8-gauge guns and ammo

[Lumpy]

I'd thought these didn't really exist anymore other than a few antique guns and custom-crafted ammunition to load them. But I recently discovered the phenomenon of "kiln guns":

https://industrialcartridgesa.com/8-gauge-kiln-system/

[TSKNIGHT]

I have a few 8 gauge slugs that I got from an Uncle that worked in a paper mill.
They were fired from a solid mount artillery style breach loaded smooth bore. You could feel the concussion 10ft away. Can't say I would want to shoulder fire one.

I've seen a couple that were used in market hunting, but they were swivel mounted to the boat.

[crbutler]

They are commonly used to hunt geese in the UK.

Kind of rare here.

The commercial industrial use shells have a belt above the shell rim, the old (and UK) sporting guns do not have that.

[Holland&Holland]

They are commonly used to hunt geese in the UK.

Kind of rare here.

The commercial industrial use shells have a belt above the shell rim, the old (and UK) sporting guns do not have that.

Aren’t the Uk 8 gauges actually 10s?

[Lumpy]

I have a few 8 gauge slugs that I got from an Uncle that worked in a paper mill.
They were fired from a solid mount artillery style breach loaded smooth bore. You could feel the concussion 10ft away. Can't say I would want to shoulder fire one.

I've seen a couple that were used in market hunting, but they were swivel mounted to the boat.

Someone must have once shoulder-fired them: the "elephant gun" in the original "Tremors" movie was a 8-gauge. Check out those cartridges!
http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Tremors_(1990)#William_Moore_.26_Co._8_gauge_shotgun

[870TC]

I have shot a 8ga. single shot with blackpowder loads using the industrial Remington hulls with the belt swaged down so they fit in the chamber. Recoil was not unpleasant, we shot a few clay targets with it at Post 435's trap range years ago.

[Holland&Holland]

I have a few 8 gauge slugs that I got from an Uncle that worked in a paper mill.
They were fired from a solid mount artillery style breach loaded smooth bore. You could feel the concussion 10ft away. Can't say I would want to shoulder fire one.

I've seen a couple that were used in market hunting, but they were swivel mounted to the boat.

Someone must have once shoulder-fired them: the "elephant gun" in the original "Tremors" movie was a 8-gauge. Check out those cartridges!
http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Tremors_(1990)#William_Moore_.26_Co._8_gauge_shotgun

Link does not work.

[crbutler]

They are commonly used to hunt geese in the UK.

Kind of rare here.

The commercial industrial use shells have a belt above the shell rim, the old (and UK) sporting guns do not have that.

Aren’t the Uk 8 gauges actually 10s?

Nope.

Gauge is the same.

Shot numbering size is different.

“Bore” rifles are similar to shotgun size.

I’ve shot a 4 bore rifle once. Nitro for black load. The bullet was a quarter pound lead ball. I was told it was 1875 FPS. Regardless, it was a big push. Not sharp like a .378 weatherby, but I took 2 steps backwards.

They were supposed to be used for elephant in the pre-smokeless era. They produce no where near the penetration of the nitro express loads. They are very flinch inducing!

[crbutler]

Also, the brits don’t seem to “magnumize” everything. Most 10’s over there are 2 7/8 chambered, and the typical load for a 10 is 1 5/8, the 8 is a bit more than 2.

The goal is better patterning rather than throwing more shot.

[BigBlue]

I have a few 8 gauge slugs that I got from an Uncle that worked in a paper mill.
They were fired from a solid mount artillery style breach loaded smooth bore. You could feel the concussion 10ft away. Can't say I would want to shoulder fire one.

I've seen a couple that were used in market hunting, but they were swivel mounted to the boat.

Someone must have once shoulder-fired them: the "elephant gun" in the original "Tremors" movie was a 8-gauge. Check out those cartridges!
http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Tremors_(1990)#William_Moore_.26_Co._8_gauge_shotgun

Link does not work.

Copy the entire text of the line all the way to the end.

Did they really destroy the actual gun while making the movie? That sucks.

[daleamn]

Tremors, I thoroughly enjoyed that movie.
One of my favorite scenes:

Earl Bassett: What kind of fuse is that?
Burt Gummer: Cannon fuse.
Earl Bassett: What the hell do you use it for?
Burt Gummer (responding as this was the most obvious thing in the world): My cannon!

[TSKNIGHT]

I said I wouldn't want to shoulder fire an 8 gauge, not that they didn't.

If I can find it, Mom has a picture of my Grandpa hunting waterfowl on Heron Lake. There was another hunting party behind his group that you can see a swivel gun mounted on their boat.
My Grandpa said it was a 4 gauge and the group was from out East. He made a living market hunting and fishing before he started farming with his older brothers around 1915 or so.
He wasn't real happy with some of the hunters that would come from outside the area as they didn't have much respect for anyone or anything. Some of the local hunters would walk the rushes and pick up downed birds that the tourists didn't take the time to look for.

[prushin]

I have shot a 4-bore rifle a couple of times. I had a friend in college whose father, John, was a safari guide in the early 80's. He had a side-by-side 4-Bore. He said it was not a hunting rifle...It was a stopping rifle. Old black powder Holland & Holland made sometime in the early 1900's, as I recall. Beautiful and simple gun. No elaborate engraving or more than functional checkering. He received the rifle from his boss when the boss retired and sold the business to John. He claimed it hit hard enough that shooting a charging elephant at 30 yeards would result in dodging a sliding carcass.

I vividly remember the load. He had a bullet mold that produced a 1950gr conical bullet and sat it on top of 485gr of black powder. He said the gun weighed just over 26 pounds. It kicked about like getting bumped by a tractor at 10mph. Not really a violent kick, but out of the dozen or so friends who shot it with us, everyone took about 2 steps back with the recoil. It was tons of fun to fire a literal hand cannon at a plastic drum of water and then have to dig 2' into a round bale to recover a massive wad of lead. John claimed to have fired the thing around 50 times over 18 years of guiding safari. Said his boss made him put 6 rounds through the gun as part of his trial period.

As far as the original topic on this post....The St Paul garbage incenerator still uses a 12ga pump for clearing slag from the chimney. That was always the best benefit of working nights there.

[Holland&Holland]

Oh great, another item for the list now.

[Lumpy]

I've read that because of the muzzle velocity limitations of black powder, those old-fashioned elephant guns used huge projectiles to compensate. They were replaced when the introduction of cordite and other such propellants made nitro express cartridges of "only" .600 caliber the better gun.