8 Gauge Reloading Made Easy

[Mark Ouellette]

There seems to be a little more interest in shooting 8 gauge shotguns with every year. I started a few years ago with a Parker DH 8 which Brad Bachelder returned to as new condition. With 36” barrels and weighing 14 and half pounds, this old Parker really handles heavy loads.

My favorite target load is an ounce and three quarters of number 7.5 shot. This is listed in Tom Armbrust’s book, “4 AND 8 GAUGE SHOTGUNS AND LOADS”. If you want to shoot 8 gauges you owe it to Tom to buy his book! In it you will find almost all the information one needs.

Modern 8 gauge hulls have an industrial band to keep guys like us from shooting a factory high pressure load for kiln guns in one of our old fowling pieces. If you want to know what a kiln gun is then apply modern magic via a Google search. The industrial bands must be swaged so that the hull will fit into English and American chambers. Guess what’s next? Right, American chambers, at least those found in Parkers, are tighter that English chambers.

How to swage the band? Some people use a reamed out nut. I suppose this works but would make for a long day to load swage hundreds of hulls. I you want to bag a turkey with the old 8 gauge then save some money and make your own loading tools. If however one is taking an 8 gauge to a SxS rendezvous then they will need a few hundred rounds! Me, I figure if one is buying a $7,000 to $15,000 Parker 8 gauge one should plan for good support equipment to swage and load efficiently.

I found two products for the swaging. Both require the use of a metallic cartridge press such as the RCBS Rock Chucker I received for Christmas when I was 15 years old. That was a while ago…

C-H makes a set of swaging dies. Their 2-dies set will swage hulls to the English chamber size. A third die is needed to reduce the band a few more thousands to Parker size. An alternate is the 2-die swaging set and removal press. This works faster than the C-H dies which require the use of a dowel rod an a dead drop hammer.

Reloading is quick and easy thanks to a converted old style solid base MEC 600 JR.

The contact information for the press swage and converted MEC 600 are found in Armbrust’s book. Hint, hint,… If you promise to buy his book but want to order early then send me a PM and I’ll give the info. No, I do not know Tom Armbrust. I do however think that we owe a lot to guys like him who blazed the trail into the past.

[Mark Ouellette]

Here is the converted MEC 600 JR. Notice the older version, solid base stanchions. The newer models won't hold up!

The final photo shows left overs from an 800 round batch loaded in a weekend. Good tools, a little experience, and attention to detail make for a job well done.

[Mark Ouellette]

The DH 8 flanked by normal sized Parkers.

A PGCA member trying out the 8 for size!

[Mark Ouellette]

PS: I buy components from Precision Reloading

One can buy one fired hulls that were shot in a kiln gun. I do not know chamber specifications for an industrial kiln gun. I would not be surprised that if someone is having problems with wad fit in a once fired hull, that the subject hull(s) was shot in a kiln gun. Those shells are loaded at higher pressure than those made for our old 8 gauge shotguns. Maybe the plastic is compressed by the extra pressure, and oversized by firing in a larger (by a few thousands of an inch) chamber.

[George M. Purtill]

A PGCA member trying out the 8 for size!

Stub Twist should own an 8 gauge!!

[Mark Landskov]

Tom Armbrust is quite happy to share information. I have called him with questions and he always has time to answer, and then some. His book is on my list, also.

[Mark Ouellette]

Here's a link to Tom Armbrust's book listed above:

http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/tom-armbrust/4-and-8-bore-shotguns-and-loads/hardcover/product-15713269.html

Their price is $43 in print but $5.99 in ebook version.

[Mark Ouellette]

First day with my new to meet and restored DH 8 in my hands. Brad, Jeff Kuss, and I were at a tower pheasant shoot north of Grand Rapids, Michigan. After a half dozen or so birds had been released, a pheasant finally flew toward my peg. Now, at these shoot were some of those gas gun shooters. You know the type like we all were in younger days. A guy has to shoot quick or the slam-o-matics will shoot and shoot and shoot hoping to "kill" something.

So, I swung the DH weighing over 15 pounds when loaded with a pair of 2 & 3/4 oz shells with #4 nickle plated shot. The old rooster flew directly overhead and as soon as my bead covered the bird as I swung through I slapped the trigger. Whoom! I thought what the heck am I doing with a cannon shooting pheasants! Then I realized that the recoil was more than a 15 pound gun should have produced. I open the action to discover that the ol' gal had doubled. Yup, 5 and a half ounces of shot at over 1100 fps pushing seemingly as fast against me!

"Hey Brad, what the heck is going on?" A quick pow-wow with my gunsmith revealed the probable cause. Most shotguns will never be fired straight up. Think about it... The extra weight of the #6 frame hammers being suspended in space by inertia caused the second barrel's hammer to disengage momentarily from the sear. In theory all doubles' hammers do this which is why the rear trigger is often a quarter pound heavier than the front. My "Paris Gun" was going home with Brad after the day's shoot to make her Marine Proof!

What about the pheasant that I hit with 5 and a half ounces of shot? What pheasant?

An 8 gauge is a lot of fun!

[charlie cleveland]

big ten that is some nice equipment you have theresure beats my old ten ga hand loader this is what i use...for resizeing the hulls i use one that wayne gorez gave me thesketches and measurements to build.you can press down and on the next stroke push it out...yes the once fired hulls do give problems especially the black hullell remingtons..when they are shot in kiln guns for some reason the last 1 inch of the shell is burned and the case mouth shrinks makeing it almost impossible to load with a plastic wad or a paper wad..but by slitting the mouth about 1/4 inch down across the hull mouth you can load it...i buy new hulls at times when i can get them but lots of times i m lucky to just get once fired hulls... i toohave bought from precision but my old computer is so old it want bring them up...balistic reloading has wads both plastic and paper but no hulls have they had in a long time.. wishmy old fa loomis looked as good as yours it has 36 inch barrels 4 inch chambers and also weighs 15 lbs loaded... thanks for showing us this nice loaders and equipment...your loads look like factory to me...i too recommend tom arbrusts book ihave about wore mine out looking at it..have killed deer with the 8 ga parker lifter gun a doe with a load tom arbrust loaded me up with buckshot and with the pumpkin ball load i made myself...tell you what a nice fellow tom armbrust is i asked for about 4 boxes of shells well he sent them to me and lots of info on the 8 ga. i had not sent him any money yet yet he sent the shells real quick....i paid him after the shells were sent....he also said i was the first person to ever ask him to load up buckshot in the 8 ga...thanks for everything charlie...

[CraigThompson]

What does CH4D charge for the 3 die set ?

Also whats the bill for a converted 600JR if you don't mind saying ?

I wonder if they could convert a MEC 650 to 8 gauge ?

[Paul Harm]

There's hardly enough room to convert a progressive Mec from 12 to 10ga. When the shell carrier is opened up to accept a 10ga the primer hole is almost ground into. I don't think you'll ever be loading enough 8ga shells that you'll find a progressive press is necessary. Mark, I have a couple of old Jr's that look like the one you posted pictures of, but the two crimp stations look different. Is that because there's no shell plate ? If so, what do you have in it's place ?

[CraigThompson]

I don't think you'll ever be loading enough 8ga shells that you'll find a progressive press is necessary.

Amount makes no difference I detest using a single stage for anything other then buckshot or slug loads .

I suppose that can be blamed on my initial years reloading shotgun shells with PW 800's . After that everything else is a slow process :whistle:

[Mark Ouellette]

Mark, I have a couple of old Jr's that look like the one you posted pictures of, but the two crimp stations look different. Is that because there's no shell plate ? If so, what do you have in it's place ?

Paul,

There are shell holders for the 8 gauge hulls that are much like those used for metallic cartridge reloading. Very heavy duty.

Mark

[Paul Harm]

Graig, when I say hardly any room I mean when I changed a old 87 Grabber to 10ga there was only maybe .020 between the primer hole and shell holder. Not enough for a 8ga. Thanks Mark - looks good.

[Bill Murphy]

Has anyone tried to convert the PW 375 to eight gauge, even if just a couple of stations? An eight gauge crimper would be the most helpful.

[Mark Ouellette]

Bill,

I had a set of 3 swagging dies made for the first station. Darn expensive... That was before I received the CH swagging dies, which was before I received the other swagging tool.

The crimp dies should be cheaper to make since they are as hard of steel.

Mark

[Bill Murphy]

Is the crimp on the pictured eight gauge shells a crimp of the wads? It appears to be clear plastic.

[Mark Ouellette]

The hulls are clear plastic with a red sticker on them.

Take a closer look at the photos.

[David Noble]

Tagging for reference.

[wayne goerres]

I talked to the folks at precision reloading about the clear Winchester hulls a couple of months ago and they told me the Winchester hulls are no longer available. Winchester will no longer sell them to them. So it looks like we are going to be stuck using once fired Rem hulls. Unless someone knows of a different source for them.