Gun buffs! I need a history lesson!?

There is none.

The .410 shotgun is a smoothbore long gun with a bore diameter of .410". Only the strength of the action and barrels allow some folks to get away with shooting .45 LC cartridges in .410 shotguns. Eventually their luck will run out. Though a shotgun, the .410 is actually a caliber rather than a gauge.

There are some single-shot handguns and a few revolvers that are chambered in such a way that .410 shotgun shells can be fired in them. In general the revolvers are large, and clunky, and give people a false sense of security. In my opinion, the .410 is pretty well worthless for anything besides killing snakes at close range.

Check out The Box o' Truth's article on the Taurus Judge .45LC/.410 revolver: http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot41_4.htm

Doc

As stated in some of the other posts, the 45/410 guns, such as the Judge, are .452” bore guns that have a chamber sized so that it will accept a 45 Colt cartridge and a 410 shotgun shell. The cartridge case dimensions are similar enough to get away with it and I think that the chamber head end is slightly oversized (larger than a 410 chamber) in order to allow it to accept the 45 round. The head of a 410 case is about .469” and the head of a 45 Colt is about .480” in diameter. This chamber is unique to these guns, since it has a length based on the 410 and a head diameter based on the 45 Colt. To get a 45 Colt round to go into a standard 410 chamber would be very difficult unless a lot of force was used. That should stop anyone from attempting to actually fire a 45 Colt in a 410, and it definitely does not imply that a 45 Colt is interchangeable with the 410 shotgun shell. That is a misnomer that naturally came about when guns were introduced with the 45/410 chamber. A 45 Colt bullet has a nominal diameter of .452” (bullets are available from .451 to .454) and is designed to be fired in a barrel of similar diameter. A 410 shotgun barrel has a .410” bore diameter. The .410” shot column will fire suitably in a bore of .452” (since it is of smaller diameter), but a solid bullet of .452” diameter will not fit a .410” diameter barrel and would cause a serious overpressure. There is a website that explains the history of the 410 shotgun shell which is very informative at <http://cartridgecollectors.org/410/collecting410.h... Some of the older single shot break open shotguns are marked 44/410 on the barrel. I have one of these guns which passed down through my family from the late 1800s. It was the first gun my dad hunted with when he was a boy and also the first gun that I hunted with. I even succeeded in downing a quail on the wing with it when I was about 12 years old. The 44/410 marking was unexplained until I ran across the 410 collector’s site. The marking is not meant to imply that a 44 caliber bullet (which is .430” dia) could be fired in a 410 shotgun (this is another misnomer). A 44-40 cartridge will fit nicely in the chamber. However, a 44 shot shell was available, probably 100 to 130 years ago, that was called the 44XL, which could be fired in a 410 shotgun, and some of the 410s were thusly marked. The 44XL had a wooden shot capsule similar to plastic shot caps available today. One other note of caution is that the 454 Casull cartridge will fit the chamber of some of the 45/410 guns. That is a dangerous combination. The pressure created by a 454 load will blow these guns apart. http://cartridgecollectors.org/410/collecting410.h...

Doc Hudson's insight into the .45LC is a good history lesson.

But, the amount of misinformation offered by others above is both amazing and dangerous!! These rounds are definitely NOT interchangeable, except in a few very specialized firearms (such as Taurus' Judge) designed specifically for that purpose.

While the case diameter may be similar the maximum overall length of a .45 Long Colt cartridge is 1.60". The shortest .410 shotshell currently made is 2.5". Now, how do our experts propose squeezing that shotshell into a standard revolver chamber????

I started scrolling down thru the answers and was really getting set to straighten out some dangerous beliefs when I got to Docs answer. he stated it just about perfectly and I am glad he got to give all the details. Just mind what he said, and what was repeated by the guy after him, they are not interchangeable in most firearms. Only a few specialized firearms with chambers designed longer and stronger can accept both, trying to fire a .45lc in a .410 shotgun can cause it to explode with series injury or death resulting.

good job Doc.

.45 Long colt was developed first as a higher velocity version of the standard 45. it was released in late 1872 and replaced the heavier .50 cal single shot.

It spent al long time as a premier pistol hunting cartridege an was the basis for the .454 casull

the .410 bore si the smallest shotgun cartridge and is a versitile survival round designed for close range situations. Though it is based off the .45 cartridge in dimensions the two were not designed to be interchangeable. It was discovered after some curious gun smiths looked at the measurements that the two rounds are of almost identical length and diameter it was at that time the 45-410 combo came to be.

The 45 was invented during the late 1800's. At the time, the 45 Schofield was being used. The 45 Colt was invented to compete. Someone started calling the Colt the "Long" colt to keep the two seperate (from getting mixed up), but "Long" is not nor was ever intended to be used. It is simply, the 45 Colt.

When we say long we are suggesting there is a short, and there has only ever been the 45 Colt.

The 410 came in quite a bit later to allow all the people shooting a Colt the chance to use their guns to shoot birds and such.

I don't know when the 410 came into being, but know some of it's intentions (among other things) was to give the 45 Colt owner other options.

I don't know the history..... but they are interchanged because they will both fit in the same sized barrel. You get two guns for the price of one, in essence.