shotgun shells and furnaces

**wally wonder** · August 13th, 2009

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** · August 14th, 2009

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

**brandon** · November 2nd, 2009

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

**wally wonder** · November 2nd, 2009

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.

**wally wonder** · June 16th, 2010

i now have that shotgun shell i posted about...sometime last year looks like...i asked him if i could take a picture of hit and he asked me if i wanted it...did some more work for him, that's how it came about...

the shell is a tad over 3" in length, has a brass headcase, it says "western super-x" across the top, "industrial" across the bottom, and a "no."
on one side of the primer and the number "8" on the other. he believes it came from milwaukee, something to do w/furnaces...apparently it is fired from a tripod, into a big container of molten metal, thus making a hole for the molten metal to flow...i took a photo of if but it didn't come out, not in focus...we have another camera, one that might e better for closeups...there's the flat face of a lead slug on the other end, brown...compressed cardboard/paper tubing...i bet i could get this thing to fire in a 1" pipe....hammer?

**no bounce no play** · June 16th, 2010

I googled shotgun shell no. 8 furnice and your post was the first result shown... there really isn't much online about it lol.

The second site showed some pics of the shells and posts by collectors. Do you collect guns and shells?

One poster said, "My son works at Cherokee Power Plant in Denver. They use the 8 ga to clean the slag out of the boilers." Then the son posted and said, "The 8 gauge that we use in the power plant does not compare to a sporting shotgun. It is a single shot, has no stock, and weighs about 20 pounds. It is hung from above while it is shot. We use it to clean clinkers out of the boilers. From what I gather, it uses a light load. I am not sure about shot size. It is a very interesting shotgun. I am still trying to convince management that it would work wonders for pigeon control."

I don't know how to post links or pictures

**wally wonder** · June 16th, 2010

naw, i don't collect shells...well, i pick up brass that people leave lying about. it can be reused or salvaged...but i thought the idea was neato, given desperation, the story, the ending...the guy claimed that this shell is fired from a tripod, not a gun, and when i search engined different words associated w/it, i had a gadzillion hits...looked at a few and saw some stuff like what you said.

**wally wonder** · June 20th, 2010

you know, the disturbing thing about the shell, even though it is kinda of a neato idea that maybe sk used the idea of the shotgun shell that is used in the foundry...to make molten metal flow out...

...you see it, then?...why it could be disturbing?

...is it ever, really, over?

**no bounce no play** · June 21st, 2010

Boy Howdy Bluey... I thought my imagination for the what-ifs was strong but you have me beat. I would have never thought about that connection, or figured it out, if you hadn't mentioned it. I'm with you... it isn't over, the seal will be broken again.