light 8 ga. loads

[charlie cleveland]

does any body out there have any 8 ga. reloading info.espially in light loads.i have tom armbrust s book all loads shoot well. ive loaded some light loads in this guage.winchester hulls 3 1/4 in. used win. primer 209 with the gelspi wad. 30 grains blue dot. 1 1/2 ounce shot. in a 13 lb parker its got less recoil than a 410 .it does a good job on squirls out to 45 yards. hope someone else has a light load they would share. thanks charlie

[Russell Hooper]

Ive been loading 8 ga shells for sometime,but 2 oz is about the lightest,i have some old Rem loads,holding 1 3/8 oz. I do speak to Tom Armburst fairly regular, Very light loads in 8,or 10 ga,dont work that well. Russell

[charlie cleveland]

the loads ive been using for the 8 and 10 ga.are very light. 30 grains of blue dot 1 1/2 ounce shot. ive used this load in both gauges and it works fine for me.it will kill squirls out to50 paces cleanly.ive loaded heavy loads up to3 ounces but these are a little much for squirl.ha. i really like to hunt squirls with the 10 and 8 ga. must besomething wrong with me. ha i regurally hunt with with all the gas. 410. to 12 ga. i will admit a 8 ga is a little heavy if you walk very far. russel have you shot any of those rem. 1 3/8 ounce loads.wold be interested in how they shot.they must have been a interesting load for sure. well im setting here go the urge to go squirl hunting . leaves are still on but will take old blue and see if he can tree one. thanks russell for the info. good shotting to you charlie

[Russell Hooper]

Havent shot any of the old 13/4oz Rem loads i load most of my shells ,but have shot Eley factory shells,and did have shells loaded in Scotland back in mid 1980s,befor i got into loading. For small game i shoot a 24 ga. Russell

[Bill Murphy]

Charlie, shooting Blue Dot behind 1 1/2 ounces in an eight gauge bore would seem to result in a very low pressure load. Blue Dot behind 1 1/2 ounces in a 12 gauge shell is not a very high pressure load, about 10,000 at a full 1200 fps. As we progress from .410 to 12, in light shot loads, 1/2 ounce, 3/4 ounce, 7/8 ounce, 1 ounce, and finally, 1 1/8 ounce, we go from very slow powder in the small gauges to very fast powder in the 12 gauge. Why would we go back to very slow powders as we progress to the eight? As long as we are discussing Alliant powders, my opinion is that a light eight gauge load, about 1 1/4 ounce, would be more properly constructed using something relatively fast like Red Dot or Green Dot. It would seem like an extremely slow powder like Blue Dot would give very low pressures and poor ignition in cold weather. I would like to review Sherman Bell's eight gauge loads if I knew what issue of DGJ to look at.

[charlie cleveland]

thanks bill for the info.i hope you find sherman bells info on 8 ga.i would also like to knowwhat he says about light loads in the 8 ga. i will admit that i have never used anything but bluedot powder in the 8 ga and 10 ga loads. the reason i have chosen this powder is be cause tom armbrust used this powder a lot in his loads for the 8 ga and 4 ga.i will trythe 1 1/4 ounce load of yours before long.you were right about bad igniion problems in cold weather with the 8 ga loads.but i have had no problems withthe 10 ga.i think the problems with the 8 ga were my wads not sealing off well.will let every body know how it works out . thanks again fellows charlie

[Bill Murphy]

The reason you will have trouble with the eight and not with the ten with identical loads is that the pressure is higher in the ten for an identical load, but probably just marginally acceptable. In the eight, it is probably low enough to cause bloopers in cold weather or with poorly sealing wads. 42 or 43 grains of Blue Dot in the ten gauge behind two ounces of shot barely makes 10,000 PSI. Your little load of 30 grains of Blue Dot behind 1 1/2 ounces of shot in the big eight gauge hole probably doesn't make 6000 PSI. Now, I don't know that, but I do think you would get better results either using a tested load or going to a faster powder like maybe Herco if you prefer the Alliant line of powders. I would rather use Bell's recommendations than create my own loads, though, since he pressure tests. However, 35 grains of Herco under 1 1/2 ounces of shot in an eight gauge isn't going to blow up any gun and the boom will sound better than the anemic loads you have been loading.

[charlie cleveland]

bill i have used some differant wads in some loads i loaded tonite. have put them in deep freeze.will test them tomorrow. will let you know how they work out.thanks charlie

[Bill Murphy]

Charlie, any wads that show friction in the side of the shell should seal well enough to avoid problems. However, don't use soft fiber filler wads down against the powder. You must use either a plastic wad or a hard card wad over the powder. The card wad should have some friction against the wall of the shell. If you use brass shells, you may have to buy 7 gauge card wads from Circle Fly to seal the powder. I have not tried my 8 gauge wads in my RMC brass shells. I had planned to use one piece plastic in them, but they may be too loose.

[charlie cleveland]

bill finally got a chance to shoot those 8 ga shells i put in freezer.they stayed in freezer 48 hours only put 4 of them in there. all 4 shells fired ok. i used a hard card wad like you advised me to.then put plastic wad over hard card wad.30 grains blue dot 1 1/2 ounce shot.all 4 shells had a loud report. like you said shellsare probably 6000 or under in pressure.this is what i wanted was alow pressure load. iwill try your recommendations on the 1 1/4 ounce loads before long. ps the sp8 gage wads are tighter fit than italian made wads. thanks charlie