8 bore
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". The 8 bore (Commonwealth English), also known as the 8 gauge (American English), is an obsolete caliber used commonly in the 19th-century black-powder firearms for hunting large dangerous game.
Design
An 8 bore is a Script error: No such module "convert". caliber firearm. Historically it was used to fire solid projectiles from smoothbores, rifles, and partially rifled ball and shot guns, as well as shot from muzzle-loading and breech-loading shotguns. Later breech loaders were designed to fire cartridges.
History
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Shot loadings
The 8 bore was a popular wildfowling calibre both in muzzleloaders and later cartridge shotguns. 8 bore cartridges were available in multiple lengths including 3-inch, 3¼-inch, 3¾-inch and 4-inch.[1]
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Solid loadings
When the Dutch established the Dutch Cape Colony in the 17th century, they soon discovered their muskets were hopelessly inadequate against local game. Within a century the most popular Boer firearm was a flintlock smoothbore musket of about 8 bore with a Script error: No such module "convert". barrel.[2] Early British settlers of the Cape Colony in the 18th century also found specialist firearms were required for the local game. European gunmakers responded with various long arms from the enormous (although seldom produced) 2 bore down.
By the 19th century, the giant 4 bore had been established as the standard elephant gun amongst European settlers and explorers within Africa, whilst the 8 bore was considered the standard for all other dangerous game.[2] Typical 8 bores weighed Script error: No such module "convert"., and fired a Script error: No such module "convert". conical bullet at around Script error: No such module "convert". or an Script error: No such module "convert". spherical ball at around Script error: No such module "convert"., both with 10 to 12 drams (17.72 to 21.26 g) of black powder,[1] although sometimes heavier charges of 14 drams (24.82 g) were used, generally in Africa.[3]
In the late 19th century, William W Greener conducted the most thorough research of any gunmaker into the requirements for African hunting. After extensive testing and lengthy discussions with returned hunters and adventurers, including Sir Samuel Baker, he concluded the 8 bore was the largest practical calibre required for hunting dangerous game. Additionally, due to the increased felt recoil of rifled weapons, he recommended the 8 bore as the largest calibre for a rifle, and that firearms above 8 bore be smoothbores.[2]
The most common 8 bore cartridges used paper cases, much like shotgun shells, and true Script error: No such module "convert". caliber projectiles. A larger version utilising a thin brass case was also available, although it fired Script error: No such module "convert". projectiles, in reality making it a 7 bore.[4]
Modern uses
In modern times, the 8 bore has uses in the mining, cement, and steel industry. It has been used to knock down overhangs in mines or quarries, break up bridging or stoppages in silos, to desist boiler tubes, and remove slag deposits from rotary kilns, by blasting away at them from a safe distance. This can be done while the kiln is in operation in some instances. Various slug loadings are in production for different industrial uses. Using the C.I.P. method, the chamber pressure for the 8 bore industrial shotgun shell is Script error: No such module "convert".[5][6]
In popular culture
In the 2008 American Western film Appaloosa starring, co-written and directed by actor Ed Harris, supporting actor Viggo Mortensen's character carries an 8 gauge shotgun.[7]
See also
References
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- ↑ a b Frank C. Barnes, Cartridges of the World, ed 13, Gun Digest Books, Iola, 2012, Template:ISBN.
- ↑ a b c Ganyana, "The Giant Bores 4 and 6", www.shakariconnection.com, retrieved 18 January 2017.
- ↑ John Taylor, African rifles and cartridges, Sportsman’s Vintage Press, 2013, Template:ISBN.
- ↑ Ross Seyfried, "The most powerful rifles on earth", www.riflemagazine.com, retrieved 18 January 2017.
- ↑ Remington Arms, "MasterBlaster System", www.remington.com, archived 4 October 2010.
- ↑ Winchester, "Winchester Industrial Equipment & Loads", www.winchester.com, archived 10 November 2006.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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External links
- David E. Petzal, "Black Powder Behemoths", www.fieldandstream.com, retrieved 18 January 2017.