The .410 is an interesting shotgun cartridge for numerous reasons. It’s the only one we don’t measure in gauge and is a bit of a stickler. It’s very light and very small, not the first choice of anyone looking for a defensive shotgun. It’s certainly viable but not optimum for the role. What makes it so interesting, at least to me, is the fact so many companies make unique defensive loadings for it. Loadings like the .410 Hornady Critical Defense Triple Defense.
It’s really the effect of the Taurus Judge and its various offshoots and clones. The little .410 revolvers revived the round for defensive use and while I don’t care for .410 revolvers, I do appreciate the little bang stick that could. The modern loadings have made it a more decisive weapon for home defense, although it’s debatable in terms of efficiency.
That’s another conversation for another time. Today I wanted to discuss the capability of the Hornady Triple Defense load. I think it might be one of the best options for a defensive .410 shotgun.
What Is the Triple Defense?
The Hornady Triple Defense load is a 2.5-inch defensive shotgun load. Most 2.5-inch .410 buckshot loads hold three 00 pellets. The Triple Defense load holds three projectiles, but only two of them are 00 buckshot pellets. The third projectile is a .41 caliber slug with an FTX tip. The round is designed to engage the rifling of a .410 revolver barrel, but it’s not useless in a smooth bore.
The .41 caliber FTX slug provides a hollow point design to the shotgun’s loadout that is supposed to expand on contact. Expansion is an excellent way to add a little sting to your low-caliber defensive shotgun. Hornady Triple Defense promises you a mix of buckshot and slug, something akin to a buck and ball load, but it doesn’t suck. A lot of buck and ball loads aren’t exactly great for defensive use due to their unpredictability.
Oftentimes the buck part, or the slug, works great. It usually flies straight, but the problem comes from the balls that can fly unpredictably and without a consistent pattern. I’ve seen it before. Honestly, I expected it with the Triple Defense load, so that’s what I was really looking for when it came to shooting and patterning the load.
The Triple Threat flies at a reported 750 feet per second. That’s the measured velocity from a revolver, according to my research. However, from a longer-barreled shotgun, it will gain a little more oomph. A three-inch revolver barrel doesn’t add much to the velocity game.
How does the Triple Defense perform?
I think the .410 as a defensive weapon really works from the perspective of a firearm a — a firearm being a shotgun-caliber weapon that lacks a stock and they often have short barrels. That means guns like the Shockwave and my Henry Axe. The smaller, lighter designs make them more maneuverable, and the light recoiling .410 doesn’t make them tough to shoot.
With that in mind, that’s the weapon of choice I used when I tested the Triple Defense. I loaded the rounds into my Henry Axe and hit the range. The first thing I wanted to try was just patterning the load. I wanted to see if it suffered from the same problems as most buck and ball loads.
I set up two targets, one at 10 yards and one at 15 yards. Both are inside the range of home defense. Heck, arguably, they are beyond home defense ranges in most situations. I was impressed with the results. At 10 yards on a bull’s eye target, all three rounds landed within the 9 ring.
At 15 yards, they all landed no further than the seven-ring. It’s no FliteControl load, but it’s well within acceptable accuracy. These patterns were quite consistent in terms of their spread, and never did I get a larger, unpredictable amount of spread within twenty rounds fired.
Banging Hammers
The little Henry Axe doesn’t have a stock and isn’t quite a mean machine. One of the problems with shotgun-caliber firearms is that they tend to be tough to control. Rounds like .410 minimize that. Predictably there wasn’t much recoil, even for a defensive round. In fact, it’s as soft as a kitten.
It’s very easy to control, and the recoil is minimal. It’s easy to aim and rapidly control and shoot. A lever action is a little tricky in speed without a stock, but in a pump action like the Shockwave, the Triple Defense would be quite capable and quick, and easy to shoot. That’s invaluable for a defensive weapon.
In 40 rounds, I had no issues with ejection, extraction, loading, or firing. It’s clearly a very capable defensive round with a premium design. A lot of 2.5-inch .410 rounds aren’t exactly evenly crimped or cut. This makes it a pain when a five-round tube only holds four rounds because of the shell length differences. That’s not a problem here. They are perfectly trimmed and evenly crimped.
Overall, it’s what you expect from a premium, defensive shotshell.
What about penetration?
None of the above matters if the round cannot penetrate deep enough to strike something vital. We used ballistic gel to provide a measurable medium to judge effectiveness. I researched the cartridges and was able to witness plenty of proper penetration and depth with the cartridge. Plenty of good YouTube videos show that the Triple Defense load has adequate penetration. It can reach nice and deep. In fact, all three projectiles in the round can reach nice and deep to meet those standards.
It does seem that the FTX slug doesn’t consistently expand and seems fairly random across the various gel tests. That’s not a huge deal. Expansion is nice but not necessary. The penetration is where it’s most important, and the rounds can get there.
Overall the Triple Defense load is an impressive option for the .410 shotgun. It’s a capable and penetrative round that reaches deep and hits hard. The design is a premium one, and Hornady is no slouch in the defensive shotgun market. If the .410 shotgun or firearm is your choice for home defense, then give the Triple Defense a look.
