Two 8 Bores.

[T'owd Mon]

In a previous thread I mentioned having 8 bore shotguns and Castle asked for more information so here are the two I have. The first is a double by Joseph Lang of 22, Cockspur Street, London and made in 1882 to the Lang patent of 1881. It looks like a sidelock at first glance but is in fact a trigger plate action. The push forward underlever both cocks the action and releases the underbites to be able to drop the barrels for loading. The action is Nickel plated as this is a gun made for saltwater wildfowling. The 34 inch Damascus barrels have been re-proofed for nitro powders and are choked full & full. Records show that this gun was made for a Lieutenant Napier although I know little of this first owner. Total weight of the gun is 13 pounds. The gun is a first rate goose gun and I last used it in Scotland shooting Greylag Geese. Lead is still permitted in Scotland provided it is away from wetlands so the gun enjoyed some use flighting inland geese. I make my own cartridges using once fired Industrial cartridges. Most major ammunition makers make a special 3 ounce slug round that is used for shooting the build-up that forms on the inside of kilns in the cement manufacturing business. I prefer the ones made by Remington and can obtain almost limitless amounts of cases from a cement works a few miles away. To avoid these cartridges being used in sporting guns with disastrous results the case head has a step in it which has to be re-sized out first then can be loaded as a normal round. I close with a roll crimp. Loads for this gun go up to 2 1/2 ounces but it performs best at 2 1/8th.

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These are the tools used for loading for this gun.

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And the finished results.

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[T'owd Mon]

The second 8 bore is one made by Thomas Dainteth of Bridge Street, Warrington, Lancashire. This a single 8 and again has been re-proofed for nitro. and has a 33 inch Damascus barrel. Warrington is not too far from the wildfowl shooting areas of Morecambe Bay and the Mersey Estuary. The gun would have been made around the late 1870's and has a back action hammer with Henry Jones patent underlever. Most big bore guns were made with hammer actions so the Lang gun shown previously is rather unusual being a hammerless design. The picture shows the gun with two original Eley cartridges; the red one being a 'Gastight' made around the 1940's and the buff coloured one is one made by Eley as part of their last batch made back in 1976. After that they ceased production due to lack of demand and uneconomical grounds. Original boxes now are quite collectable and valuable; I am pleased to say that I have three original complete boxes.

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[Justsomedude]

A 3 ounce slug

And beautiful guns btw.

[CPJ 2.0]

They still make 8 bore rounds for industrial use. I service a factory that injection molds the wads. They are loaded with a slug of some frangible metal, and are used to break off chunks of I want to say concrete or some concrete-ish type material from rotating drums.

[CPJ 2.0]

Not as pretty as the guns above.



https://www.remington.com/industrial/masterblaster.html

[CPJ 2.0]

Because I like nerdy stuff. Here’s the use of the industrial shotgun.

https://youtu.be/eqGPgdtHW-0?si=m-TAzdiD0ihcTGYJ

[Zee]

Damn!

[mitdr774]

Looks like they are blasting slag off the side of a furnace crucible. I will pass on that job.

[Justsomedude]

Is there anything that guns can't do?

[Wambli Ska]

Those are beautiful!!!

[Chiro1989]

So how far out does a goose have to be worried with an 8 Ga.? What is your best shot at one?

[bullsi1911]

Not as pretty as the guns above.



https://www.remington.com/industrial/masterblaster.html

I want one!

[Castle]

Damn!

Double Dog Damn with a muffin thrown in!


Gorgeous firearms and yeah, I want one

[Gene L]

So how far out does a goose have to be worried with an 8 Ga.? What is your best shot at one?

Illegal in the US for waterfowl. Ten is the limit.

[T'owd Mon]

Luckily for us the limit is 1 & 3/4 inch bore punt guns. 8 bores and 4 bores are perfectly okay. I would say a good sporting range is up to 55 or 60 yards for clean kills; some try to advocate a much farther range. Shot load isn't much greater than magnum 10's or 3 1/2" 12's but the pattern is much superior with the wider bore. There is some satisfaction in using these old guns for their intended purpose but I am now limited to loading expensive Bismuth for use in England or going to Scotland for inland flighting to be able to still use lead. Here in England I am reduced to using my Winchester X4 with steel. I can use lead in England but just not for ducks and geese.

I do have two 10's but only a Harrington & Richardson single and an old single by Sumner of Liverpool.

[Freezer]

Mike, I've been looking at your guns for years, and I still droll on my computer when you post another.

I find recoil from a 3 /12 12 gauge uncomfortable, how does it compare to the 10 bore?

[T'owd Mon]

The X4 is not too bad but I have noticed a big difference with different brands. I use it with lead for cormorant shooting under a special licence; the 63 gram loads by the English company Gamebore are quite tolerable by the 63 gram loads by Winchester are real tooth rattlers! Those 8 bores are not too bad as they just give a big friendly push. Worse kicking guns I find are lightweight 20 bores. They seem to give a sharp stab rather than the push of a big bore. I'll look farther into the depths of the gun cabinet and see what turns up to report on next.

[rberg]

I worked in a cement plant for 35 years and have shot many thousands of rounds of industrial 8 gauge rounds shooting build up out of the kiln. Have shot as many as 10 thousand round in one twelve hour day.

[Wambli Ska]

I worked in a cement plant for 35 years and have shot many thousands of rounds of industrial 8 gauge rounds shooting build up out of the kiln. Have shot as many as 10 thousand round in one twelve hour day.

So I’m assuming your answer to anyone speaking to you is, WHAT?

[rberg]

After shooting for 12 hours I went def in my right ear and did not regain hearing back to somewhat normal for one month. I was wearing both ear plugs and muffs.

[GrapeApe]

10,000 in 12 hours is nearly 14 rounds a minute. How'd you load that fast, for that long?

[rberg]

I was shooting and had a partner that was loading. He was fast enough that I was pulling the trigger about as fast as I could.

[Freezer]

Holy SHIZNET!

[GrapeApe]

I was shooting and had a partner that was loading. He was fast enough that I was pulling the trigger about as fast as I could.

Cool

[Gene L]

No time off for lunch. Or bathroom breaks.