Where to find 8 gauge Kiln gun

[Walkingfunk]

Where would be a good place to look to find an 8 gauge kiln gun? Can’t seem to pull any results? Would it need an ffl? Can you use 8 gauge shotgun blanks in it or will it only fit 8 gauge industrial shells?

 

[milsurpguy]

I'm pretty sure they're a destructive device.

 

[Gordon]

I bought one years ago when the local Moss Landing Kaiser Refractories was being demolished , for SCRAP ! No firearms trans fer or any thing ! They refused to sell me the 3 .oz zinc projectiles they had cases of ! BUT an employee gave me the back door discount before I left the area on a case. I paid $500 for one gun on the pedestal and gave the guy $100 for a case of 50 3 Oz zinc shells. I never got around to setting the pedestal mount up; the whole deal was 300 pounds ready to go and for sure if I fired the unmounted pedestal would have blown over . I sold it in the middle 80s for $1500 with shells when my oldest went to College to an out of state guy I met in a Moss Landing Bar who said he was gonna mount it on his 56 foot steel hulled fishing boat .

 

[mcb]

You might have been luck finding a Remington 8-gauge kiln gun. I believe Remington was still making them until just a few years before they went belly up.

 

[Walkingfunk]

I figured it could be a fun gun to run on the 4th of July as a noisemaker type thing. Fun to feed and blast away like a mini artillery piece. I don’t have a kiln...

 

[George P]

The kiln guns we used to blast slag off the boiler walls at the coal-fired power plant were rented to us from Winchester ( who sold us the ammo). It was mounted on a tripod and was a godsend to the guys in charge of slag removal who prior were using Remington 870 with slugs and buckshot. We wore out several guns and MANY shoulders that way. Since ours was not designed to be fired from the shoulder, I am not sure if that would make it a DD or not. IIRC, either H&H or Purdey still offer an 8 and a 4 bore.

 

[Virginian]

Used to operate one. No big deal, but then I was also used to a 155mm howitzer.
https://industrialcartridgesa.com/8-gauge-kiln-system/

 

[rabid wombat]

A couple of links....

https://industrialcartridgesa.com/8-gauge-kiln-system/

https://winchesterindustrial.com/equipment.html

 

[Jim Watson]

My agency used them to shoot out the clinker in rotary kilns and also some canny operator realized it would be a lot easier to shoot out the tap holes in the phosphorus furnaces instead of poking them open with a long lance. I had a couple of shells as souvenirs, fired and loaded.

Can you use 8 gauge shotgun blanks in it or will it only fit 8 gauge industrial shells?

The 8 ga industrial shells are belted to keep them from being shot in Grandpa's Goose Gun.
I doubt that a shotgun shell would overexpand into the belt recess but don't know for sure.

A gunzine writer once came up with an 8 bore Nitro express rifle with steel barrels. Various DIY ammo being unsatisfactory, he sent it off to a British gunmaker who rechambered and reproved it for 8 ga industrial. Said it was a real beast to fire.
He said it was from the dawn of the smokeless era and people did not realize how much power would be available from the dinky little .450, they just ran off what they knew would work on megafauna, beefed up for smokeless loads.