Jack O’Connor argued the 410 smoothbore cartridges evolved in America from the 44 XL that were “shot shells in rifle cases” and used for small game [1].
The 410-bore diameter is .410 inch or 10.414 millimeters, and therefore, differs from all other gauges in its nomenclature. Gauges 4 through 32 are derived from the number of pure lead balls fitting a given diameter, whose total weight equals one pound. According to Boothroyd, this comes from the days of muzzleloading artillery when the size of a gun was measured not by its internal diameter but by the weight of the spherical shot [2]. For example, 12 balls for the 12 bore equals one pound and 28 balls for the 28 bore equals one pound. In this normative classification, the 410 bore is a 67 gauge, very much smaller than the next larger gauge, the 36 (.506 inch). The 12 bore has a .729-inch diameter and the 28 bore a .550-inch diameter or approximately 14 millimeters. The British Proof Houses accept as the 410 gauge a bore internal diameter varying from .405 to .415 inch.
Photo 1: E.J. Churchill 36-gauge smoothbore, SN 4964, a 1934 gun with heavy but worn engraving.
Paul Goodwin photo
Photo 2: E.M. Reilly 36-gauge smoothbore, SN 23746, black-powder proofed, a pre-1900 back action.
Paul Goodwin photo
Photo 4: 36-gauge centerfire cartridges, circa 1890-1910.
Tom Grange photo
Photo 5: 9-millimeter (#3) rim-fire shell shot cartridges, circa 1900-1910.
Tom Grange photo
It should be noted that an even smaller smooth“bore”, the very rare “36-gauge” smoothbore, was in fact a .36-inch (9.14-millimeter) gun, smaller than the 410. Churchill built such a centerfire gun, as did Bland, E.M. Reilly, and Greener on a very rare occasion for the small bird collector (Photos 1-3). Also pictured is a group of .36-inch centerfire cartridges, circa 1890 (Photo 4). These cartridges were 1 3/4-inch length with 3/16-ounce shot propelled by black or smokeless powder.
In 1967, Webley & Scott had built a “No. 3-bore garden gun” in 9-millimeter caliber, which shot a rimfire cartridge (Photo 5). Rimfire .36-inch cartridges were first available in 1890 for handguns for pest control. In America, the Winchester Model 36, made from 1920 to 1924, was a rimfire 9-millimeter bolt-action smoothbore for pest control (see Webley & Scott chapter).
Crudgington & Baker document a 12-millimeter blackpowder walking stick gun patented in 1876, which may have been made at that time [3]. However, the first reference to a 12-millimeter cartridge is in 1886 as indicated below.
In Geoffrey Boothroyd’s resume of the four cartridge types historically known—centerfire, pinfire, rimfire, and basefire— only the first two were ever produced for 410 shell shot [4]. The knowledge that pinfire 410 cartridges exist does not imply that the gauge existed in the mid-1800s when the pinfire shotgun was first developed in England and Europe. In fact, the pinfire gun was in common use into the early 1900s, especially in southern Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece, etc.). These included a rare 410 (see Interesting Types chapter). There is no evidence for the existence of a British 410-gauge pinfire shotgun.
The pinfire 410 cartridge, along with the .36-inch shotshell seems to have disappeared in both Great Britain and Europe after World War I as a catalog item. However, there is evidence that it continued in use up until World War II, at least in Italy, and was manufactured by local European firms.
England
Tom Grange of Bourne, England, an authority on the British cartridge, has unearthed a box of short 7/8-inch shotshell 410 cartridges which may be of “just after” 1880 vintage [5] (Photo 6). These were intended for a smoothbore 410 handgun.
Peter McGowan and Jim Buchanan, two other well-known British cartridge collectors, assisted this writer in researching British cartridge catalogs. This proved to be both fascinating and helpful in establishing the temporal origins and evolution of the 410 cartridge.
The Kynoch and Eley Brothers posters, boards, and catalogs of the 1860s and 1870s do not mention the 410-gauge cartridge. With the help of C.W. Harding, the Birmingham Proof House historian and archivist, two 1880’s references were unearthed [6]. In a June 1882 advertisement, a 410-shotgun cartridge is listed for use in Rook rifles. Described as “Perfect” and “Gastight”, it is a 2-inch cartridge with black powder loading.
Photo 3: These Reilly (top) & Churchill (bottom) 36-gauge guns make a unique pair.
Paul Goodwin photo
Photo 6: Very short (7/8-inch) 410 shot cartridges.
Tom Grange photo
Photo 7: Eley pinfire cartridges, circa 1885.
Cameo photo
Photo 8: “Crimped” all brass Eley cartridges of the late 1920s. According to Tom Grange, a British cartridge specialist, crimping was not used in Great Britain on paper cartridges until after World War II.
Cameo photo
An 1884 catalog lists a “Perfect cartridge, which includes the gauge .410”.
In the European cartridge literature, a French catalog from 1886, Societe Francais de Munitions, describes a 12-millimeter shotshell. The 12 mm is slightly larger than the .410-inch caliber but has been considered the European equivalent of the British-American 410 gauge. (I have safely shot 410 cartridges through several 12-millimeter smoothbores; however, before anyone else does so, a gunsmith should verify the safety of each 12-millimeter smoothbore for the 410 cartridge.)
The 410 cartridge appears in magazine advertisements as early as 1882 in the Shooting Times and The Field. An Eley green, gas-tight, 2-inch 410 cartridge of 1885 confirms this gauge’s production in England in appreciable numbers by the mid-1880s. A packet of ten green pinfire 410 shell shot casings produced in 1885 further supports the 410 gauge production in this configuration (Photo 7).
An F. Joyce catalog of 1891 lists a 410-revolver cartridge that may have been a shotshell. The 1891 Kynoch catalog lists the 410 and the 12-millimeter cartridge “for rook rifles”; yet they are loaded with 3/8-ounce shot, clearly shotshell cartridges.