8-gauge Ammunition

[Dave Noreen]

From my years of observation, it appears to me that Remington ARROW shells are far and away the most common North American 8-gauge shells we see.

The last Remington catalog I've found to offer loaded 8-gauge shells is the 1918-19 The Remington Arms Union Metallic Cartridge Co. Inc. catalog. The 1923 Remington Arms Co., Inc. catalog still offers 8-gauge NPEs. However, the bulk of the 8-gauge ammo I see offered in sporting collectibles auctions is Remington Arms Co., Inc. which would make it from late 1920 onwards, some even after 1934 with the DuPont logo on the labels --

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[charlie cleveland]

boy I had several boxes at one time of these same marked shells...but there now gone down the road...charlie

[John Albano]

I bet they would have dispatched the neighbors cat.

[CraigThompson]

I only have one original 8 gauge box and it came with over half the shells . I bought it because the load was a little out the norm for an 8 and right up my alley !

[Craig Larter]

Here's the 8ga box I would like to find one day.

[Dave Noreen]

In the first years of the 20th Century Union Metallic Cartridge Co. had two high brass shells, TRAP with the flat base wad for bulk smokeless powders and ARROW with a high base wad for dense smokeless powders. For 1905 UMC began offering an ARROW shell for bulk smokeless, but the 8-gauge loads were still in the TRAP shell --

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The EXPERT was the NPE equivalent to the loaded TRAP shell --

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By the 1907 UMC catalog the TRAP shell is gone. While the TRAP shell is in the 1906 catalog, the pages are X'ed out in the copy I have access to.

[Dave Noreen]

The only 8-gauge box of ARROW shells from the Remington Arms - Union Metallic Cartridge Co. era (1911-16) I've gotten pictures of has the Rem-UMC over ARROW head-stamp and the REMINGTON-UMC canular at the top of the brass --

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The only 8-gauge shell in my collection is of this type. I was a teenager when while visiting Minnesota my uncle took me to the old "Stagecoach" restaurant/gun museum/gun shop and they were selling individual shells out of a box of 8-gauges.

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Some years ago one of the Lein boys was selling a dozen loaded and ten empty 8-gauge shells stamped KLEANBORE on the sides. KLEANBORE priming was introduced to Remington shotshells in the 1931-2 time frame --

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[Craig Larter]

And then there is Winchester Leader

[Dave Noreen]

Sweet!! I knew Winchester loaded 8-gauge shells, but your box is the first I've seen. Just looking in my 1916 Winchester catalog and load 86BB listed at $71 per thousand.

Also, I see Winchester offered their 8-gauge LEADERS loaded with either bulk or dense smokeless powders. UMC/Remington only offered their 8-gauge shells in black and bulk smokeless powders.

[CraigThompson]

Sweet!! I knew Winchester loaded 8-gauge shells, but your box is the first I've seen. Just looking in my 1916 Winchester catalog and load 86BB listed at $71 per thousand.

Also, I see Winchester offered their 8-gauge LEADERS loaded with either bulk or dense smokeless powders. UMC/Remington only offered their 8-gauge shells in black and bulk smokeless powders.

Did Winchester load 8’s in the Nublack or Repeater varieties ?

[Craig Larter]

I believe in loaded shells Leader=Winchester, Arrow= UMC, UMC/Remington and Remington/Dupont, Trap=UMC, Pointer=Sears (I have never seen a picture of a 8ga Pointer box)

"Sears Roebuck catalogs 115 and 118 of the 1905-1910 period list smokeless loaded 8 gauge shotshells for sale. Pointer brand 8 gauge ammo manufactured by the Meriden Fire Arms Company is listed as Catalog item nos: 6T1924 and 6L1924. Both loads were listed as 5 1/2 Dram eq. 1 3/4 oz. of BB size shot only. I thought several points listed in the catalogs were interesting. Sears claimed they repeatedly tested their shotshells with electrical chronographs and that their black powder shells were loaded to average 960 feet per second while their smokeless shells were loaded to average 1050 fps. The 8 gauge brass BP shells they sold were 3" while the bulk smokeless paper 8 gauge shells were 3 1/4". The Pointer shells used a bulk smokeless powder called Triumph that was imported from England and which they claimed was superior to any American made smokeless powder and "There is no acid in Triumph to eat your gun barrel or to create an enormous breech pressure which is apt to endanger your life." Ten, twelve and sixteen gauge Pointer shells were were listed as being loaded with smokeless powder while the eight gauge Pointers were Hand Loaded with smokeless powder. The prices of boxes of 25 shells for 12, 10, and 8 gauge shells were $0.50, $0.55, and $1.37 respectively."

[Dave Noreen]

Did Winchester load 8’s in the Nublack or Repeater varieties ?

Not that I know of. The 8-gauge was probably not a big enough seller for the companies to offer it in a variety of shell cases. It appears they just loaded both black and smokeless powders in their LEADER or TRAP/ARROW cases. I thumbed through Stadt and he shows an 8-gauge 1901 METAL LINED NPE on page 18 and states they were offered from 1897 to 1907. He also states the METAL LINED shell was only offered loaded in 10- and 12-gauge.