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Alternate barrels for single shots.
harkbroke
Member Posts: 60 ✭✭
I'm wondering.....
I have a Winchester single shot 20 gauge shotgun. A simple design consisting of a single barrel that is hinged to a frame which automatically centers the breech over the firing pin.
I thought it would be neat if someone made barrel tubes that would simply slide inside of the existing 20 gauge barrel that could itself be chambered for just about any center fire rifle cartridge ever made.
Then the rear of the 20 gauge barrel could be drilled and tapped for scope mounts or iron sights.
This could make for a very versatile single shot shooting system.
Just buy another seperate tube for whatever rifle caliber suits your needs or fancy.
Has anyone seen anything like this in the past?
I have a Winchester single shot 20 gauge shotgun. A simple design consisting of a single barrel that is hinged to a frame which automatically centers the breech over the firing pin.
I thought it would be neat if someone made barrel tubes that would simply slide inside of the existing 20 gauge barrel that could itself be chambered for just about any center fire rifle cartridge ever made.
Then the rear of the 20 gauge barrel could be drilled and tapped for scope mounts or iron sights.
This could make for a very versatile single shot shooting system.
Just buy another seperate tube for whatever rifle caliber suits your needs or fancy.
Has anyone seen anything like this in the past?
Comments
Some adapters do exist, there are .22 rimfire inserts for shotgun barrels, intended for drillings.
Actually you are limited in caliber by the strength of the shotgun action; no .300 Magnums here.
The most that MC Ace offers are things like .30-30 and .45-70.
http://www.mcace.com/shotguninserts.htm
A hundred years ago, the .38-55 was the usual shotgun insert barrel choice.
My limited experience was with one chambered for .38 Special. Fired in a 12 gauge. Couldn't hit anything, beyond point-blank range. Perhaps if the shotgun had adjustable sights, I would have consistently been able to even hit the target?
Savage-Stevens made some things commonally called the 410ers ? it was a sub caliber ( 410 ) tube made to go into a 12 or a 20 ga. gun ???
They also made some models ( single shots ) with rifle barrels ?
and :
A few companies over the years have made various 'sub caliber inserts' most with terrible results ???
and :
Back many years ago when I was in high school ( machine shop ) and then later in college machine shop : I made some of these , still have a few laying around some-place ??? They are really useless , a .38 spl. out of a 'sub caliber adadpter ' (without rifling) shot in a 12 ga. single shot ??? lucky to hit a truck @ twenty feet ???
and then there are the 'flare guns' and the adadpters' , but thats another story ???????
Thanks !!!
d.a.stearns ........ a.k.a. ............... SKEEZIX .............
Gunsmith / LEO
Athens , Tn
... I Miss Scooby ...
... www.tnhandgunclasses.vpweb.com
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open Guns that are designed to handle these pressures The VALMET
model 412 /512 are just such a firearm. another problem with INSERT barrels is they need the proper type of EXTRATOR/EJECTOR to get the fired Shell casing out of the chamber. Rimed cases work easier than rimless cases and again you need the insert barrel to work off ot the original shot barrel . . The insert barrel if it has a loose fit will shoot poor groups and if tight may be HARD to remove. . Bottom line
Insert barrels have been tried for close to 100 years in Drillings ETC . they really are NOT a better mousetrap.
That said; most shotgun break open and bolt action designs ARE strong enough to handle most pistol calibers and some of the old black powder rifle rounds, as well as .22s of all varieties. The problem with just making an insert are, as I see it, four fold.
1. The cost of a full length rifled insert would be likely over $150. For that, it's hardly worth it.
2. Anchoring it into the barrel would be problematic.
3. Sights... yeah.
5. Extraction. Most cartridges have bases much smaller than a shot shell.
So, just not worth it.
I thought it would be neat if someone made barrel tubes that would simply slide inside of the existing 20 gauge barrel that could itself be chambered for just about any center fire rifle cartridge ever made.
As mentioned, you can buy chamber inserts that will convert standard shotguns to a fairly wide variety of handgun and even a few rifle cartridges. These are typically the length of a shotgun shell, though there is no theoretical reason why you couldn't make one that ran the full length of the barrel. . .just as a matter of practice, these would probably be pretty expensive, and likely heavy, too.
Limitations of these are accuracy (which is typically absolutely lousy), durability, etc. Since shotguns are basically loaded to only black powder pressures, this effectively limits the type of cartridges you can safely run through these.
If you want inexpensive true caliber conversion, the better/smarter design is just a breakopen-type rifle that lets you easily swap barrels. These do exist.
For example the H&R (formerly NEF) "Handi Rifle" lets you swap uppers to take a fairly good selection of rifle and handgun rounds and the result is WAY better than barrel inserts. Cost is relatively reasonable, only around $100 each, IIRC, though you have to have them fitted which adds a bit of cost and complexity.