American & British 410 Shotguns. Ronald Gabriel
a quarter century run from 1959 to 1983 and produced some of the most spectacular 410s in existence (see Browning chapter).
Great Britain
In Great Britain, the 410 smoothbore has a much longer and more revered early history. The naturalist, the taxidermist, the small bird collector, the poacher, and the gamekeeper used it readily and pleasurably as early as the last quarter of the 19th century.
It seems quite clear that the 410 smoothbore is not mentioned prior to 1874 in the surviving gun literature. However, small-gauge smoothbores were produced in antiquity. A 32-bore shotgun was produced by London gunmakers in 1660 and Joseph Manton made a 22 bore in 1785 [20]; however, not a 410. A Surrey, England, dealer had for sale in 1992 a beautiful “John Manton” 32 smoothbore made in 1785. It is a muzzle-loading flintlock with a splinter forend and a straight stock. There is a reported Holland & Holland 69-bore smoothbore musket. If anyone has discovered that a 410 smoothbore shotgun appeared prior to the last quarter of the 19th century, please enlighten me.
The non-trigger matchlock gun with its “glowing smoking mouth” appeared in 1300, followed by the trigger matchlock in 1450 [24]. These included the Snap Matchlock.
The wheellock gun, first described by Leonardo de Vinci, appeared in 1530, and the flintlock in 1550. The matchlock and wheellock guns had essentially vanished by 1725.
The flintlock was mainly a muzzleloader; however, by 1775 a breechloader ensemble had been developed but unsuccessfully marketed. There was a perceptible space of time between ignition of priming and the explosion of the main charge. A piece of flint striking steel immediately over the priming pan generated the sparks necessary to ignite the priming powder.
In the early 1800s, Alexander Forsyth paired the flintlock with the percussion ignition system he developed in 1807. This ignition system utilized the detonating powers of a fulminating powder (fulminate of mercury) to ignite the charge in the barrel. The falling hammer detonated a small quantity of fulminate and the flash was then diverted into the touchhole. This led to the 1850 to 1870 era, a cradle of modern shotgun development. Throughout this period, various smoothbores were described from 4 bore to 32 bore. Yet, there was complete silence on the 410.
The artistry that so beguiles the present generation of writers and aficionados is all the more remarkable when its progenitor is explained [25]. “Barrel setting” or straightening was done by visual examination, a technique discovered in 1770 by an unknown Birmingham, England, artisan. He used natural daylight and interior barrel surface shadows to achieve the necessary result.
This method is still in use for quality doubles in the great gun houses of England. Through the 1850s, the locks and plates were handmade at the forge and anvil. This, the most difficult task for the gunmaker, was followed by the hand filer. Then the fitter, assembler, polisher, engraver, and hardener completed the task. After the 1850s, the steam hammer and stamp started to replace the forge and anvil, and the milling machine, the filer.
After the 1860s, machine-equipped factories emerged simultaneously with the acceptance of the breechloader gun. No wonder the 19th-century doubles are valued often as much for their history as for their intrinsic value.
The 19th-century muzzleloaders ranged from the 10 bore to the 30 bore, according to old auction catalogs in the Sotheby and Christie archives. Yet, no 410 smoothbores are listed.
From 1850 to 1870, an explosively active period in shotgun development, the centerfire, the breech-loading, and the hammerless shotguns were developed. During this time, there is no mention of the 410 smoothbore in the historical shotgun record, the British Proof Houses, or the cartridge/ammunition literature [26].
However, during the period of 1871 to 1890, the 410 finally emerged in the British Proof House records, in shotgun and cartridge literature, and in the production records by British gunmakers of serial-numbered shotguns that are traceable to their production dates.
Although Kynoch, a leading cartridge maker, was not offering the 410 bore cartridge in an 1882 poster, the British Proof House records showed that the 410 bore was available by importation from Europe as early as 1874 [26,27]. In the “London Notices of Importations” in August 1874, William Whitmore imported “410 guns.” On September 30, 1874, Robert Hughes brought in 16 walking stick 410 smoothbores from Europe. In April 1877, 100 Colt 410 smoothbore revolvers were shipped from Colt Firearms Company in America. In December of 1878, Thomas Bland & Sons imported 410 smoothbore pistols from the continent.
Cogswell & Harrison, a prolific gunmaker in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, records its first 410 smoothbore in 1880, serial number 10311, a “410 walking stick” [28].
A 410 hammer gun by Charles Osborne of Seven Whitehill Place, London, was traced by Boothroyd to a production date of between 1885 and 1892 [29]. This was a typical Victorian bird collector’s gun used for taxidermy. Brass 410 cartridges were introduced in the 1880s. An Eley Ammunition Display Chart, circa 1890, showed 410-bore cartridges [30].
Edward Booth, the greatest of the Victorian bird collectors with 236 species to his credit, used a 410 air rifle and a 410 smoothbore walking stick sometime between 1865 and 1884 [31].
William Evans, who started in 1883, made his first 410 in 1884 and his second in 1885. Both were “walking stick” guns with “moveable butt” and “patent safety trigger” priced at two pounds, five shillings. His first breech opener 410 had a side-lever and was made in 1887 [32]. Greener first lists the bore in his 2nd Edition of Modern Shotguns in 1891 [33].
The marriage of the walking stick with the percussion ignition in an 1876 patent led to a “410 walking stick gun” manufactured by a French gunmaker, Celestin Dumonthier, and sponsored in England by A.M. Clark. With this gun, the barrel sleeve is pushed forward to open the chamber in the side of the barrel. It is then pulled back to close the chamber. Releasing the firing pin occurred by one of several methods. One involves blowing the firing pin against the base of the shell as you would a “peashooter”! [34] This comes under the author’s chapter heading “Interesting Types of Smoothbore 410s.” Remember that Greener’s reference to the 410 was under “Odd Size.” Such is the literary ontology of the Zutz’ “Truly Electric” bore, a “collector’s dream.”
The pinfire breech-loading shotgun, introduced by LeFaucheux at the Great Exhibition of 1851, was manufactured as late as 1896 in Great Britain. Dickson & Sons produced the last one in Britain, but manufacturing continued in Europe into the early 20th century [35,36]. However, no English-made pinfire 410 has surfaced in the records or in the marketplace. The pinfire cartridge, patented in 1836 by LeFaucheux, was manufactured well into the 20th century, at least until 1935, by Eley. It was available in the 410 bore by 1895.
Daw introduced the centerfire cartridge