Old Iver Johnson.

[5shot]

I innocently stopped at Cabelas today on the way home. There were no primers but I picked up another pound of Accurate #5 and a bag of Starline .357's. Took a quick peak in the "Gun Library" and saw this....

Iver.jpg

Iver II.jpg

It took me back to wandering the woods behind the farm as a boy. Normally Cabelas (Bass Pro) is not a good place to go when looking for deals but this little sweetheart was marked at $229 and with the veterans discount (5%) it came to $217. That's the price of a couple bags of groceries these days. For a hundred year old gun (Lettered serial number?) it obviously was well cared for and used very little. No rust or pitting, bluing at 90%+, no buggered up screws, tight as a drum and even the color case hardening was still very nice. Sales guy brought me a .410 snap cap and we put a piece of scotch tape over the head and dry fired. Firing pin made a nice hole in the tape and the ejector sent the snap cap across the room.

Now all that remains is trying to find some .410 shells.

[markiver54]

Nice find!

[Rifletom]

You ain't kidding that's a nice find. Great score!

[fortyshooter]

That is a nice find there...enjoy!

[Vaquero]

Very well indeed, Congrats. Nice score.
Good luck on the shells. I still haven't seen any locally in a Good while.
Luckily I'm pretty stocked.

RP

[daytime dave]

Congratulations of finding a nice old gun like that in great condition. Be prepared for sticker shock when you find the .410 ammo.

[Hatchdog]

Very nice find. Starting to see 410’s around here a little bit so hopefully you will find some.

[5shot]

Thank you gentlemen! I used to be an avid shotgunner when we had a good ruffed grouse population here in Wisconsin but since there are so few birds lately and the ones we have now are a new strain that fly much faster than they did a mere decade ago... I have to admit how out of touch I was on .410 pricing and availability.

So what do you folks think? For plugging the occasional offending backyard critter out of the garage window at up to 30 yards or so a 2 1/2" shell with a half ounce of #6 or # 7 1/2 shot should be enough? Full choke.

[Hatchdog]

Thank you gentlemen! I used to be an avid shotgunner when we had a good ruffed grouse population here in Wisconsin but since there are so few birds lately and the ones we have now are a new strain that fly much faster than they did a mere decade ago... I have to admit how out of touch I was on .410 pricing and availability.

So what do you folks think? For plugging the occasional offending backyard critter out of the garage window at up to 30 yards or so a 2 1/2" shell with a half ounce of #6 or # 7 1/2 shot should be enough? Full choke.

Back in the day when our local grouse also flew much slower I managed to knock several down with a Mossberg New Haven .410 pump. I used 3” #6 and it too had a full choke 26” barrel. Today I have a Henry 2.5” lever but only got out once last year and did not get any shots off. I still use #6 but 2.5”. I believe your 410 will fit the bill as you described but 30 yards is probably the absolute limit.

[5shot]

I ordered a couple boxes of 2 1/2" with #7 1/2 shot from Midway. Shipping was free because of a couple of free ship items on the order so at $18.99 and $20.99 it wasn't too painful. This gun won't have a high round count while I own it anyway. Once I establish where it's hitting at 25 yards it'll mostly be fondled and wiped down and maybe shown off a bit.