Turkey hunting with an 8 gauge
 

Clabrough and Bros 8 gauge! Wow what a hunt!

My wife got up early and could not go back to sleep so that means I could not go back to sleep. I got up and darted out of the house not planning to go that morning. I grabbed my 8 gauge clabrough and bros side by side from the 1870's, 2x 3 1/4" shells loaded with. 2 1/4oz of 5's and headed out. I raced and set up only hearing one faint gobble way way away. I got the call and he answered back. 20 minutes later he is walking up beside me in full strut. Huge bird! He put on an amazing show in front of me trying to coax the hen decoy from the Jake. Finally he put his rearend to me and I could not see his eyes. I lifted the 15 pound gun and waited for him to put his fan down. At that moment 2x 3 year old birds run in at full strut and start beating on the Jake decoy. Wow! The old bird jumped in with them. One of the 2 jerks stayed with his fan up the entire time of the fight. Then I remembered I had a shotgun in my hand and dropped the aggressive newcomer at 25 yards. The other 2 slinked off in different directions. Then the hens started coming in. All this at 7am

What a great morning! I appreciate you taking us along.

2 1/4oz loads are just a pleasure to shoot and hunt with in a heavy 8 gauge. I let my 100lb 13 yr old nephew shoot mine and my fiancee and they both said it was easy to shoot. I use my brothers tripod to hold it up when I let other people shoot it though.

I feel like most people think an 8 gauge is excessive until they've shot one haha.

Congratulations on a great hunt and that’s a beautiful gun.

I am envious! A few years ago, Minnesota outlawed shotguns larger than 10 gauge for turkeys. This happened a year after I bought a nice 8 bore shotgun and a boatload of ammunition from Tom Armbrust!

I took a turkey with an 8 gauge and it was an event I will not forget

Congratulations!
It is to bad not all states allow hunting with a shotgun larger than 10 gauge.

I’ve got 10 gauge inserts I can carry along with a couple 10 gauge shells for the bunny warden . :whistle:

8 GA.
 

Do not know the max. charge weights of an 8 but the 10-3 1/2 is probably equal to it yet it is legal and the 8 is not. It made some sense for waterfowl before the 10 3 1/2 was developed but no longer. Perhaps a knowledgeable person can let us know the max. weights of each.

Jim, I agree, but my bank account is content with my not acquiring another gun.:)

According to Douglas McDougall in his books 8 Bore Ammunition and Their Cartridges some were loaded up to 3 oz of shot in the 3 & 3/4" solid brass cases.
There were 4 & 1/4 " chambered guns also.

Here's a new 8 gauge 4 1/4" hull compared to a Cheddite 10 ga 3.5" for anyone curious. From what I've seen the 4 1/4" 8 gauge magnums are usually in the 15-17lb range.
2 1/4oz will fit in a 10 ga 2 7/8" hull but I figure John Olin probably didn't want people shooting loads like that in their grandpa's old 10 ga haha hence the 3.5".

My Smallwood eight has 4" chambers and is marked for 2 3/4 oz shot and 8 drams of BP.

Share a picture of it with us

Are you sure the 10 gauge inserts will make your 8 gauge legal? In some states that is not the case.

No I’m not ! But if you had them “perhaps” they’d be willing to cut you some slack . Now whether I actually plan on shooting 3 1/2” 10’s that’s a big most likely not , the shells would just be for looks hoping they weren’t astute enough to realize what they were looking at . Actually I’d probably just carry a couple 2 7/8” handloads that looks more believable . :whistle::rotf: