Practical loading during modern shortages

[matt85]

Spent a bit of time loading and produced a fresh batch of 8-bore 3.25" ammunition. With modern powder and bullets being incredibly rare these days, I've been shooting these black powder loads.

- 10 pieces of custom made 8-bore 3.25" brass
- 10 Winchester 209 primers
- 2700gr of Schuetzen FFg black powder
- 9000gr of scrap lead (cast into 85 caliber balls)
- a small amount of bees wax and beef tallow
- 10 Circle Fly 8g fiber cushion wads

(416 Rem Mag cartridge shown for scale)

 

[Spearhead]

Those are huge cases.

 

[BourbonTrail]

That’s a really cool project gun & loads. Glad you found some good primers.

 

[Luvthunt]

Wow

 

[matt85]

That’s a really cool project gun & loads. Glad you found some good primers.

Primers were the most difficult part of these cartridges! I just scored a case of them from Grafs though, so I'm set for life.

 

[Ridge Runner]

2700gr .....Ooh...so like around 270 grains per brass. Thought you were giving a whole new meaning to shoulder cannon and heavy recoil, along with a prelude to an ER report on excessive recoil.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Please refresh me on the weight of your 8 bore.

I made a mistake once....ok twice once each barrel, by loading my each barrel of my double barrel 10 gauge shotgun with ~135 grains volume weight of FFg black powder pushing an 80 grain volume load of #8 shot. I very abruptly learned my limit on recoil after the first blast. Dreaded it but I did shoot the second barrel. Swearing never to do that again. My new max charge for deer, bear, and waterfowl is 80gr FFg.

 

[matt85]

Please refresh me on the weight of your 8 bore.

I made a mistake once....ok twice once each barrel, by loading my each barrel of my double barrel 10 gauge shotgun with ~135 grains volume weight of FFg black powder pushing an 80 grain volume load of #8 shot. I very abruptly learned my limit on recoil after the first blast. Dreaded it but I did shoot the second barrel. Swearing never to do that again. My new max charge for deer, bear, and waterfowl is 80gr FFg.

The gun is very heavy at 16.5 pounds or 7.5kg. The recoil is heavy, but it's not a painful gun to shoot. I have had many people shoot this "ball over black powder" load and most were willing to do it a second time .

My favorite load is a 1200gr bullet over 67gr of Alliant Blue Dot. But I haven't been able to shoot this much due to a limited powder supply. However, I just scored 8lb of Blue Dot and now have a lifetime supply of smokeless powder for my 8-bore!