doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 8g hand loading knowledge bank

cadet, best stick to BP then as it gives better patterns with the bigger bores. Those Remington Industrial cases will give quite a few loads as they are much thicker plastic and more stongly constructed than average shotgun cases.

I did spot a Douglas McDoughall book, I thought, at a cheaper price. I was amazed at what people are now asking. About time someone did a reprint.

Mills, it's good see those old big bores still being used. About time mine had another outing. Lagopus.....

The 8-bore is fun to shoot and will draw a crowd at any clays event. We had an 8-bore clays event at the LC Smith vs. Parker Challenge in Sanford last April; and although some were intimidated by the massive Parker and Smith guns from which they had to choose, we still had 54 event entrants. Everyone who participated said it was the most fun they'd had shooting clays; and the entrants included a wide variety of people from 14 year old teen age boys, to several women, and even one frail looking 80 year old gentleman. This elderly gent, as he returned his gun, commented to me as to how much he appreciated being allowed to participate; as shooting an 8-bore was on his "bucket list", and was something he'd wanted to do for years and years (just never before had the opportunity). The shells we used were hand loaded by Jim Stahl of the LCSCA and Jim Hall of the PGCA. Some were loaded with 1 5/8oz, and others with 2oz of #7 1/2 shot; the loads mixed so that everyone had an "equal" chance at the 5 clays thrown. I've no idea as to the load recipes concocted by those boys; but none of those 14 pound Smith and Parker guns had any trouble with digestion.

Ken, your brass cases should last forever, not just 50+ reloads. Cadat, the place for precut wads is http://circlefly.com/ . Plastic shells will burn through just above the brass when shooting BP. There'll be small pin holes. If you find reasonable 10ga loads, use them in your 8ga. There'll just be less pressure. I couldn't find 8ga hulls listed anymore on BPI web site. Precision Reloading has 8ga once fired hulls for a pretty good price. Good luck - Paul

Idle curiosity: does the concept of a BP square load apply to 8's, 10's and small gauges, or is it specific to 12's?

RMC (Rocky Mountain Cartridge) reports Cowboy Action shooters reloading RMC brass hulls in 12 gauge over 3,000 times per hull.

Observations from field testing today:
Old paper win hulls are rubbish: leaky primer pockets, and pinhole failures at the junction of paper and brass.
Yellow rems (peeled heads; will try resizing soon) are good; I'd anticipate a couple more firings from them, even using BP, which normally destroys a hull in one shot. Peeled heads seem to seat very deeply though; had one misfire.
My 21mm wads (card : 2 x 1/4" cork : card) seemed to give a good gas seal in my ctgs and .815" bore.

To a large extent this depends on your definition of a "Square Load". Over the years I have seen the square load defined by 3 entirely different definitions.
One definition has stated the load of shot was equal to the round ball, ie in an 8 gauge it would be 2oz. (16 � Gauge "8"). In my opinion this is not the Sq load but round ball equivalent load.
2nd definition is the powder charge has the same volume as the shot charge.
This is quite often given as the Sq load concept for black or bulk smokeless powders & is I suspect the one you are enquiring about. Again "In My opinion" this should be referred to simply as the equal volume load & is not the true Sq load.
3rd definition & I believe to be the true Sq load is one in which the length of the shot column in the bore is equal to the bore diameter. This was attained with about 1 1/16oz in the 12gauge & 1�oz in the 10 gauge. It was seldom used in any other gauge.
It is always Hilarious to read all the explanations of the great ability of the 28 gauge with its 3/4 oz Square Load. Its doesn't come close to Any of the definitions.
With the larger bore diameter of the 8ga unless you are using large shot or just breaking clays I would suspect you might want to load a bit more powder volume than shot volume. Of course not having an 8 this is pure speculation, but from old loading info the larger gauges all seem to have a heavier powder charge in relation to shot load than did the smaller bores.

cadet, you will find that the gun's rim depth might be slightly more than the Remington cases. Eley cartridges have a thicker rim and that would be what the gun was initially made for. I get the odd misfire due to a light strike if firing slightly low. Firing high; as you would for geese, doesn't cause a problem as the cartridge is resting against the breech. Lagopus.....

I shoot mostly 12ga 3/4oz loads. In the 12ga - .729 bore - a 3/4oz load has a shot height of .52, 7/8oz a .60. Both are way better than the 28ga bore to shot height, and even the 1oz at .68 has a better than square relationship. In my 10ga loads I shoot 1 1/16oz loads, and there is no recoil to speak of. I'm now waiting for Bachelder to make a Parker 10ga into a 8ga. Right now it's quite a heavy gun with thick barrels, but will limit my loads when I get it. It will probably be a kind of light gun for a 8ga, and I don't like recoil.

Some older Hercules/Alliant handloader guides gave the height of column for 1 oz shot in the various bores. Unfortunately they did not specify shot hardness or size but by assumption was ordinary chilled shot in a smaller saze as used by skeet & trap shooters. You can of course get the length of column for any other charge by sim ply multiplying the shot weight by the given figure.
10 ga = .610"
12 ga = .690"
16 ga = .837"
20 ga = .969"
28 ga =1.212"
.410 = 2.181"

This is based on an ounce of shot occupying about .288 Cu In.
On this basis an ounce of shot in an 8 ga (.835" bore) would stack up to .526" long. A shot load of 1.588 oz would thus be "Square" at a .835" column. With the larger shot sizes normally associated with an 8 ga it would be a bit longer, likely on t5he order of 1 5/8oz.

As an interesting side line standard industry is for black powder measures a dram of powder is deemed to occupy .115 Cu In. thus .2875 for a 2� dram load & .345 Cu In for a 3 dram load. Thus the 2� Dr-1 Oz load is one of the few factory loads one will see which is in fact based on the equal volume loading. Most use a slightly heavier powder charge in proportion to the shot volume, even in Black Powder days. Virtually all the Black Powder shotgun shooting I have done whether muzzle loading or loading shells I have stayed with the equal volume method with good results, but have loaded no bigger than 12 ga.