American & British 410 Shotguns. Ronald Gabriel

      The 1892 Eley Brothers catalog describes a green Extra Quality Gastight, 2-inch, 3/8-ounce, 410 cartridge and a similar pinfire 410 cartridge. The 1893 Eley Brothers catalog includes a Solid Drawn Brass 410. An 1897 Kynoch catalog duplicates its 1891 literature.

      Eley Brothers catalogs of 1896 and 1901 offer 410 shotgun cartridges with either “Extra Quality” green paper or brass.

      Notwithstanding the 1880s and 1990s catalog information regarding the 410 cartridge, a major compendium of experiments with gunpowders and cartridges of the last two decades of the 19th century does not reveal a single 410 study [7]. The data had been published in scientific journals and then summarized in The Field, the definitive gun publication of the 19th and early 20th century. They detailed all bores from 4 through 32, but contained not a word about the 410.

      There is a particularly interesting set of ballistic studies published in 1885 regarding the “bursting of small—bore guns” causing a “great amount of mischief.” Small-bore barrels were made thinner and did not stand up despite a corresponding reduction in powder charge. This is now a well-understood aspect of ballistic physics. Then, experimental trial and error discovered that with the smaller bore diameter, the tons of pressure per square inch inside the barrel is greater than in a larger bore (despite a sharp reduction in drams of powder), ranging from 1 to 5 tons per square inch.

      Returning to the cartridge study, an 1898-99 Kynoch price list and the 1899 Eley Brothers catalog list respectively the 410 “Perfectly Gastight” centerfire “Warranted” 2-inch Paper or “Metallic” cartridge and the 410 “Thin Brass”. The latter catalog offered a pinfire 410 cartridge to accommodate the rare pinfire shotgun imported from southern Europe. The 1901 Eley Brothers catalog is the same as the 1899, but the 1902 shows a new “Improved Gastight” with double heads. Both the 1902 and 1905 catalogs list a 410 pinfire gauge.

      The three Kynoch 1901 through 1905 catalogs are essentially unchanged. Then the 1908 Kynoch drops the 410 brass cartridge. The 1908-1909 Eley Brothers catalog has a one-fourth-page advertisement listing both the 410 and the .360-inch shot cartridges. It describes the 410 as 2 inches in length with 3/8-ounce shot and “Black Powder” or “Smokeless” priced at 5 shillings per 100 loaded cartridges. There is a colored picture of the 2-inch “Fourten”. No longer listed at this point is the pinfire 410.

      The 1910-1911 (No. 83) Eley Brothers catalog reintroduces the “Gastight” pinfire 410 and the “Thin Brass” is replaced exclusively by the “Solid Drawn Brass”. Nobel’s Explosives catalog of 1911-12 lists a 410 2-inch cartridge with Black or Smokeless Powder.

      Harding reports that an Eley Factory Loading Manual lists a 2 1/2-inch 410 cartridge in January 1911 [9]. A Kynoch 1911 catalog, for the first time, offers a 2 1/2-inch 410 cartridge. This appears to be the introduction of the 2 1/2-inch 410 cartridge. A Bonehill catalog of 1909-1913 introduces a 2 1/2-inch purpose built smoothbore 410 gun. I am unaware of an earlier 2 1/2-inch 410 smoothbore offering.

      A 1913 Curtis & Harvey catalog, The Powdermakers, advertised a 410 2-inch “Smokeless” cartridge. The Eley 1914-15 catalog (No. 85) offered the “Fourten” 2-inch and the “Fourlong” 2 1/2-inch 410 cartridge. Solid Brass and pinfire 410 cartridges were still available at that time. The Nobel Industries 1925 brochure lists the 2-inch “Fourten” and the 2 1/2-inch “Fourlong”.

      The Eley Brothers 1919 catalog (No. 86) drops the pinfire and all brass shells. Here, two points are worth elaborating. First, brass 410 cartridges were still made from 1927 to 1939 under the imprint of “ICI”. The “crimping” of these brass shells under “ICI” specifically signals the dates of production [8] (Photo 8).

      Secondly, the production of pinfire 410 shellshot cartridges raises the possibility of this smoothbore gauge gun having been produced before the 1880s after the origination of this ignition system in 1836. However, all existing cartridge literature indicates that the pinfire 410 cartridge was introduced after the centerfire 410 in the Eley Brothers and Kynoch catalogs and flyers. Furthermore, as C.W. Harding observed, the pinfire construction, given the “protruding pin and high rise hammer”, would not be practical on a cane gun because of, among other reasons, lack of concealability [9].

      Photo 9: Cartridges matching the vintage 410 “Best” Watson.

       Glenn Campbell photo

      Photo 10: An array of brass, vintage paper and modern 410 shot shells.

       Cameo photo

      It is worth noting here that the Eley 2 1/2-inch “Fourlong” contained 7/16-ounce shot and was recommended for small ground and wing game. The 2-inch “410” was a “collector’s cartridge” for shooting without “damaging” small birds by the naturalist for taxidermy (Photos 9 and 10).

      Typical British 410 loading equipment pre-World War I illustrates the variety of personalized and types of cartridges made throughout the early 20th century (Photos 11 and 12).

      Photo 13: A wooden box of 2 1/2-inch 410 (12 mm) cartridges. Note the mistaken use of the “36 GA.” under “410.”

       Glenn Campbell photo

      Photo 14: Boxes of “Super X” shot shells, single ball and non-corrosive primers.

       Glenn Campbell photo

      Photo 15: Full boxes of cartridges under different brands.

       Glenn Campbell photo

      Photo 16 (bottom, right): More brands of 410 shot shells.

       Glenn Campbell photo

       America

      The European and American 410 cartridge story is far more obscure for the former and more recent for the latter. Geoffrey Boothroyd suggests that the 410 originated in Germany as the 12 millimeter. However, no specific European data could be found to provide further specifics except for the previously noted French ammunition list Societe Francais de Munitions of 1886, which offered a 12-millimeter shotshell.

      As for America, a “Colt Firearms and Cartridge” catalog of 1888 did not offer a 410 shotshell. A series of “Winchester Arms and Cartridges” catalogs of 1875, 1878, 1891, and 1893 did not list the 410-gauge shell. Although Winchester began making 410 cartridges in 1916 and included a 2-inch shell in a 1916 catalog, the first detailed catalog listing appears to be in 1925. They described the gauge as a “410 caliber 12 m/m” with “bulk powder only” and “chilled shot only” in either 2 or 2 1/2-inch shells, a quaint but descriptive promotion (Photo 13). Interestingly, Boothroyd has a Remington cartridge head stamp that says both 410 and 12 millimeter [10].

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