Now that S&W is offering a revolver that will fire .410 shotgun shells, I thought I would show what I am going to use to reload for my Governor, when, if ever, I get one. As a kid on the farm, I cut my teeth on a single-barrel 410 shotgun, and I almost wet my pants when I saw an ad for this kit in the back of a magazine. When mine arrived in the mail I took it along to Gil Hebard Guns in Knoxville, Illinois. Hunting season was coming on and Mr. Hebard, who later became a champion bullseye target shooter and distributor of bullseye equipment, had arranged for an expert from Remington to be on hand to answer questions about ammo and reloading. He didn’t think much of my Lee Loader, especially the powder dipper. Couldn’t see how anyone could offer such a thing to the general public, but, if I had to do it I should get a can of 2400 and be careful. This I did, along with primers and a bag of No. 6 shot. I ordered fiber and card wads from Herter’s in Waseca, MN and was soon assembling shells at the kitchen table. In those days before one-piece plastic wads you had to apply wad pressure (30 lbs) and this was done with the Lee by pressing the wadded shell down on a bathroom scale. I am not sure that mom completely understood what I was doing, but she put up with it. I was happy when my reloads put about the same number of hits on a tomato juice can at 50 feet as a Winchester Super-X.
About that time, plastic sleeves around the shot started to appear in factory loads. I wanted to try this but couldn’t find any plastic sheet, so I used heavy duty aluminum foil from mom’s cupboard. The foil sleeves could be recovered intact after firing, albeit a bit beat up. This did not result in more hits on the tomato juice can, however, so I went on to something else. I am grateful to the late Richard Lee and his company for getting me started with reloading and experimentation.
Reloading .410 Shotgun Shells
Linear Mode
