8 gauge brass.

F

Felenari

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I'm trying to find some 8 gauge brass to turn into dummy rounds for a mockup I'm building for an 8 gauge pump action design. Long story.

Contacted Brownells and they said that 8 gauge was illegal for hunting and thus they didn't have any brass for it. Anyone know if it's illegal to have a pump action 8 gauge range gun? Also where to find some brass for this would be epic. I've found one or two live rounds but no shells or dummies.
 
Rocky Mountain will make it for you - turned on a lathe - about 8$ a shell. Remington also makes a 8ga industrial hull for blasting. There's a belt around the brass so they can't be loaded in shotguns. Last year I sold 50 of them to a 8ga shooter that were resized to shoot in shotguns. You may be able to find some on the internet, or go to www.parkerguns.org and on the reloading forum you'll find some info. Good luck - Paul
 
An 8 gauge pump would be just right for those late August mosquito's in the deep woods of northern Michigan!
How many shots?
 
Try Winchester; they make the brass 8 gauge ammo for the tripod-mounted guns we used to blow slag off the boiler walls at a power plant. We went to those after wearing out several Remington 1100s (and the shoulders of the plant workers)
They might send/sell you one.
 
Used to be able to buy once fired 8ga plastic industrial hulls from BPI, or someone, but can't seem to find them anymore. You still have to resize the brass to make it fit in a shotgun. I had a die made up but let it go with the shells I sold. If you've found some live rounds without the belt around the brass you have a treasure. The ones with a belt were made that way so someone wouldn't try a shoot them in a shotgun - too much pressure. I held a 6 and 4ga shotgun. The 6 was a double, the 4 more the size of a punt gun. The guy had two shells for each. Didn't make a offer - kind a wish I had.
 
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@Bladesmith1 that sounds perfect. I just need two or three to tune the mechanism so I'll order some from them. I held a Russian 4g pump once when visiting a friend there. No ammo but the racking sound sounded like a car crusher.

@jaguarxk120 either 6 or 8 shots depending on how long the mockup winds up being. I'm not big on hunting game but I'm down to eradicate some giant skeeters a la overkill.

@FITASC that sounds like a brutal yet kinda fun job. What type of projectile was used? Salt or fine steel balls maybe? I'll ask Winchester also.

Sorry I'm keeping a bit tight lipped on the details of the build. I'm building it in 12g for commercial purposes as well and the 8g will be my own lore friendly copy.
 
With the 12 gauges, we used buck or slugs. IIRC when we switched to the 8 gauge, it was buck (or close enough in size)
 
Brutal. I can imagine. I haven't seen a boiler but I've forged with coal here and there. I can imagine industrial sized clinkers aren't easy to remove. I can also imagine the liquid lead runoff when it's fired back up though. How bad are ricochets in that environment? I can't imagine it's a supersonic load. What kind of safety gear was required for that? Bomb suit or just blast shields?
 
Generally those 8 gauge guns were used on kilns to remove the clinker eye brows from over the burners.
Boilers had built in soot blowers operated daily to remove built up ash. The soot blowers were operated with steam or compressed air. On the older boilers water was used to knock off the built up ash from the tubes.

The guns were used when the kiln was removed from service for rebuild.
 
Brutal. I can imagine. I haven't seen a boiler but I've forged with coal here and there. I can imagine industrial sized clinkers aren't easy to remove. I can also imagine the liquid lead runoff when it's fired back up though. How bad are ricochets in that environment? I can't imagine it's a supersonic load. What kind of safety gear was required for that? Bomb suit or just blast shields?
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Picture little port holes like on an armored car; the muzzle was put through that and they fired away. I go to fire one; it was an impressive BANG, even out of a 35+# gun on a tripod
 
My agency used a kiln gun to shoot open the tap hole on a phosphorus furnace to drain the accumulated ferro-phos and slag. A lot quicker and safer than a long crowbar. My engineering project used an 1100 to shoot slag out of a coal gasifier.

The lead is not significant in most applications. If it matters in yours, there are zinc slugs.

Google "kiln gun" and you will see a lot of pictures. The newer the picture, the more protective gear worn by the operator. There is even a late marque of kiln gun with an integral silencer. Don't know about the BATF/NFA status of that one.
 
Remington first made a " cement gun " back in the 30s. Then it was the " MasterBlaster " that weighs a 100#, is 5' long and 5" wide, on a tripod. With a 3 ounce slug it can be shot up to 300' accurately producing 4 1/2 tons of energy. There is no industrial gun in the entire world that is more powerful, more accurate, and safer. They still make about 25 a year. They are considered tools, not guns.
 
That's pretty metal. I would love to watch that process. Both the poking of a hole on a full kiln and the rebuilding of one. I love big machines. I believe all guns are tools and all tools should be used responsibly.

My project build will be less useful than a kiln gun though I think. More for fun and the can it be done factor.
 
Felenari said:
I'm trying to find some 8 gauge brass to turn into dummy rounds for a mockup I'm building for an 8 gauge pump action design. Long story.

Contacted Brownells and they said that 8 gauge was illegal for hunting and thus they didn't have any brass for it. Anyone know if it's illegal to have a pump action 8 gauge range gun? Also where to find some brass for this would be epic. I've found one or two live rounds but no shells or dummies.
Click to expand...
AFAIK the 8 gauge is only illegal for waterfoul hunting. Or maybe some states for some purpose. Not across the board. While, not practical there are many legitimate opportunities to hunt and shoot an 8 gauge shotgun. That was a very poor response from Brownell.
 
That's what I thought. I've seen 4 gauge guns being shot no trouble with the range master. I knew punt guns were illegal to hunt with but not illegal to own. Better safe than sorry on Brownells part I guess.
 
Have never seen an 8 gauge legal to hunt with. Every state regs I have ever read for states I have hunted in state what bore sizes are legal and 8 gauge is not among them.
 
It's a federal migratory law. It applies to ducks and geese and maybe woodcock and snipe. Not sure about the last two. It's not against the law in Michigan for other hunting, and I would think it's the same in many other states. I remember reading in the DGJ about someone recently hunting swans, or something like that with a 8ga. Back in the late 70s I made a 8ga O/U sidehammer muzzleloader. Ya I know it's illegal, but for two years I took it goose hunting in the UP in Michigan. The load was 400 grains of 1f and 4oz of shot. The first year I tried buckshot without success, but the second year it was #2 shot. It weighed 18 pounds and if not standing properly would push me over on my backside on the ground, and I'm 6' 4" at 180 pounds. Well, at least back then. We hunted farm fields in corncob blinds. Quite deadly out to 65 yards with .015 choke. It was sold by mistake. Mine.
 
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