Sumtoy also makes some very good chokes for whatever you might want to hunt. Deer, ducks, coyotes, turkeys, etc.

A 410 might be a fair bird-squirrel gun, it's certainly a poor choice as a slug gun for deer. I had a single shot 410. My wife wanted to try deer hunting after completing a firearms safety course. I wondered if the 410 would make a good deer gun for her. I bought some slugs and shot into a good sized box elder tree in my backyard. The slug penetrated about a half inch. Part of it was sticking out of the tree. I bought her a 6MM Remington.

Shotgun slug has good momentum and will pass right thru the boiler on a deer sized animal.
Range is limited on shotguns when shooting slugs moreso with the smaller guages.

Grandmother shot a pile of deer with a old single shot .410 in her later years she went to a scoped 30-30. Thicker woods no real long shots taken.

Congrats on your bird!

You did way more testing than many would. I had the same results with my reloads with the factory choke as you did with the fed #9 shot. I got in the 150 - 160 range with eh 9.5 shot. I tried #10 shot but I did not count them. They may have been better, they just did not look that much better so I did not count them. You have a pretty darn good load/choke combo there.

On a side note, this tss stuff has got me shooting the small bores for turkey. I used to like shooting my 835 with 3.5" longbeards, now I like shooting the sub gauges!.

Those 835s with 3.5 shells kick like a mule.

About the 410 for deer thing. I would not recommend it unless you can restrict your shots to 40 yards (might be a stretching it here) or less and only take broad side shots that you know your shot will land in the lungs. Preferable in the 30 yards or less. The slug is only 110ish grains and the velocity is around 1200fps. Kinda like a 357 without the expanding bullet.

It can be done, there are just better options.

You must have some mild mannered or weak mules. Lol.

Disclaimer: I have never been kicked my a mule.

Great job! Love the story!

An ol buddy of mine told me he took his first Moose with a .410 slug. He was around 10 years old and hunting with his dad. I asked if his dad had a back up gun, just in case. He said “no, the .410 was dads. It was all dad carried in the fall, left pocket shot for Grouse, right pocket slugs for Moose.”

I shot my second deer ever with a .410. Still own and love that gun.

Cool post

Nice writeup...Love my .410"s. as I stated many months ago killed all small game easily with one shot as a kid. Bought my son one also.

my son killed a turkey at 40 yds last spring with one of these 410 with Ninja TSS ammo 9 shot with.a .390 Indian creek choke tube

Dropped it right there. Amazing little guns and a joy t carry all day long

https://apexmunition.com/shop/turkey-tss/turkey-ninja/

https://indiancreekss.com/product/410-turkey-choke-tubes/

love me my savage 301 great for grouse hunting in thick brush.

I mowed lawns ,age 12, and saved enough money for what I had wanted for about 3 years. JC Higgins bolt action.410. Paid about $35 NEW. Yeah I’m old. Still have it and it’s taken down a lot of partridge and squirrels.

i just looked up that gun and wow what a classic!

I carried my dads single shot Stevens 410 as a kid and loved it. Always wanted a pump or over/under .