[Blueduck]

http://www.remington.com/ammo/industrial/ind_guns.htm

Just ran accross this on the Remington site. Not really looking for one for bunnies obviously ;) but just seemed interesting. From reading it looks like a 8 gauge, suppresed, (Gatlin style??) shotgun.

Anyone with a bit more detail on how and what these are used for, and what kind of loads are used etc..

[SDC]

They're usually called "clinker guns", and they're used in the concrete-manufacturing industry. When they mix up a batch of concrete (this is the stage BEFORE it's poured into a mixer, and the water is added), they need to mix the ingredients up and roast it in a large vertical oven; during the roasting process, lots of your desired end product ends up caking and solidifying on the walls of the oven, so they use these "clinker guns" to shoot them and knock them off the walls. They're usually mounted on a pedestal in front of a sliding refractory door that you can open to see into the oven, and they've got large springs and/or hydraulic recoil buffers, because they're only used to shoot large slugs. After everything falls to the bottom of the oven, they can crush the cake up again (ready for mixing and adding water), and the slugs are screened out at that point. HTH.

[Mike Irwin]

They also use them in industrial boilers to break up coal clinker slag.

[Blueduck]

Interesting info. Always heard "a gun is just a tool" looks like this is more of a tool that just happens to be gun ;)

Thanks

[Sisco]

Put in plenty of time on one. It's fun at first then starts to be work. Gun is hung from a chanfall, two man crew; a shooter & a loader. We'd go through several hundred rounds at a time.
The one we had looked different from the illustration, it was all stainless and did not have the base or elevation adjustment wheel, it was all point & shoot. Ammo is actually pretty cheap, around $5.00 a box of twenty. I still have a sack full of empty hulls around somewhere.
When the company first got it the lease was $900 per year. They had it quite some time then the lease price jumped to $1200 / year and the let Remington have it back. They aren't for sale, you can only lease them.

[Gordon]

I tried to buy some of these from Kaiser Refractories when plant went under locally. Was used to bust clinkers in firebrick ovens. The shells I have are 3oz of ZINC/lead mixture. I think this is same composition as LEO 'lock buster' loads. The ones at refractory were a artillery falling breech with a big handle , they were mounted on a T&E pedastal, I didn't notice the maxim silentcer, maybe they were older Masterblasters . Kaiser would'nt sell them to me:( :( :(

[AJ Dual]

I've seen the 8 gauge shells for these on sale at gun shows as novelty items now and again.

One question, are these things NFA registered as DD or Suppressors? Or since the distribution is so controlled and limited, the ATF ignores them?

[SDC]

The ones I've seen haven't been suppressed (you're in the middle of a factory anyway, and everyone's wearing ear protection), and the "nothing above 10 gauge" rule is a hunting regulation, not an ATF thing. I think they might be fun to plink with for a while, but expensive as all get out.