I seemed to have bought an 8 bore double rifle. A little bit larger than the 577bpe I was hunting. Any advise or info on where I can pick up the tools needed to load the brass cartridges would sure be appreciated.

That's cool Brain, been after a .577BPE or Light Nitro myself for a long time & have a 8 Bore C&H action only to add rifle barrels to (been waiting over 10yrs now).

I also have a 8 Bore Tolley Shotgun I shoot right now & use BP but got all the bits to reload RB when I get the rifle going & will use Blue Dot to lessen the recoil as I think it will be light !

You will need wait till you have the gun in hand so you can slug the barrels & do a chamber cast & hopefully there is some load info with or on it ?

While you wait look around for Remington & or Winchester 8Ga Kiln Gun cases, you swage the bases down & good to go, I got wads,cards,roll Crimping tool from Ballistic Products.

Easy to start off with RB, still need to know what size bore & load your guns is, weight of the rifle & whether paper case or brass case gun ?

Brass case can have a larger bore .875 & paper can be as small as .835.

Good luck & please post info with pictures ?

Sarg, gun is in hand. No loading data listed on it.

Buckstix, I will be pm ing you for more details

Ok you will need to find out the twist rate & weight of rifle, if slow twist & lighter weight (also if paper case) it could be regulated for Round Ball, which is easier & fun to shoot.

More weight & faster twist points to Conical Bullet & heavier load ?

Is there any hint from previous owner or records of loads or what Dram rifle it is ?

Nothing at all. But it does weigh a hair under 17 pounds.

Checked the twist today. 26" barrels, including chambers. Almost a half turn in 22-24", so I am making an educated guess at 1 in 48". Does this sound right?

17lbs is a good weight most likely a Brass case 12Dram gun but you will still need to do a chamber cast & slug the bore, I think 1-48 is right for a conical bullet but would need to check my records on that, 10dram & Round Ball may still get you rolling.

Are the barrels steel or Damascus/Twist Steel ?

Sarg, The bores are .835, just an FYI. I have brass and round balls ordered. I would be interested in any and all load data that you guys can provide or direct me to.
Thank You

I see that is a much smaller bore than I thought for that weight.

I suppose you know Bore rifles aren't like a .458Win .375H&H or even a 30/06 with factory spec that you just buy cases, projectiles & away you go ?

Bores can range from .825 to .875, Thin-Thick Brass or Paper case (just to make it a little more simple) & some strange one off guns/rifles.

I have a Monster 12bore 8-9Dram gun that is near 15lbs with 3in chambers, a long way from a normal 12 Bore rifle.

1:48 is most definitely a concial twist. By the old Greenhill formula of 150x d^2 divided by length = twist, it should stabilize a 2.6" long bullet.

70 grains of blue dot under a round ball with an appropriate card and wads would be a place to start and generally equivalent to about 10 drams of BP. I had an .820" gun and have an .875" conical gun and they both liked it.

Sarg, Yes I know not to load it like my 500NE, or other modern doubles for that matter. I slugged it again today with a different pc of lead and came up with .836. So I am right in there.
Bob, Do you know where I may find a mould for a conical?
Thanks

I don't think NEI hand tools is still in business, but they were a go to if you can find one of theirs. Accurate Molds lists several in the .836 ball park and say they allow some customization. I've only got one of theirs in .510 but it is well made.

When I had a lathe I'd make my own cotton reel/paradox type by buying a cheap mold on ebay, boring it out to the bullet shank diameter I wanted, then cutting the base in one end and a same size hole for a nose plug and front band in the other. You could make multiple nose plugs to vary the weight, make hollowpoints, etc and was so easy I could do it in less than an hour and was way easier than making one from scratch. It's really really simple if you know someone with the tools.

Bob

I am happy to help with advice and pressure testing results for 8-bore rifles. Send me a PM and we’ll talk.

quote:

Originally posted by Omnivorous_Bob:
1:48 is most definitely a concial twist. By the old Greenhill formula of 150x d^2 divided by length = twist, it should stabilize a 2.6" long bullet.

70 grains of blue dot under a round ball with an appropriate card and wads would be a place to start and generally equivalent to about 10 drams of BP. I had an .820" gun and have an .875" conical gun and they both liked it.

This is the load that shoots best in my rifle as well.

I have 3 molds from accurate molds, you can pick any design you want that’s close to your bore size and it can be scaled up or down to fit your diamater in the ordering process. I designed the 1300 grain .840 mold to copy the work done by Michael458 on the CEB bullet but in lead.

The 1250 grain mold for .840 works very well in my gun too. But I shoot round balls more because they recoil significantly less and will still kill anything I throw one at.

http://www.accuratemolds.com/c...ge=30#catalog-anchor


Those are the best bets for new moulds, otherwise I think you’re looking at finding a used one, which is iffy at best as no one wants to give up one, and they’re pretty much made to the diameter of your gun.

https://www.ch4d.com/products/...aliber&filter=8+bore

CH4D is the only manufacturer of dies that I know of.



I think you’re going to have issues with the Parker brass, as your gun is a “small” 8, being right on 8 bore. And those cases are sized for 7 gauge wads, which will be a pretty significant difference.



As far as loads, while shooting with Cal, I played with loads as light as 6 grains of blue dot per dram of BP equivalently loaded, to as heavy as 10 grains per dram equivalent (60-100 grains in my gun. 68-80 grains with a 880 grain round ball shot very well. Above that the recoil became enough that I shot it less accurately but the gun tolerated a wide spread of loadings. If you’re going to shoot connicals I would definitely start light @ about 50 and work up. Recoil increases significantly with the additional 200 or so grains of lead.

My typical load is as follows

RCC Brass
Fed 209 primer
68 grains blue dot
.125 diameter powder card seated with 100ish lbs of pressure (Cal used a bathroom scale to seat)
1 lubed 1/2 inch wad https://www.buffaloarms.com/1-...gauge-rmc8fiber.html
2-2 1/2 1/2 thick unlubed wads for spacing, and a round ball seated as to just slightly compress the wad when the round ball is seated in the case mouth.

AK_Stick,
Please explain


"I think you’re going to have issues with the Parker brass, as your gun is a “small” 8, being right on 8 bore. And those cases are sized for 7 gauge wads, which will be a pretty significant difference."

They drop right in both sides.

This is one of the “problems” with bore guns. Often times the cases are extremely similar except for the bore size. I was able to chamber a pair of Cal’s .888 8 bore cases in my .840 8. Firing a loaded pair would have been catastrophic. And crimping a ball would have been virtually impossible.

The Parker cases you have, say they’re made for 7 gauge wads. The wads they call for are .888 diameter wads, I just don’t think you’re going to be able to reliably crimp a .053 smaller projectile into those cases repeatedly if at all.


You may be able to crimp them with a Paradox tool such as Buckstix here on AR makes, but I think you’re going to quickly wear the mouth out.

It’s also possible your gun would be capable of shooting 8 gauge industrial cases. If you send me your address in a pm or on FB I can send you some with wads. They’re just too small for my 8, but may work in your gun.

quote:

Originally posted by AK_Stick:
It’s also possible your gun would be capable of shooting 8 gauge industrial cases. If you send me your address in a pm or on FB I can send you some with wads. They’re just too small for my 8, but may work in your gun.

Funny you should mention 8g industrial cases, some of these are presently up for sale on our Trade Me auction site under Hunting & Shooting, NZ$10.00 for 50 and plenty of them available according to the seller.
I actually did a Google search to see what these cases are having never heard of industrial cases before.

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:

quote:

Originally posted by AK_Stick:
It’s also possible your gun would be capable of shooting 8 gauge industrial cases. If you send me your address in a pm or on FB I can send you some with wads. They’re just too small for my 8, but may work in your gun.

Funny you should mention 8g industrial cases, some of these are presently up for sale on our Trade Me auction site under Hunting & Shooting, NZ$10.00 for 50 and plenty of them available according to the seller.
I actually did a Google search to see what these cases are having never heard of industrial cases before.

That is what I said to use in my post at the top, 8ga Kiln Gun cases are the Industrial case & is what I use in my 8 Bores, it is just the thing to use unless you have a real large bored 8 of near 9 Bore.

I think the Remington Black cases are a bit stronger but now days & down here in the South the Winchester white/clear are more common, the modern case has a enlarged base/ring that is easy to swayed down, the early cases had a extra layer on the rim.

One Moron in the early days bored out his 8 bore Double Rifle chamber to take the industrial case, very sad that !