doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 10ga/8 ga conversion

Greetings Gents, nice forum you have here. Just wondering if anyone has any info or suggestions on the above conversion? I beleive its been done successfully on heavy 10ga doubles before such as the AYA Matador and Dakin etc and wondered if heavy spanish guns still in production like the zabala 213M would be suitable? Or is there anything even heavier out there?


Its for no other reason except I have always wanted an 8 guage.
Suggestions, advice, possible gunsmiths, ridicule or general abuse all welcomed

Regards,
Karl

Karl I once owned one of these conversions. Worked fine. They still do them in England. I can't remember which brand of shotgun they use. Decent gun and cheap.

I had an 8 ga Reilly that I had brass inserts made so that I could shoot 10 ga in it. Worked fine.

They were pretty popular in the UK for awhile but guys had trouble with them bulging occasionally because the barrels were a bit thin after the boring out.

I don't believe anybody makes them over there anymore, at least as far as I know. The brand on at least some of them was Lincoln if memory serves.


Destry

Lincoln didn't make them. Lincoln is/was a retailer. They were all Spanish. I just don't recall the maker right now.

Yes Spanish guns were the ones used.I have one and it is branded Basque, but I believe the majority that made the base for conversion were Zabala and a few AyA Matadors.
The barrel bulging is due to the fact that the bores are right on (under?) the designated size for 8 bore and the uninformed used standard 8 bore plaswads which are a tad on the large size for these conversions.The majority were bulged in the left barrel due to the higher degree of choke.Hone out the choke to about modified or less and they seem to be okay.

I have heard that the Italian eights available several years ago were actually converted ten gauge guns. Does anyone remember the brand name of those guns. Tonelli or similar?

I have looked in my notes and mine was a Zabala.

Thanks gents, I have been trawling the waterfowling sites out there also and came up with the same models, Zabala, Matador, also the Greylag which was converted and sold by Elderkins in the UK apparently.

Mike and Salopian, my next question is wondering what sort of payload did they throw? Is 3oz possible, or way too heavy?
-I take it if the conversions are a little marginal, they would probably not be throwing much more than the original 10 ga they were converted from?
Thanks again,
Karl.


Ps the Italian 8 gauge mentioned might be the 'Tonolini'.

Most of the 8 gauge shells I've seen in the UK were loaded with 2 1/2 ounces. That's in part due to the length of the available #8 Industrial cases that most people load in. That's about all the shot you can get in them according to the guys I know. If longer cases were available then I'd imagine there would be guys loading them heavier if they thought their guns would handle it.

DLH