The Big 8's rule the day in Sanford

[Craig Larter]

The 8ga shooters had an event at the Southern Friday on the practice Five Stand. We had 13 shooters and had much fun and plenty of laughs. The competition was fierce!! We ended the 30 bird contest with a four way tie of 24 shot by Mike Koneski, Shane Hoover, Phillip Bawell, and Rick Ghenn. The top four shooters split $100 prize money. We held a sudden death shoot-off to determine the high score Parker gun participant between Mike Koneski, Shane Hoover and Phillip Bawell. Mike took top honors and won the Parker 8ga trophy. Big fun and looking forward to Hausmann's. Great shooting and friendship.
Mike Koneski-24
Shane Hoover-24
Phillip Bawell-24
Rick Ghenn-24
Craig Thompson-23
Daniel Bawell-22
Jay Oliver-20
Dave deFernelmont-19
Jim Stahl-18
Jeff Stegmeier-17
Ken Georgi-17
Jim Hall-12
Stan Hoover-9
Craig Larter-DNF

[Dan Steingraber]

Congratulations to the shooters, especially the two "yoots" that thumped their padres.

[Garry L Gordon]

I’m sorry I missed this. If my state approves the 8 for turkeys, I’m in (trouble).

Great photos. Thanks, Craig.

[Kevin McCormack]

This is always so cool to watch! The array of 'boomers' on the gun rack alone is worth coming to see it . Someone should make a You Tube video of one of these events. For intro/background music, I recommend Wagner's "Entry of the Gods into Valhalla.''

[Jay Oliver]

That was just too much fun. Next year I will load my own shells...I promise!

I needed to go the gym for a month or two to get ready for this event. My 8ga 16lbs 36" Twist TA Hammer gun was not as lively as I remembered.

This was too much fun tough and it was great to get these big guns out.

Thank you,
Jay

[CraigThompson]

That was just too much fun. Next year I will load my own shells...I promise!

I needed to go the gym for a month or two to get ready for this event. My 8ga 16lbs 36" Twist TA Hammer gun was not as lively as I remembered.

This was too much fun tough and it was great to get these big guns out.

Thank you,
Jay

That 1 1/2 ounce load isn’t bad in these guns . Sure you know you set it off but it’s not violent recoil . The 1 3/4 ounce loads I toyed with a couple years ago would open up a whole new world compared to these .

[CraigThompson]

I was allowed to heft a DH 36” after the event and while my DH 34” feels pretty decent the stock dimensions on the 36” gun felt way better :cool:

[Jay Oliver]

Those 1 1/2 loads you had were wonderful. I just wasn't swinging that big gun that well. I should have been practicing! A lighter hammerless gun would certainly be fun for next year :)

[Mike Koneski]

We need to make it mandatory to wear a Hawaiian shirt for the 8g if it's held on Friday!! :rotf::rotf:

[Mike Koneski]

David D and I will be sharing some new load data for the Big 8 as soon as the tests are sent back. Working on adding some new powders to the list to ease component scarcity issues. E3, Green Dot, Unique and Nitro 100 NF are in the works. Longshot is ruled out unless you want to shoot 2+ ounces. The old reliables of Clays and Universal Clays are too hard to find for most. I hear someone is using 700X but is keeping mum.

[Craig Larter]

Looking forward to new data and hopefully renewed supply of wads.

[CraigThompson]

Looking forward to new data and hopefully renewed supply of wads.

I’m mighty afraid the SP-8 wad has gone the way of the Dodo bird . I called the clods that do the so called Remington components about a year ago to get some kind of definitive word on SP-8 as well as SP-10 wads . They claimed the SP-10’s were going to be manufactured again but seemed pretty certain they’d not make the SP-8 anylonger .

[Mike Koneski]

The Gualandi wads are fine. According to Tom Armbrust the SP8 actually give a slightly higher pressure. Next time someone travels to England they need to ship us more SP8s. They have plenty of them across the pond.

[Kevin McCormack]

Would it be feasible to make your own 8 ga. wads by using a 12 ga. base and wrapping it to proper length with thin plastic or paper material? Seems a smaller diameter base would give you the wad integrity needed if hot-glued or otherwise secured to the base wad. Shot volume could then by varied by felt inserts, etc. Has anyone tried anything like this in lieu of chasing the 8 ga. wad market?

[Mike Koneski]

Would it be feasible to make your own 8 ga. wads by using a 12 ga. base and wrapping it to proper length with thin plastic or paper material? Seems a smaller diameter base would give you the wad integrity needed if hot-glued or otherwise secured to the base wad. Shot volume could then by varied by felt inserts, etc. Has anyone tried anything like this in lieu of chasing the 8 ga. wad market?

Kevin, with 8g fiber, card and nitro wads available, using them would be a better approach than gluing plastic wrap to a wad base and hoping it doesn't come apart when seating it. Timewise, using the old school wad stacking would be better too. Just my thoughts.