Bought a rifle cartridge collection in a big Mason jar with some strange looking rounds and thrown in was an 8 gauge shell. Winchester Super X, Industrial, no. 8, stamped on the brass. Red Paper hull with Winchester Super X logo and Magnum in bold letters. Roll crimp over what appears to be a lead card or a very large lead wadcutter bullet. That is one big round. Anyone know what I've got? Is this a pressure load or is it the propellant for a whopper nail gun. Just curious. Randy

Those shells are designed to be fired into cement mixing drums to break loose the dried cement so that the drums can be cleaned out. I've never taken one apart, but think they are loaded with slugs of some type, These things are not intended to be fired in a regular shot gun; and I think the head of the shell may be a little larger than a standard 8-bore shell as a safety measure in that event.

FWIW, Remington manufactures their 'Master Blaster', an 8ga. suppressed slag removal gun in two models. They currently provide loaded ammunition w/slugs up to 3oz. for use in coal fired power plant boilers, steel mill's and other industrial applications where assorted types of 'slag' buildup is a problem.

This probably best fits in the 'misfires' section, but the question seems to come up from time to time about those industrial cartridges intended use.

The brass on the shell has a belt, like a belted magnum rifle round (think Weatherby). These belts can be lathed off and the shell used to reload for 8 gauge guns so I have read on more than one occasion.

Yeah, but some of the reloading component suppliers carry 8 ga hulls, so why bother?

Usually swaged in a die or just peeled off.

These are called 'Kiln Guns'.

A customer of mine used them heavily (Ashgrove Cement) and one of the employees collected the hulls for me. I have given thousands of the things to 8ga shooters who post here.

This is a good link to see how they are used: http://alboayz.com/english/projects.html

You will also see them in coal fired generating stations to clear buildup of hardened ash in the exhaust of the boilers.