Tested the 8 and 10 gauge handloads today
 

Made some observations on my handloads, they may be just a bit dirtier than the RST loads in the 10 gauge but they function. I noticed with 8 and 10 gauge the fiberwads are totally shredded by the time they come out the muzzle looks like crushed up mini wheat cereal flying out the barrels lol. So next step is to go with some sort of nitro/over powder card see if that helps. I have seen people use overshot cards for this not sure how well they work compared to an actual nitro card. I havnt seen any 8 gauge nitro cards online but have found some 10 gauge ones.

I didn't do any pattern testing really just wanted to see how they would function. I reckon I can't be getting too much velocity loss as the recoil didn't seem any less the RST 10 ga loads or the 8 ga loads with the plastic wads. Now one more thing #2 lead shot is pretty mean stuff if I was to use these on a turkey within 30 yards it would cover him head to toe and probably skin him for me haha. We found some lead 2s imbedded in the 100 yard rifle target. This was in the 8 gauge, now I'm really curious how the T super buck and nickel plated Fs will perform.

Those clear Winchesters dont stay pretty after firing, I did notice the 10 gauge hulls dont have burn marks on the outside of them like the 8 gauge hulls do.

my Winchester hulls in 8 ga after firing are not pretty any more either....the 10s still look good too...no 2 lead will shoot a long way out there...charlie

Charlie I was having a hard time with resizing the Rem hulls but I tried a bit of this mica wad slick and it makes it a breeze resizing the Remingtons. Lead #2 is actually the largest shot size legal here on WMA land for turkey and small game. I dont know of anyone who uses such large shot size for that looks to carry a bit of energy down range. I got some .358 roundballs coming in for buckshot for the 10 ga and some .410 roundballs for the 8 gauge and the T and F shot also. Will probably be the first week of January when they get here but thats all im waiting on.

I know what you mean by the fiber bits flying about especially with a wind in your face. Dry fiber wads were blowing dust and small pieces back into my face. I use Lubed fiber wads and they stay together a bit longer out of the barrels and are much less annoying.

I was thinking the same thing, perhaps using some sort of card to keep the lube from seeping into the powder though. I have seen people cut the base off plastic wads to use as a gas seal for the fiberwads. From load data I looked at hard nitro cards can raise pressures even higher than plastic wads I assume this is from them being oversized and not compressing like plastic. The Winchester nitro cards I have seen in disassembled factory loads is interesting. It's a cardboard disc with a lip around it and it's pliable can't say I've seen any similar to them.

Here's the over powder card I pulled from the Winchester industrial loads. I know some 8 gauge shooters use a 7/8s wad punch for making their own cards.

Milton, you're like the alchemist of big gun shotshell reloading. Do you use your big guns for deer? I assume Georgia is a state where buckshot is legal. I sure wish we could use it here.

Milton, did you make that sizing die? Is it something a machine shop can easily fabricate? I've been loading eights for 53 years, but have never gotten to the point where I had to resize. I think I'm there now, because my brass empties don't fit in all my guns.

Buckshot was made legal on public land back in 2017 or 2018 here, though ive never hunted public land. We have some really close shots id prefer not to use my rifle for. Reloading for the big shotguns is almost as fun as shooting them. I was just thinking the otherday how fun a 4 bore would be since you could stack .490 roundballs in even layers of 2 as buckshot in one.