Chicago Palm Pistol - can it be converted....

S

Skans

New member
I am interested in the Chicago Palm Pistol design. For those who are familiar with the design, would you know if there is any possibility of using a .22 barrel liner to convert these to fire .22 short? Would this be legal (to make and sell), even if it were feasible?
 
I'm not positive I know exactly what the Chicago Palm Pistol is, but have a picture in my mind...

I assume it's in an obsolete cartridge, rim fire ???

I had eccentric rifled chamber inserts made from a section of 22 LR barrel, for an old 30 rim fire revolver I just shoot Colibri's or Super Colibris in the gun, but it functions fine with the 22's using the short amount of rifling in the cylinder left over after being chambered...

I can't imagine it would be illegal to re-chamber, unless it were full auto or something... Ironically it may be illegal to re-chamber in Chicago :rolleyes:
 
Chicago F.A. Co. " Protector Palm Pistol " . In good condition it is listed at 3000.00. Yes you could reline the barrel to .22, not illegal, it is classified as an antique, but how would you modifie the insides. It is designed to work with a much larger cartridge ( compared to a .22 short ), you would have to redesign the entire feed mechanism.
 
No way in the world would I muck with one of those simply because of its value.

They were designed for a .30 Short rimfire cartridge. Not very powerful.
 
Because of the design, the cartridge has to be very short, even shorter than the .22 Short. Could such a gun be made for .22 Short? Sure, but the diameter of the pistol is limited by the size of the hand, so anything much longer would not be practical. Conversion of an old one to use .22 Short would not be feasible and would destroy an antique. Further it would require cutting the front off the bullet to get it to fit, so factory ammo would not work.

I am afraid this is one of those many antique guns that will NOT be reproduced any time soon.

Jim
 
I appreciate the replies. I did not realize that .22 short is actually longer than .30 rimfire short. I know the little palm pistol is valuable, but I thought it wold be an interesting project if I found one in miserable cosmetic condition. Oh well.
 
this one say's it's in 32 caliber ( which could easily be wrong ) but offers up several pictures...

I was thinking they worked similarly to a revolver, & this guy kinda looks like that ( but I'll admit, I have no real idea or experience, only looking at the pics )

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=365571661

this one also say's it's chamber in 32 Rim Fire "extra short" but looking at the design, I'd think it could rather easily be chambered for 22 short... but the formidable starting prices on both these guns would keep me from wanting to play with it... ( actually again, just looking at the pictures, the drum looks like it could easily be machined from modern tool steel, & possibly even have room to chamber 32 acp or 32 S&W short ??? )

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=366024080
 
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my Sharpes & Hankins 4 barrel is also 32 Rimfire... but maybe it's chambered differently than the earlier models ???

BTW... I had no eye deer the cartridges were worth so much :o

 
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FWIW, a "rechamber" means reaming a chamber to a larger cartridge case on the same size bore.

A change from a .30 or .32 cal down to .22cal would necessitate a complete rework.


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OK, just confirmed that the .30 Short rimfire WAS one of the cartridges chambered in the Sharps 4 barrel.

I know it was chambered in at least several, .22 .25 (possibly), .30, and .32.
 
Little trivia, In one of the Sabata movie series, Lee Van Cleef used a Palm gun in one of his gun fights. He was shooting bad guys and dropping them with one shot at 50 feet ( no sights ), he must have killed at least a half dozen with that little gun. Not bad shooting for an ex accountant.:D
 
Magnum,

Neither one of those auctions is for the correct ammunition.

The box of Peters ammo is for .32 Short, which is a longer cartridge.

The other box is for .32 Rimfire, which is MUCH longer than either the correct .32 Extra Short or the .32 Short.
 
There is a solution.


Dixie Gun Work sells a .32 rimfire "case" that is eccentrically cut in the bottom allowing for .22 rimfire blanks/cases to be inserted as the priming mechanism.

I would get a few of these, shorten them, get some of the starter blanks (the really short ones made by RWS) and put a round ball on the end of the case and it should work fine.

Only thing is, you will have to place the cases in the chambers so the firing pin only hits the rim of the .22 blank, which is no problem.
 
I was also thinking you could take 32 shorts, & nip the tip of the bullet off as needed to fit ( would also help keep pressures down to help save the old mechanism )

was thinking about doing this if I ever decided to try shooting my old bottom break S&W

the Dixie cases would be a good option for the ol S&W as well, though I'm not itching to shoot that one :o
 
The palm pistol has two reasons to need a short round. The major one is that it has to fit inside the "cylinder", the second is that you have to be able to get it into the center hole to load the chambers.

I have never fired mine, but IMHO the idea that anyone could reliably hit a man-size target at over 10 feet is Hollywood fiction.

Jim
 
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