GH 8 Guage

[Don Kaas]

Contrary to the popular myth that breechloading 8 gauge guns were used primarily by "market hunters", most (and certainly virtually all of the relatively rare and expensive Parker guns) were used by well heeled sportsmen for pass shooting waterfowl. They are still used in Britain today for that very purpose. See John Sullivan's recent book on the famous Carroll Island Club, "Big Men and Big Guns" for more references. For some reason, they are often confused with "punt guns" which a shoulder fired 8 gauge Parker certainly is not. While I am sure there were exceptions, when you total the number of 8 gauge guns made by Parker, Smith, Lefever and a handful of other makers they were very, very rare even during the "golden age" of waterfowling of 1880-1920. Even the fairly cheap Shattuck single barrel 8 gauges are rarely seen. Considering their low numbers and cost to buy and feed them statistically not many "market hunters" could have used them. Both Askins and Buckingham decried the symbolic regulatory banning of the 8 gauge in 1918 for waterfowling as illogical. This silly ban remains in effect today when a 3 1/2" 10 or even 12 gauge repeater can legally hold and shoot the equivalent of 3 eight guage loads. I doubt these subsistance types were buying highly tariffed Westley Richards or Tolleys either. During the breech loading era, the market hunters gun of choice was the 10 gauge hammer double and later the A-5/M11 automatic. I have owned six 8 bore guns over the years. I currently have #120227 and #6 frame DH with 36" Damascus barrels and its original skeleton buttplate (the original owner in the Hudson valley must have been a big, hard man himself).