.410 For a garden gun?

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Is a 2.5” .410 throwing a half ounce of #8 shot safe to use on a half-acre lot? Safe to use meaning that any shot that leaves your lot poses not even minor injury to bystanders.

[FITASC]

Not really; shot goes the same distance as a 12 or 20 gauge, just a smaller amount if pellets.

[Jim Watson]

No. 8 shot fired at the optimum angle will carry nearly 200 yards. It won't hit very hard, but you wouldn't want a neighbor to catch one in the eye.

[TBM900]

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Yeah, I’ve been using an old H&R .22 revolver loaded with ratshot as my garden gun; but it throws a big donut pattern because of the rifling and a $500 limited use smoothbore is not in my budget.

Anyone make #12 shot .410?

[unclenunzie]

I'm not very experienced with shotgun/shotshells beyond the basics, but I've never seen any 410 #12.

Not gonna say this is the most efficient way to go, but loading your own for close range in pistol calibers might do it?

https://www.ballisticproducts.com/Ch...uctinfo/02612/

https://www.sagesoutdoors.com/shotwa...-shotwad-kits/

[Double K]

Lot's of #9 shot available in 410, are there houses in every direction?
A 410 is quite a bit louder than a 22lr with birdshot, that could be a problem.
What pests are you trying to control? I'm in the pest control business and normally don't have to shoot stuff other than pigeons.

[ammo.crafter]

What are you using the 410 for?

[Bartholomew Roberts]

First priority pests are rattlesnakes and bobcats. These are things I’ve found in my yard that are a threat to me and my dogs. Luckily the bobcats flee so I don’t have to deal with that. And the rattlesnakes just sit there wanting to be left alone, but unfortunately that doesn’t work for me.

I also have a lot of squirrels and rabbits; but they are just pests, not dangerous. I don’t need to kill them; but Hasenpfeffer sounds pretty good when I catch them raiding my garden.

Mostly this a thought exercise about better options for putting meat in the freezer if necessary and finding something with a little more reach than .22 ratshot.

[stuckinthe60s]

the trick is to find an old cheap bolt action gun with a smooth bore in 9mm or .38/357cal rat shot.
they are out there. you just have to search.
or.....heres a 9mm smoothbore shotshell semi auto called a bernadelli. I had one. wow. talk about no kick and good out to 20yds!

[Double K]

Squirrels' are easily trapped in Havahart live traps using peanut butter{don't leave it out at night or you'll have a skunk or racoon }. I usually deport them, ha ha, to creek bottom about 3 miles from my place where my friends and I hunt squirrels in the late winter.
Rabbits are fun to shoot with a pellet gun, the magic spot is above the eye and slightly back.
Snakes can be killed with a shovel or grabbed with one of these and relocated.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0719LX977...v_ov_lig_dp_it

[stuckinthe60s]

ignore the pencil. it pointing at a 24ga. go far right. that's a paper 22 shotshell. the 9mm is in between that and the 410 in the pic.



the pic is....10-12-14-16-20-24-28-32-410-22

[Double K]

I did a quick search a sure enough there are some 9mm garden guns, all the ones I seen were collector guns at 500.00+ and there is no ammunition.

[ammo.crafter]

There are pellet guns that hit like a 22 at close range. They kill ground hogs on my property within a range of 20 yards.

[stuckinthe60s]

these are modern 9mm rimfire brass case shotshells with #9 shot, imported from Italy.
im pretty sure its a 3/8oz load. google fiochi. im pretty sure that's who makes it. its been so long, I forgot.

[stuckinthe60s]

its about the same size as a 357.

[TBM900]

Originally Posted by Bartholomew Roberts

First priority pests are rattlesnakes and bobcats. These are things I’ve found in my yard that are a threat to me and my dogs.

LoL
I'm literally surrounded by rattlers and bobcats...
In over half a century I've never once had a thought, let alone a need, to kill either
And I can't even remember hearing about a bobcat attacking and injuring a person or dog

BTW, if you have rattlers, then rabbits and squirrels shouldn't even be an issue...
Unless of course you are killing the rattlers

[Double K]

Getting the gun might be difficult, looks like Chiappa makes them, here's the ammunition.
It's 32.00 a box
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/100204447?pid=850280

[Double K]

Call your local pest control company, not one of the national ones, they specialize in bugs for the most part. A good PC guy will know all kinds of little tricks to keep unwanted animals out of a garden.

[stuckinthe60s]

that's them. 50 per box.

[Bartholomew Roberts]

TBM900, feel free not to comment on this thread, or really, any thread I make. If you have the secret that will save me a million dollars, just keep it to yourself. K?

[SHR970]

Have you considered looking for a used Marlin 25MG?

[ghbucky]

I'll weigh in that an airgun is the answer for rodents.

I have a Diana RWS .177 air gun that is lethal to squirrels at ~12ft, and accurate enough to make headshots, but can't really make it to the boundary of my lot, which I estimate is around 50 yards.

Nothing in that direction for a couple of miles.

I'm not sure how old it is, but I know it is at least 30 years old. Really nice rifle.

[Jim Watson]

these are modern 9mm rimfire brass case shotshells with

, imported from Italy.

Not the answer. A No 9 shot will fly just as far from a 9mm as from a 12 gauge.

I saw a friend take a squirrel out of a tall tree well out in his yard with a RWS #45 pellet gun. But if he had missed, the pellet was going to leave the premises.

Another guy here cleaned out the feral house cats from around a vacant house with a Feinwerk 124, but I doubt it would be as effective on a bobcat and a single shot on a rattlesnake does not sound attractive.

Mike Venturino described loading .45 Colt shotshells with No 12s for snakes.

Seems to me a snake will be seen on the ground at close range and a pistol shot load would be safe enough.

You might try to trap the bobcats. Or put bait in front of a bullet trap of some sort.
You must have a Texas hunting license or an Oklahoma hunting license and fur license to take bobcats.

[FITASC]

Are you even legal firing a gun on a half acre lot? My lot is half acre and my .177 air rifle can reach my neighbors on all three sides and across the street to the fourth house. A 410 will easily do that