, as the 7 1/2's give an excellent pattern out of my full choke tube. I also find that a load of 5's do wonders as well.
Both loads use this data:
1/2 oz. shot/WW410 shotcup/WW209 Primer/14.9g WC820 Powder/Remington 2 1/2" .410 hulls/ loaded on Mec 600JrMK5 loader./Results are very gratifying, with a nice even pattern without holes or clusters.
Now, for the load with teeth! I occasionally run into feral dogs and coyotes when bumming around with the little combo gun, especially in early grouse season here in the Idaho Panhandle. I like more punch on them than a .22LR if available.
That load is using four .313" roundballs, otherwise known as 00 Buckshot. These are cast out of our normal bullet alloy, and are not heat-treated, giving a BHN of 12. Four of these will fit very neatly and snugly in the Winchester .410 shotcup listed above, with plenty of room for a nice, traditional fold crimp. I use the very same data as the shot load listed above, but substitute the four .313" roundballs for shot.
After seating the wad on top of the powder with 30 lbs. wad pressure on the Mec Loader, I then add the buckshot one at a time, using common cooking flour for a filler on top of each buckshot, vibrating it into position around the buckshot by means of a vibratory pad sander turned upside-down, and turned on, then just holding the shell upright on the pad util the flour sifts its way down around the flour, adding it in very small amounts until just the top of the buckshot is visible, then adding another, then repeating the flour addition and vibration as described above. Continue this process until all four buckshot have been added to the shell, and only the top of the last buckshot is just barely visible through the flour that has been vibrated on top of it. Now, crimp as you would any other shell.
I have used flour in these shells since I developed the load many years ago. Today Super Grex might be a better alternative, but my load isn't broken yet, so I haven't tried to fix it!
This load. out of the .410 shotguns we own here, will produce a neat, square pattern that is about five inches square with the four buckshot when patterning at 35 yards! Not bad for a little .410 2 1/2" shotshell. This load I described punches out the bore at about 1220 fps from our shotguns. More fire under the charge just blows the pattern apart in my experience.
Now, about on target performance! This load is really amazing when all four of those 44 grian pills impact a 4"-5" area at once on something the size of a 70-90 pound feral dog! Out to 45 yards (farthest tested), it is lights out! No recovered buckshot (remember these are fairly hard), and boiler room hits create nearly instant incapacitation, even on adrenalized critters of this size.
No, this load does not make the .410 bore a kills all! But it does flex more muscle than it otherwise would. I would far rather use this four ball load than any slug load in a .410 shotgun!
I remember a well-read publication where the author stated that "using a .410 in the field was either a mistake or a stunt" This fellow obviously either never carried one afield, or didn't respect the range limitations of the gun. It can, and is very much a pleasure in the field for the type of applications it was designed to do and an effective partner in the field.
Enjoy giving teeth to your pipsqueak shotgun!
God Bless,
Marshall
My very first of these guns was Savage 24 in .410/.22LR. It is about as much fun as someone should be allowed to have with a walk around the field gun! It is one of the older models with the side lever to open the action, and is still in nearly mint condition after many years of continual (but careful) use.
The .22 barrel on this gun shoots better than my eyes can acquire a target, and shoots equally well with .22 shorts and CB's.
I rarely shoot 3" .410 shells in it though, preferring to use the standard 2 1/2" shells loaded with 1/2 oz of shot. Generally I load 7 1/2 shot for most uses I give the .410, shooting farm/forest pests, grouse, rabbits and such, as the 7 1/2's give an excellent pattern out of my full choke tube. I also find that a load of 5's do wonders as well.
Both loads use this data:
1/2 oz. shot/WW410 shotcup/WW209 Primer/14.9g WC820 Powder/Remington 2 1/2" .410 hulls/ loaded on Mec 600JrMK5 loader./Results are very gratifying, with a nice even pattern without holes or clusters.
Now, for the load with teeth! I occasionally run into feral dogs and coyotes when bumming around with the little combo gun, especially in early grouse season here in the Idaho Panhandle. I like more punch on them than a .22LR if available.
That load is using four .313" roundballs, otherwise known as 00 Buckshot. These are cast out of our normal bullet alloy, and are not heat-treated, giving a BHN of 12. Four of these will fit very neatly and snugly in the Winchester .410 shotcup listed above, with plenty of room for a nice, traditional fold crimp. I use the very same data as the shot load listed above, but substitute the four .313" roundballs for shot.
After seating the wad on top of the powder with 30 lbs. wad pressure on the Mec Loader, I then add the buckshot one at a time, using common cooking flour for a filler on top of each buckshot, vibrating it into position around the buckshot by means of a vibratory pad sander turned upside-down, and turned on, then just holding the shell upright on the pad util the flour sifts its way down around the flour, adding it in very small amounts until just the top of the buckshot is visible, then adding another, then repeating the flour addition and vibration as described above. Continue this process until all four buckshot have been added to the shell, and only the top of the last buckshot is just barely visible through the flour that has been vibrated on top of it. Now, crimp as you would any other shell.
I have used flour in these shells since I developed the load many years ago. Today Super Grex might be a better alternative, but my load isn't broken yet, so I haven't tried to fix it!
This load. out of the .410 shotguns we own here, will produce a neat, square pattern that is about five inches square with the four buckshot when patterning at 35 yards! Not bad for a little .410 2 1/2" shotshell. This load I described punches out the bore at about 1220 fps from our shotguns. More fire under the charge just blows the pattern apart in my experience.
Now, about on target performance! This load is really amazing when all four of those 44 grian pills impact a 4"-5" area at once on something the size of a 70-90 pound feral dog! Out to 45 yards (farthest tested), it is lights out! No recovered buckshot (remember these are fairly hard), and boiler room hits create nearly instant incapacitation, even on adrenalized critters of this size.
No, this load does not make the .410 bore a kills all! But it does flex more muscle than it otherwise would. I would far rather use this four ball load than any slug load in a .410 shotgun!
I remember a well-read publication where the author stated that "using a .410 in the field was either a mistake or a stunt" This fellow obviously either never carried one afield, or didn't respect the range limitations of the gun. It can, and is very much a pleasure in the field for the type of applications it was designed to do and an effective partner in the field.
Enjoy giving teeth to your pipsqueak shotgun!
God Bless,
Marshall
