.410 Pistol Ammo Review (Video)

S&W Governor Pistol Ammo vs Computer Cases

We decided to do another .410 pistol ammo review (video) since there is a lot of discussion regarding the S&W Governor and similar Taurus Judge & Public Defender and the effectiveness of the .410 pistol payload coming out of a short barrel.

From our previous video review we had learned that 5 yards was about the maximum range for the .410 cartridge with such a short barrel before there is a fair to middlin chance that your aim could be dead on and yet completely miss your target; God help you if you had aimed for a headshot.

But in that previous video we were shooting at cardboard and plucking lead out of the woodpile behind it.

For this video we choose some old steel computer cases destined for the scrapyard and thought to make things interesting we would put a 12 gauge pump shotgun in the mix besides.

.410 Pistol Ammo That Disappoints

In the photo above, in red circles you can see the pattern from Remington Ultimate Home Defense .410 rounds. As in that previous video, the pattern is quite dispersed and only one of the 4 pellets actually hitting close to our aim point.

In theory, we like 4 pellets vs the 3 pellets of the Winchester Super-X we previously compared against. In practice, the Super-X stays more on-target without that 4th pellet going high & wild.

We like the idea of zero collateral damage when discharging a firearm!

A Vote For Winchester PDX

As you can see in the video, the Winchester PDX .410 ammo (get at Brownell’s), the heaviest load (discs) hits pretty much dead on target with an even dispersion of the BB’s surrounding it.

While we have no idea what the effect of the BB’s would be on an attacker, we really like that large, deep indentation from the business part of the shell.

Penetration

One thing we really like about our Smith & Wesson Governor, besides being a 6 shooter and not 5, is that we can mix up the loading of the cylinder with .410 pistol ammo (PDX), .45 Long Colt (PDX, buy at Brownell’s) and even .45 Auto (also in PDX if you like, again at Brownell’s).

The .45 Long Colt is shown in the video blasting easily through all 3 layers of steel. .45 Auto will do the same.

Of the 9 pellets in the 2-3/4″ 12 gauge 00 Buck only a couple make it all the way through all 3 layers but the all easily penetrate the first, and in a close pattern as you would expect from an 18″ barrel. Those that do not make it through that last layer leave a really big dent.