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8 bore

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Before building a 8 bore, if hunting is one of the things it is going to be used for, it would be a good idea to check out what the state game laws say about it.

Some states limit the size of a shotgun bore for hunting to a 10 or 12 guage. Although it is a muzzleloader, some state laws consider them to be the same as modern shotguns so the same limit on size applies.

Of course if it is only going to be used for killing cans and paper it doesn't much matter unless the shooting is being done off of a designated shooting range. The Game & Fish officers can assume the gun is being used to hunt with if it is being carried on Public/State/Federal owned land where they have jurisdiction.
 
Hi.
Why 8-bore? Very few English fowlers were that large.

dave
Sorry Dave but you are not right most English fowling guns were of 10 bore and larger , eight was a common bore size and also 4 bore, some people think they were cannons and would knock your shoulder out but it all depends on the load also the weight of the big guns absorbed the recoil . I have over many decades used all the large bore sizes for geese and ducks in bore sizes of 4,6,7,8,10. image enclosed of my big guns
Feltwad
P1010002.jpg
 
Hi Feltwad,
The only British guns I've seen that large were for waterfowl and they often had really long barrels. Not exactly quick shooting upland bird guns.

dave
 
Hi Feltwad,
The only British guns I've seen that large were for waterfowl and they often had really long barrels. Not exactly quick shooting upland bird guns.

dave
Dave
Here in the UK the name has a different meaning the big bores from 10 to 4 are known has fowling guns for ducks and geese .The smaller bore s from 12 down to 28 are known has game guns for pheasants etc and also ground game .
Feltwad
 
I believe this is where Dave's (and mine) mindset lays.......In the 18th century the term fowling piece was used to describe the smaller bored guns that were also called birding pieces. The large bored waterfowling guns were often called duck guns, swan guns or goose guns.

Here is a period explanation of how they differed.

Duck Guns vs. Fowling Pieces in the 18th Century

...The circumstance of a duck-gun killing at a greater distance than a fowling piece, is not owing to its length, but to its- greater weight and thickness allowing the charge of powder to be doubled, trebled, or even quadrupled, which cannot be done in a fowling piece though strongly reinforced. For a barrel of five or six feet, such as that of a common duck-gun, weighing five or six pounds, and the whole piece twelve or thirteen pounds ; may be fired with a very large charge, without recoiling so much as to hurt the shooter, its weight being sufficient to resist the violent impulse occasioned by the in- crease of the powder. But in a fowling piece of three feet barrel, sufficiently strong to withstand such a charge, and whose weight altogether does not exceed five or six pounds, the recoil would be insupportable. Be- fides, they not only double or treble the powder in a duck-gun, but they put in a much greater quantity of shot than is ever employed in a fowling piece*. * Duck-guns are generally bent a little upwards near the muzzle, which, the gunsmiths say, makes them throw their shot farther than if they were perfectly straight. To obtain, therefore, from a piece of the ordinary length, the fame effects as from a duck-gun, nothing more, perhaps, is necessary than to have the barrel sufficiently strong to admit of the charge being doubled or trebled as required, and the whole piece heavy enough to render the recoil support- able. We may here observe, however, that an increase of the powder above the charge generally used, does not produce a proportional increase of range in the ball or mot: thus a double charge of powder will not throw the, ball or shot to twice the distance, nor a treble charge to three times the distance, the single charge does. This arises from the great resistance given by the air to the motion of the ball or shot, and which is proved to be fourfold if the velocity be doubled, and nine fold when it is trebled by an increase of the powder. So great is the change in opinion of late, with regard to the proper length for gun barrels, that many gunsmiths will now tell us, that short barrels carry farther than long ones ; and the reason they give for this, is, the greater friction of the ball or shot in passing through a long barrel, by which their velocity is retarded and their force diminished. If the barrel be so long that the additional impulse which the ball or shot is continually receiving in its passage, becomes less than the friction between them and the fides of the caliber, then, indeed, the barrel by being shortened will shoot with more force : but as the length of barrel required to produce this effect, is vastly greater than can ever be employed for any purpose, the objection does not Having now, we hope, thrown every light upon this question, that is necessary to determine us in our choice of the length, it will, perhaps, be expected, that we give our opinion, what length of barrel is best calculated for general use. The barrels which we ourselves employ, and which we have found to answer best for every purpose are from 32 to 38 inches; and whether we consult the appearance of the piece, its lightness, or the ease with which it is managed, we believe that a barrel not exceeding the one, or below the other of these numbers, is the most eligible.

An Essay on Shooting, Edie, 1789
 
Enclosed is a image of large bore guns they are not classed has fowlers they are guns which were built for the purpose of live pigeon shooting from traps guns in the image from left to right are 4to 10
Feltwad
Live Pigeon Guns
100-1201.jpg
 
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