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

I can't even see much need for more than 2 ounces in an 8. If you're not taking them down with that, you probably shouldn't be shooting at 'em.

Karl, it was Elderkins of Spalding in England that sold them. Bearing in mind that all such conversions would have to be submitted for 8 bore re-proof; if you can find a conversion they should be o.k. I don't think that they do them any more but the odd one does crop up for sale. I am not sure if a firm called Gunmark used to do them or not or else it was the 10 bore Gunmark 'Kestrel' that could be so converted and those were od Spanish origin. I have seen both these and Zabalas converted. The maximum load used was around the 2 1/2" mark and plenty of loading information exists. My 8 bore is English and I find that 2 1/8th. ounce seems to pattern best. I would think that recoil would be noticable from the conversions because of the weight being reduced. I have never fired one of these conversions but would suspect that they could be quite lively. Lagopus.....

My friend Markethunter mentions the industrial shells as raw material for loading. They are common 3 1/4 inch cases and may be suitable for loading 2 1/2 ounces maximum loads, only marginally better than factory loaded buffered copper coated WW 2 1/4 ounce tens, an awesome load in itself. I may have a few of those wonderful shells left from the pre-steel days. However, RMC offers eight gauge 4" brass shells for reloaders (well, all eight gauge shooters except Markethunter are reloaders, including eightbore). I use the RMC brass 3 1/4" shells, but would try the 4" brass if I had any. One of my eights is nitro proofed for 3 3/4" shells and 2 1/2 ounces of shot. I would be willing to shave 1/4" from the 4" RMC brass and see how much shot I could get in there. I don't think the nitro proved Greener Royal is going to explode with any load I would dare to fire in it. Markethunter knows where some of those 4" brass shells live. Maybe he could get the owner to gift me a couple for experimental use.

2 1/2 ounces is what we load generally, Ralph Grant a retailer from Leicester used to sell these converted guns. Thanks to Bill Gates we can't get the future Wildfowlers to leave their PC's and get out onto the marsh.Also thanks to steel magnumitus most use 3 1/2 inch chambered semi auto's nowadays.

Thanks gents. I might take a large Spanish 10 and see if it can't handle a slightly longer case 8ga then.If it does not work it can go on the trash heap.
Very informative replies!

Regards,
Karl.

Anyone have any information to add about the eight gauge Tonelli guns that were sold in this country a few decades ago?

Read an article a few years back about those Tonelli eights in shotgun news (or GunDigest). If I recall correctly, They were dedicated 8's and not a conversion. The article gave alot of good info, but also told the story about how the U.S. Dealer had been searching for these for years and once they were found, had to convince the european owner/dealer to let him import 50 of them to the U.S.A..

I'll dig up the article out of the stack (big stack) and see how bad my memory is...

While on the subject of 8 gauge conversions does anyone know the nominal chamber and bore dimensions of the 8 gauge that would have been used by LC Smith in the late 1880s.

I would if any members of this has one? Or know where for sale would please
post.

I would if any members of this has one? Or know where for sale would please
post.