Any one fired an 8 Gauge?

H

Housezealot

New member
I was watching "Appaloosa" last night (pretty good flick by the way)
and Viggo Mortensons character is hauling around an 8 gauge the whole time, I have only even seen an 8 Gauge a handful of times (at OGCA shows).
has any one here fired one of these howitzers?
if so hows the recoil?
can you get ammo?
just curious.
 
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Once - it was on a tripod and was/is used at a powerplant for blowing slag off the boiler walls. (We had previously used 870's but were always wearing them out along with the shoulders of the guys shooting). Since it was on a tripod, there wasn't any recoil to me... :D - but those shells looked menacing
 
wow I imagine wearing an 870 out is no small feat, I imagine you weren't using some antique 8 gauge (mabey one made just for that purpose?), now I'm gonna have to see who still makes em, just out of curiosity of course, I'm not that much of a glutton for punishment:D
 
I did when I was a kid, at least again a barn door. My grandfather had a double barrel goose gun with long barrels, may have been 36". Heavy as all get out. They weren't that uncommon then because people use to use 8 and 10 gauge for geese. I remember that he bought his shells at the local hardware store, Scott's in Jay, FL. I doubt that they special ordered them, so must have been a demand for 8 gauge. As kids, we use to fire it with the butt against a barn door. After a while this cracked the wrist of the stock. One of my older cousins was going to take it to get it repaired. I haven't seen it since. I thought about my grandfather's old 8 gauge when I saw the movie, but my cousin has passed away. No telling where that old gun is now.

I've also heard that they use to use 8 gauge, and even larger, shotguns in punt boats to poach geese on the Chesapeake. Don't know about out West.
 
The shell was a Winchester industrial 8 gauge shell. I was in Purchasing, so I got a chance to fire one - I didn't do it every day.......and yes, it was to blow the slag off the boiler walls in a coal-fired power plant. The gun, IIRC, was actually leased from Winchester for this purpose; then we bought the ammunition. It did a better job, was more efficient than handheld 12 gauges....

Here's Remington's site:
http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/industrial/ammunition.asp
 
I've also heard that they use to use 8 gauge, and even larger, shotguns in punt boats to poach geese on the Chesapeake.
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Punt guns, yeah... mounted in the bow of the boat, I think.

If I recall correctly, it was legal to hunt waterfowl that way around the turn of the last century -- kill them en masse and sell them directly to fancy hotels and restaurants -- until someone noticed that said waterfowl were getting sorta scarce...
 
I've also heard that they use to use 8 gauge, and even larger, shotguns in punt boats to poach geese on the Chesapeake. Don't know about out West.
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The king of the shot shells was the 4 gauge. This and most 8 gauges were made to shoot at FLOCKS of birds. These were usually mounted to a boat on a tripod or some other device which would let the gun rotate. Any 4 gauge gun is a collectible firearm today. 8 gauge shells are sometimes still used for industry. Hunting with a 4 gauge or 8 gauge shotgun was made illegal in the US around 1917 IIRC. I'm not sure how wide spread the 4 gauge or even the 8 gauge was in the US when it was legal, since at the time the gold standard was 10 gauge, and the 12 gauge was becoming more and more popular.
 
Hunting with a 4 gauge or 8 gauge shotgun was made illegal in the US around 1917 IIRC.

How about owning one? I've got a friend who brought back a 4 gauge elephant gun from Africa years ago. It does shoot slugs instead of shot. Hate to have to tell him that his is illegal.

How about muzzleloading shotguns 8 gauge or larger?
 
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Viggo's character has an 8gauge...

... but from what I read in an article on the prop guns they actually used in a movie, the propmasters couldn't find an 8 gauge, so they adapted outer tubes to a 10 or 12, to make it look like an 8; the inner barrels and breech were the more normal gauge.

I think the article was in an issue of American Rifleman that came out around the time of the movie's release, but I am not positive.
 
Illegal?

I think the larger gauged shotguns are only illegal for migratory birds. Here you could use an 8 gauge for turkeys or even dove.
 
I think the larger gauged shotguns are only illegal for migratory birds. Here you could use an 8 gauge for turkeys or even dove.
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Turkeys, yes unless your state has its own laws prohibiting it but doves are included in federally protected migratory game birds.

Here I am killing a Remington Blue Rock clay bird with a muzzleloading 8 gauge.


img_0499a.jpg
 
As a result of NFA 36 shotguns, firing fixed ammunition, larger than 10ga are considered a destructive device that have no "sporting purpose".

Of course, if it was made prior two 1894 it is an antique and is not legally a gun.
 
Viggo's character has an 8gauge...

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... but from what I read in an article on the prop guns they actually used in a movie, the propmasters couldn't find an 8 gauge, so they adapted outer tubes to a 10 or 12, to make it look like an 8; the inner barrels and breech were the more normal gauge.
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The image I saw from that movie gave me the impression that they were exaggerating the bigness of an 8 gauge. Look at the muzzle of an actual 8 gauge and you may well think it was a 10 gauge. The size difference is not that much. Comparing an 8 and a 10 is sort of like comparing a 16 and a 12gauge. An 8 bore is .835 inches, about the size of a U.S. Nickel.
 
Possession of a 2, 4, 6, 8 bore gun is not illegal...the shooting of the 2, 4, 6, 8 bore gun is not illegal...the hunting of birds with a 2, 4, 6, 8 bore gun is illegal, with some state/provincial exceptions so for argument's sake lets just say it is...

I've shot both 4 and 8 bore BP rifles and shotguns and a 8 and 10 bore duplex (smokeless) rifles and shotguns...Loud, massive muzzle flash, but only a very slow, heavy push instead of a sharp recoil...Wouldn't want to shoot 10, 15 rounds in a row with them...A friend has a 10 bore British made Cape Gun - one barrel smoothbore the other fully rifled...

The primary shotguns of the Wells Fargo Stagecoach and Express Line, was usually a W.W. Greener, 10 bore, 30" or 32" shotgun and the short barrel models (and sometimes 12 bore) were carried by sheriffs or town marshals etc. as they were easier to handle inside a building....The drivers wanted something with reach, and the longer barrels allowed more powder to burn inside the barrel which of course creates higher velocities and usually longer range...

The close up, non firing shots were done with the true 8 bore gun, IIRC from a couple of articles, some of the closeup firing shots were done with the original but all the rest just tricked up 10 bore doubles...I'll find the article and post it!
 
the 8-bore

well, I dont think it's very easy to find one, but heck, I know people who own freaking military cannons (not currently in service of course) and even up to 4" 20 pounder parrot rifles. so theres no doubt you're allowed to own one, I personally have seen 8-bores at gun shows but have never had the pleasure of firing one of those monsters. but there is a great way around it, but you need alot of steel, walnut or other wood of your choice, springs, trigger guard, some metal working machine, and a gun drill. it involves making your own chambered for the modern industrial shells, except you compare reloading parts for a 10ga and make upscaled copy's of them for your reloader, then you either fire some industrial shells, or just buy some already fired shells, and load the shells with 150gr of flake type smokeless powder (the same used by normal shotguns) take some wad board (thick and strong cardboard used for making wads and buffers) and cut out alot of nickel sized circles and use them as wadding, roll crimp it, pour in 2 ounces of shot, and push one more wad into it. then you've got target load ammo and a gun to shoot it out of, for slugs you might want to make a mold too and cast your own, but all of this requires skill in metal working and gunsmithing.
 
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