shotgun shells and furnaces

[Bluey Lunger]

hi. it's not often that i can contribute something worthwhile so i logged back on cause the other day i was talking w/this guy who lives at the end of the road out in the country and we're sitting in his kitchen drinking coffee and he gets up and digs in a corner drawer of the kitchen cupboards and pulls out this shotgun shell.

well, the think was heavy. it had a bit of lead showing on the dangerous end of the shell and a "#8" on the brass head piece. i believe that means that an 8-guage shotgun is used to fire the shell.

anyway, apparently this shell is used in the business of furnaces. i should have been paying more attention, rather than being wrapped up in the blue funk i've found myself in of late. thought it was curious, a day late, but he said that they used it to blast a hole in the furnace and poured molten stuff through the hole.

then, whilst logging on, i think, d'oh! google it!

yeah, so i google it and and i got 19,200 hits. there is something about knocking down ash buildup.

question is, has anyone heard of anything like this? that a big, unusually large shotgun slug is used in the ?...creation? of furnaces? something, anyway. maybe i'll have to pay him another visit and get more info. thought it was interesting, in light of desperation. anyone else ever hear such a thing?

[Charms7]

No I haven't heard of such a thing, but I do hope you are feeling more cheerful now.

[brandon]

am not familiar with this practice, but as to the #8, that is denoting what size shot is inside the shell, rather than the type of gun it fits into. As a matter of fact, I dont believe they ever manufactured a shotgun larger than a 10 gauge

[Bluey Lunger]

i dunno what kind of gun shot this shell, maybe not a gun in the traditional sense of the word. i ought to go say hey and ask him about it, take notes, or something. but apparently, this shell--it was an 8-gauge shotshell--is used to blow a hole in...a furnace or something like that, out of which, i assumed, flows hot molten metal? sound like something that would happen? so, anyway, considering desperation and what happens there, thought it was interesting. don't have a clue about furnace works. the shotshell did not contain pellets, more of a slug-shell...trying to remember if the business end was folded over like a shell containing pellets, or if there was the tip of a slug showing or not. don't recall. i'll see the man again, sometime. there seemed to be a lot of possible info--19,200 hits--googling ...looks like i said in the initial that it "had a bit of lead showing"...maybe sk had some inkling of an idea when he used the shot-shell as he did there in the china pit.