.410 AK – exactly my kind of stupid

I am kind of stupid for .410 shotguns. I did a post (that’s currently missing from the archives) about the excellent Mossberg 500 .410 a while ago, and with that did some ballistic testing on various .410 projectiles. The results were pretty interesting, with certain .410 buckshot loads exceeding the FBI standards when fired into gel.

arsenal .410 shotgun

So imagine my joy when received a shipment of Arsenal .410 AK pattern shotguns in at GunUp. Let’s see, impractical, awkward to operate, takes weird, expensive mags that are hard to find…yep, this is exactly my kind of stupid.

The best part is that I don’t even know if the thing runs well, and I’m almost certain that it won’t run for beans with one of the 30-round ProMag drums that I also have in stock. But like the VZ-58 last week, there’s something about a .410 AK that tickles my “stupid gun lust” pretty successfully. I can run my pump Mossberg .410 very quickly; and having a semi-auto .410 just makes me happy in all sorts of stupid ways.

Of course, I think a big part of it is the hunting out here in South Dakota. I really, really want to go pheasant hunting with an Arsenal .410 set up with an Aimpoint Micro. I also want to shoot skeet with that same set-up. Because honestly, I think it would be hilarious, and would also quite likely cause some of the “wood and blue steel” shotgun crowd to have a stroke. Especially if I hit anything with it.

You can see it in your head now, right? “Pull!” Bird goes flying, I fire one shot and miss, and then instead of watching it descend, there’s a sudden “choomchoomchoomchoom” as I dump the rest of the 5 round mag in the general direction of clay, laughing hysterically the whole time. Pheasant hunting will be even more fun, because there’s no magazine restriction in South Dakota when hunting pheasants. It’s going to be like nighttime over Hanoi circa December 1972 as I try to make up for poor shotgun marksmanship via volume of fire. 30 round drums for hunting? Yes please.

9 Comments

  1. Yep, you’d “Literally” kill Two Birds with One Stone. The Fudds would have a Hissy, and the Anti-Gunners like Feinstein would pee their pants!

    “No Sporting Purpose” my butt!

  2. I can see the manager of my gun club seeing me on station 1 of the skeet field pointing one of those in the air, and having a stroke on the spot. Those guys roll their eyes at a black composite stock Remington 1187, ferchrissakes….

    I AM taking my new Mossberg 930 SPX up this year, just to shake things up.

    1. I can see the manager of my gun club seeing me on station 1 of the skeet field pointing one of those in the air, and having a stroke on the spot.

      That is sort of the idea. 😉

  3. Well, there’s a reason why such saiga generally appeared – it’s a law, that prohibits owning rifles without 5 year experience in owning shotguns. And a .410 was the only choise for plinking. Yes – .22 is also listed as a rifle.
    For american market it doesn’t make alot sense, but it’s originally made for other situation.
    But just for fun – Hell, why not?

  4. Can I go along pheasant hunting? I’ll be backup in case a bird gets hit lightly. Or can someone at least bring some pheasants to NE Iowa so I have some to hunt. I very dearly miss pheasant hunting.

  5. Very interested in the archive article. I bought a Mossberg HS410 for my wife. I love that gun and so does every woman I’ve ever taught to shoot. Great intro to shooting gun. Not how to shoot, just an intro to shooting. Awesome for bowling pins also.

    Recently had some custom velcro shotgun cards (side saddles) made for it and just starting to play with reloading for it.

    Just an awesomely fun little gun.

    Happy shooting, dv

  6. At first glance a lot of people can’t tell the difference, so trick them into thinking you’re shooting 7.62×39 rounds. Even more fun.

  7. I took my Vepr-12 to the local sporting clays range, with Micro and 12-rd SGM mags. I fully expected the Fudds to stroke out, but the reactions I got ranged from mild curiosity to “Dude, where can I get one?!?”

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