New to 8 ga.
 

I have recently purchased a Parker 8 ga hammerless gun an now need a way to feed it. My brother reloads and currently reloads for our 10 gauges. Any info on how to acquire supplies for this project would be wonderful.
Thanks all,
Jim

Hello Jim,

Welcome to the 8 Bore Club!!!!:)

For reloading I think most everyone started with a modified MEC 600 Jr which we have acquired through Tom Armbrust, he has put a reloading book together on the 4 & 8 bore and is very knowledgeable on the big bores. 815-451-6649

Dave DeFernelmont Jr is currently working on a few PW presses also for a few of us.

Ken Burns is the man modifying the MEC presses and also producing a swaging die system to remove the additional shoulder on Industrial 8 gauge Hulls to prevent the Industrial loads from being accidentally fired in a sporting arm. Ken's # is 847-909-9409

Craig Larter and Mike Koneski have organized group buys of new primed Winchester 8 gauge Industrial hulls in the recent past, I have some on hand to help you get started as I'm sure a few others do also.

Let me or Craig know if you will be at the Southern and need some ammo to participate.

Stan

Jim I second Stan's welcome, you will never have so much fun with a shotgun.
I use the Ken Burns modified MEC 8ga reloader and his swaging die that fits in a RCBS Rock Chucker press. Both pieces of equipment are easy to use.
New 3 1/4" Winchester Hulls are currently on backorder with Precision Reloading.
The only 8ga wad currently available is the 8ga Hi Capacity Wad from Ballistic Products.
All of the 8ga reloaders use slightly different recipes based on personal preference and component availability.
I use 3 1/4 Winchester hulls, Cheddite 209 primer, Clays powder. The load stack is Clays powder, followed by a .070 nitro card, followed by a 8ga 1/2" fiber wad, followed by the plastic 8ga Hi-Capacity wad, then 1 1/2oz 7 1/2 shot, folded crimp. I have had excellent luck with this load.
I'm sure Mike K will jump in here with his thoughts and he may have some of the components.

Thanks folks,
When I watched the 8 ga five stand event at Warrington 2 yrs ago and saw how much fun everyone was having - I was hooked.
I cannot make the Southern this year, currently planning on 2028. My other (younger) brother lives about 25 min from Deep River and he is going. He shoots there, Kidds Place, and Drake Landing all the time.
I am going to try and make the Northern SXS.

Actually the five stand at Warrington that day had a bunch of bullshit targets . The targets Rick throws in the dove field at Deep River are far better as are the ones the Little Polish Lad throws at Rock River .

Rock River? Rock Mountain!

Well, if Ed and I ever team up as co-owners of the two ranges, maybe we will name them Rock River North and Rock River South. Just sayin.

Jim, there is an 8g press for sale on this site right now. Italian made press that the owner has not used and is asking $850. David DeFernelmont and I have recently purchased 3” 8g hulls that he is in the process of swaging the industrial ring off. He will be buying about 1300-1500 more from Joe in Canada. Gualandi wads are sold by Ballistic Products. I had published MANY recipes for the 8g in Parker Pages over the past year with some more coming in the next issue. Might as well jump right in to the deep end. ����

If you decide to go with a PW 870, David Defernelmont can do the conversion for you. If you choose to opt for the MEC from Ken Burns, contact me first as there are a few upgrades that need to be done to his press to make it easier to use and more reliable.

Jim, the alternative to loading your own will be to find someone willing to load hulls and sell them to you. That said, you will be looking on average from $3.50-$5 per shell. You'd be safe thinking of the $5 per shell as the hulls are not cheap and there is labor involved swaging them plus you're using more powder and shot than the usual clays load. We load 1 1/2 oz of shot in the 3 1/4" and 3" hulls, plus the powder charge is greater than a 10g. I'm not trying to scare you off, just filling you in on the realities of 8g ammo. We don't shoot them a whole lot over the course of the year, so a few hundred shells would be more than enough for most guys. Some of us need more than that. :cool:

The Italian press is sold. The last station on the press makes espresso.

Mike,
Thanks for the replies. My brother does the reloading, so I'll talk to him about what he wants to do. He'll be the one contacting you about the specifics. I do know he has MEC loaders now for 16, 12 & 10 ga. He and I have discussed getting at least 500 hulls to start.

Craig,
That 5 stand was...well...bullshit. #1 from that tower was awful. Unfortunately, they have since gone out of business, which opened an opportunity for me to buy some of their MEC traps ( which were taken care of about as well as they ran the club). I now have my own backyard 5 stand.

I don't know when we will get started on this project, we are both fruit growers and are currently in full bloom and very busy.
I did get the gun from Josh, so I am excited to get it well-fed.