8 Bore Pinfire

From my experince which is limited as 4 bores are not common, I had a Greener double and the bottom of the barrels were marked 4 inch brass meaning brass cases 4 inches long and bore was 1 inch, I still have a single 4 bore gun and the proofs show 6 bore diameter bore ( I have not measured the bore) and it uses 4 bore paper cases. Then the muzzle loader 4 bore gun is 1.052 bore
I beleive they made 4 bore pinfire paper cases but not sure
The 16 bore double rifle I have was made in 1865 and seems easier to work with paper cases then others I have tried so far
 
The older 8 guage kiln gun shells were paper sporting cartridges with an extra base crimped on to prevent them being shot in sporting guns. The extra base can be turned off easily in a metal lathe. The paper shells only last about 3 shots before the powder granules start coming through the paper. As applies to pinfire shells, you would have to turn the rim off as well (most pinfire shells are rimless) and you still have the problem of getting the pin close enough to the base of the shell, as well as having a solid enough pocket for the pin to ignife the #11 cap. Pinfire handgun hammers are relatively weak and will not ignite the caps if the cap is sitting on a curved base. I am not convinced that the newer plastic 8 guage shells can be swaged down enough to chamber plus the problem of the pin being very close to the back of the shell
I remain puzzled why pinfire shotguns were not made with extractors and with my 16 guage, I kept a piece of 1/2 inch brass rod in my pocket, to drop down the barrel to remove the fired shell.

cheers mooncoon
 
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