Prepper and Chamber adaptors...

B

Beentown71

New member
Have a nephew that is slowly becoming one of the doomsday preppers. He was asking about this product and all I can see is problems.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-pack-Zombie-survival-kit-Chamber-Adapters-12-gauge-/160767996628

I wonder if anyone has tried them? What were the results?

It seems like anything with a smaller diameter is going to bounce around the barrel before coming out. The pressure loss from the size of boolits alone is going to make them a lot less effective. I wonder what the speed would be of a .38 special out of a 12 gauge barrel?

Beentown
 
It doesn't say whether or not the pistol-caliber adapters are rifled (I'm assuming not), but it looks like a dandy way to turn a shotgun into a 4- or 5-inch smoothbore pistol (if that's something you would want in the first place).

Once the bullet leaves the adaptor, the pressure behind it is going to drop essentially to atmospheric pressure and the bullet will stop accelerating, regardless of the shotgun barrel length.
 
Never tried one, and won't, for exactly the reasons that you listed. I would think a prepper could find a better use for the $100.
 
Looks like the barrel length would be less than two inches, so the velocity should be roughly comparable to a snub nose. I wouldn't mind carrying one for finishing shots. That would only require MOE (minute of ear) accuracy from a few steps away and I think that would be possible even without rifling.
 
It seems to me like a poor idea... Ok it probably can work but who knows what shotgun barrel damage might be done and even if it doesnt it just doesnt seem like a winning idea...

Want to shoot multiple calibers then get the appropriate guns to do so...
 
I have used and collected these adapters for many decades. In the early 1900's it was not unusual to travel for many months afoot in the wilderness. Food was always required, with small game filling most needs. However big game can be taken as well, when you have a way to take care of it. In the real world most people cannot shoot a handgun well enough to survive with one. So either carry 2 rifles all the time OR use a cartridge adapter. In the days of iron sight these little gadgets worked great. The problem that arrive in rifle calibers is the gun is usually sighted in for high power ammo and when a small pistol round is used they average 6" low at 25 yards. I have many over the years and regularly carry an adapter and a handful of pistol rounds when I big game hunt. Usually a 30-06 x 32 ACP, or a 30-30 x 32ACP. I have them in 45-70 x 45 ACP, 32 Win Spl x 32 Colt, 35 Rem x 380 ACP, 25-35 x 25 ACP, 250 Savage x 25 ACP plus quite a few others. I also have the ones mentioned in the op querry. These are built by a company called Short Lane. The quality is superb but the design of these are lacking. The guage x quage adapters work well at 15 yards with good patterns. However the quage x cartridge conversions are not rifled and have terrible issues. A 12 quage x 357 mag adapter shoots @ 5" groups at 25 yards and half those fired are keyholed at this range. Another design issue is some of the adapters are too long to fit in anything but break action guns. It would be so easy to design these correctly, simply rifle them and make them short enough to fit in a pump or auto loader. I have a 12 guage x 22 lr. This adapter IS rifled and shoots close to point of aim at 25 yards and shoots small groups.
 
There was a reason why some Indians preferred muzzle loaders over cartridge guns. Lead with which one may cast bullets was obtainable. Cartridges not necessarily so.
 
How do the .251 25 ACP bullets do in a .257 bore? I've always wondered if they would slug up to the rifling
 
Griz, only bullets of realitively soft lead fired only behind blackpower obturate to the bore diameter or bump up as it is also known. With blackpowder being explosive it is easy for an undersize soft projectile to fill the bore. With smokeless powder there is no explosion in the barrel, just high tempatures from burning so no bump up. Top that off with jacketed bullets and we are left with shooting a .251 bullet down a .257 bore. Now to answer your question, I have just recently bought both the 250 Savage x 25ACP and 25-35 x 25 ACP adapers. I have searched for them for many years. I shot the 250 Savage only and it only one time. On most adapter using small pistol rounds in guns designed for heavy bullets, I find acceptable accuracy for small game to maximum range of 30 yards. However when shooting the 250 Savage adapter I didnt get even that good of accuracy. I would say it would be able to hit a cottontail rabbit at 25 yards only half the time and even at that the hit could be anywhere in the body of the rabbit. Combine this with @6" low sight setting and small game hunting would be iffy. Take into account I have only had 1 field trip so far with this adaper, and have lots to learn yet. But so far this adapter is the most disappointing yet. This summer I hope to do a complete shooting session with each adaper, with detailed accuracy reports and cronograph readings.
 
That would have been my guess, but it's good to hear it from somebody who has tried it. Thanks, griz
 
There was a reason why some Indians preferred muzzle loaders over cartridge guns. Lead with which one may cast bullets was obtainable. Cartridges not necessarily so.
Click to expand...

Whammo. The ultimate prepper's rifle is a flintlock and a bullet mold. You can make everything you need to shoot it over a campfire, though you should probably put the black powder together a few feet away.
 
I have looked at these a lot and read many supposedly first hand accounts of their use.
The problem with those is barrel length.
The 22lr one there might work pretty well.
The shotgun conversions are reputed to function pretty well and are used some in sporting clays in some event where you have to change gauges.

It looks to me like the barrels in those would be a lot less than2" remember centerfire ammo pretty much bruises if it goes off outside a chamber to contain it. I doubt you would get much better performance at all.

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Detail.aspx?pid=881160&filter=881160
http://www.mcace.com/ <- longer ones that will work better.

Will buy some of these some day...
 
Chamber adaptors that allow the use of pistol cartridges in rifles with similar or identical bore diameters to fire on indoor ranges are a lot of fun, in the field they can be used to hunt small game. Out of a shotgun barrel not very practical IMHO.
 
Savage Arms marketed something like it years ago caller the Fourtener. Fired 410 2-1/2" shot shells only. Adapter tube was somewhat longer in its overall length than those pictured on EBay. Savage barrel adapters never became a hit with anyone that I know of. Probably because of there being supported in a barrel front and rear with neoprene rings that often broke. It indeed proved useful on close up game like squirrel and partridges. Just my thoughts is all. SSMcG
 
Personally, I can't think of anything better to put in a shotgun's chamber than an appropriate shell. I can already load it with anything from birdshot to slugs.

I'd rather carry a .22 pistol and a few hundred rounds of ammo than a bag full of chamber adapters.
 
It seems to me the 12ga to 20 or .410 (shot/not slug) would be good just from the stand point of ammo availability/versatility.

I understand the impact of conversions with such a short 'barrel' of ~ 2" from 12ga to say .45 or 9mm or .22lr.


Could any one provide input as to what happens as far as loss of power and shot pattern with the wad not being the correct size?
 
Never tried one, but I'd bet that you'd lose significant velocity. The pattern would probably open up a bit with a .410, probably not so much with a 20 gauge.
 
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