8 gauge pumkin ball

[charlie cleveland]

finally got around to making the round ball today for the 8 ga...first had to dig upall the info you fellas had gave me on melting and pouring of the lead into mould..first thing i relized i didnot really have the proper tools for melting and pouring of the lead...i gathered up my melting pot which turned out to be a salmon can bent to have a spout for pouring...then i cut my piece of flat soft lead to about the size i needed...i then gathered up a couple pair of vise grips one to hold the brass mould together and the other pair to lift the hot salmon can when ready...the size of the mould is .835 thosands ... my next item was something to heat and melt the lead in the salmon can i chose mybutane torch for this.... i greased the mould with wd 40 locked mould tother with vicegrips fired up the torch and set on low flame.. heated the salmon can with the lead in it till it was ready to pourinto mould . then i poured lead into mould what a surprize . the lead cooled down to quickly and stopped up the little hole in the mould...took the mould apart and i had made a perfect half of a ball...started over and did this about 5 more times the more i tried the worser things got.... i d about decided iwas gonna call on yall again for help..then i remembered someone had said to heat up the mould also... i did this andmade a perfect round ball felt a whole lot better then... i then proceeded to see if the round ball would fit the guns bores it was a perfect fit... barrels have been cut on this old parker to 26 inches so no choke left...i tried them in the destrey hoffard special the 8 ga f a loomis the ball would not start to go in the muzzle end...care should be taken in measuring the muzzles of a gun for a round ball.... i then chose me a good hull..i useda winchester primer 209 then measured 40 grains of alliant bluedot powder....used to 1/8 in thick card wads over powder then used2 1/2 inch filler wads then added 1/2 of one of these wads then inserted the ball then placed a thin shot wad over ball....used the roll crimp.. i then got me a 5 gallon bucket filled with water placed in front of a back stop i then loaded the old parker lifter and got at 20 feet from the can i didnot want to miss..when i pulled that trigger that can was split in half what a sight...ive shot cans filled with water before with 30 06 but this old 8 ga out done that 30 06 to bad to talk about...was reall impressive the way it blowed that can apart..i dont know about accuracy yet but recoil was very mild about like a 12 ga shooting a high brass 1 1/4 loadin a 8 lb gun.. ive loaded the old gun up to 49 grains bluedot have fiered several loads but will probly stay between 40 and 45 grains of powder on the round ball load as times permit...wish i had a video to show yall that old can.. hope to get a deer with this old parker and thepumpkin loads...gonna load some more tommorrow.... charlie