Buckshot Alah 8 gauge

[6pt-Sika]

Also got my pot fired up today and cast 500 of the 000000 buck and about 35 .795” punkin balls .

[Milton C Starr]

Craig ive thought of loading up some .820 patched round balls for my 8 gauge as it mics out at the muzzles as .840/.840. I would say it would make a interesting close quarters hog load except im not sure how ideal 36" barrels would be in that situation.

As well raccoons are now considered a pest or varmint in GA so I wonder if they are no longer limited to #2 shot as I believe my T and F shot 8 gauge loads would work wonders on them.

[6pt-Sika]

Made up six loads using the .775” 730 grain conical slug today for trial in my DH 8 in anticipation of the gun season in WVA . Bores on my DH 8 measure .805” at the muzzle in the right barrel and .800” in the left barrel . Started off by adding hot melt glue to the cavity in the bottom of each slug , then but six layers of masking tape around each slug then trimmed the excess at the bottom . Used new unfired REM hulls primed Cheddarcheeserite primers , used Universal Clays and a #39A bushing or 33.5 grains by the table . Pushed in an SP-8 wad and added five 10 gauge 1/8” cards then the slug pushing down slightly with the loader . Put a little tiny bit of white grease on the edge of the hull and roll crimped . Plan on trying two from the right barrel then two from the left on different targets then finally one from each barrel at the same target . Hopefully they’ll hit a pie plate at 30 yards consistently .

[6pt-Sika]

Just came in from shooting two shot groups at 28 yards two from the right on one target and two from the left on the other . Think I’ll try them again just for chuckles and if they do as well or better I’m ready from West by God Virginia !

[charlie cleveland]

I got my old lifter 8 ga shooting pretty good at 25 steps but past 30 it was no good...have not tried the tape method yet but will soon as I get caught up cleaning all the storm damage we got a coupla weeks ago....I want even mention all the bush hogging....yes I m behind...charlie

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by charlie cleveland

I got my old lifter 8 ga shooting pretty good at 25 steps but past 30 it was no good...have not tried the tape method yet but will soon as I get caught up cleaning all the storm damage we got a coupla weeks ago....I want even mention all the bush hogging....yes I m behind...charlie

That tape while perhaps not The Best choice does two things . First it tightens the slug to the choke and second it has the bearing surface of the slug covered to cut down on lead smears in the bore . I’ll trust it out to thirty yards but not so much past that .

[6pt-Sika]

Set down today to load six more to try on paper again then I thought to maybe add ten more for actual use on living creatures . So I loaded sixteen total . Hopefully this afternoon or tommorrow I can try a pair from both barrels at 28 yards again .

[charlie cleveland]

those really look good I hope they shoot well and accurately...I bet this will bring any thing down you shoot at.....charlie

[ArtS]

Just a note I posted about before. I don't really have a lot to use them for in KY, but when I got an early Scott (1872) Jones underlever hammer single, it had a non-choke barrel which is not unusual in that period. The chamber was a perfect fit for unsized industrial shells. I found that an .810 roundball was a tight push through fit in the barrel when placed in a Gualandi wad. I cut the shotcup back so it reached just past the center of the ball and loaded some of the 2 oz balls in the shotcup with a 7 gauge over powder wad below. I lubed the ball and stuffed some lube in the front of the ball just over the centerline. The hulls were cut so the length could be partially star crimped or roll crimped down against the ball (similar to a Paradox load). They were scary accurate at 30 yards. I didn't do any further work because I had no real use for them and didn't want to waste a lot of 8 gauge components.

That made me believe that unchoked big bore barrels may be preferable for slug/ball loads. Just maybe pushing sub-bore projectiles through a choke is a compromise. Either a tight naked slug with a seal wad behind or a tight encased ball or wad though the same unchoked barrel may be a better combo. These of course would require a slug or ball tailored to the bore. I was lucky to be able to buy them from a supplier.

If any one has an 8 or 10 gauge with no choke, it would be an interesting avenue to address. A lot of the slugs mentioned in this thread are very close to the bore diameter of the 9 gauge barrels which seems to be the dominant size used on early 10's. Many of these guns had no choke. I own a couple. That would be an easier and cheaper platform to experiment with.

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Arthur Shaffer

Just a note I posted about before. I don't really have a lot to use them for in KY, but when I got an early Scott (1872) Jones underlever hammer single, it had a non-choke barrel which is not unusual in that period. The chamber was a perfect fit for unsized industrial shells. I found that an .810 roundball was a tight push through fit in the barrel when placed in a Gualandi wad. I cut the shotcup back so it reached just past the center of the ball and loaded some of the 2 oz balls in the shotcup with a 7 gauge over powder wad below. I lubed the ball and stuffed some lube in the front of the ball just over the centerline. The hulls were cut so the length could be partially star crimped or roll crimped down against the ball (similar to a Paradox load). They were scary accurate at 30 yards. I didn't do any further work because I had no real use for them and didn't want to waste a lot of 8 gauge components.

That made me believe that unchoked big bore barrels may be preferable for slug/ball loads. Just maybe pushing sub-bore projectiles through a choke is a compromise. Either a tight naked slug with a seal wad behind or a tight encased ball or wad though the same unchoked barrel may be a better combo. These of course would require a slug or ball tailored to the bore. I was lucky to be able to buy them from a supplier.

If any one has an 8 or 10 gauge with no choke, it would be an interesting avenue to address. A lot of the slugs mentioned in this thread are very close to the bore diameter of the 9 gauge barrels which seems to be the dominant size used on early 10's. Many of these guns had no choke. I own a couple. That would be an easier and cheaper platform to experiment with.

This was last year with a.795” roundball and four wraps of masking tape . The second picture was 2021 with the PH 8 I used to posses and 000000 buck they’re .415” and ten of them in the shell .