Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Chamber adapters for rifles

I am wondering if any gunwriters or other experienced members have ever used rifle chamber adapters. I found some for sale here: http://www.mcace.com/adapters.htm . I am particularly interested in the adapter that allows the use of a 32 Smith and Wesson cartridge in a 30-06.

My reasoning for this is if I was backpack hunting and wanted to dispatch a rabbit or grouse for the pot, but didn't want to wake up the whole forest with a full power rifle shot. Subsonic 32 S&W rounds should be pretty quiet from a rifle barrel, and should do a lot less meat damage on small game.

The other option I though of was loading 110 grain FMJ bullets at a subsonic velocity. I do not know if such a load is feasible or not, and I don't know if data exists for such a load.

Thanks ahead of time for your input.

I remember reading an article by Ross Seyfried on the adapters several years ago. As I recall he liked them and found them very useful. Never used one myself but I think one for shooting 32ACP in 308WCF might be fun.

Ernie

For reduced loads or those with less noise I loaded cast bullets. While I have those adapters I never used them much.

Be careful because jacketed bullets will stick in a barrel easier than a cast lead bullet at low velocities.

And an adapter has to be taken from the barrel and the empty manually removed before another can replace it and the adapter be reloaded into the rifle. As said a cast bullet with performs very well and is easier to use in a hunting situation.

Von Gruff.

Amos and others.

Those of us shooting military surplus rifles like the 8mm and Russian Nagants have been shooting reduced loads with cast lead for years and years. A cast lead bullet can be driven at around 1500 fps with very light loads of 2400 in large cases with total safety. They are not position sensitive and work perfectly for the applications you're talking about.

A check on some of the cast lead forums will give loads for .30-06 and .308 that would surprise you. There's no spike in pressures and they are totally safe. Plus, they are accurate as all get out! My military mausers with open sights group at 3" at 100 yards all the time. These loads would easily take a deer as they are the same as magnum pistol ballistics.

Dan

I have a number of chamber adapters. The accuracy is pretty variable. There are a couple inherrent problems. For consistent accuracy, bore sizes must match. A second issue is that the bullet must travel through a section of bore that is unrifled, then jump to the rifling. There is also a problem with shooting to sights, the pistol bullets usually don't go the same sight setting. One of the adapters that avoids a number of these pitfalls and tends to be consistently accurate for me, is the Hammond Game Getter. It uses a 22rf power load and a sized buckshot. These have usually been pretty accurate in my rifles. Another that has been pretty consistent is the Lothar Walther adapters. I've also had good accuracy with the adapters designed for drillings to shoot 22 magnum ammo through the shotgun barrel made by Kreighof. They are not cheap.
I really enjoy them all. I also use them to introduce new shooters to big rifles. No recoil and less noise makes it fun for novices. I should add that I also shoot a lot of cast bullets as well. The adapters add another dimension and another excuse to shoot.
Bfly

There used to be ALEX adapters out of Bozeman MT. I have some, 22lr in 22-250, 25ACP in 25-06, 32ACP in 308. I wanted one for my 300WSM, but I can no longer find his website.Perhaps he is out of business?

I use the 22LR in 22MRF chamber adapters a lot and think that they work very well in revolvers and when loaded singley in rifles. Unless the bore of your rifle is rough, I wouldn't worry too much about a jacketed bullet getting stuck, but I "think" that a lead bullet would likely expand to the bottom of the grooves, seal the bore, and generally shoot better.

I also have a brass 22LR in 30-30 chamber adapter with a 16" barrel that came from the "grandfather" of ACE, Harry Owens' Sport Specialties.

The best auxillary type auxillary chambers that I've used are the Alex brand in Bozeman, MT, but it appears that they are no longer in business. The Alex featured an alloy adapter that used a 22LR cartridge to power a cylindrical soft lead slug. They worked very well, quiet and accurate, but the adapters and lead slugs are (apparently) no longer made.

I have heard good things about the Hammond Game Getter auxillary chambers made in Canada, that use buck shot as their projectile, but I haven't owned 1, at least that I can recall. If interested, you can contact Brian Hammond at gamegetrtelus.net

Jeff

I have one of the ALEX adapters for my 300 H&H. I let him talk me into the one that requires a 22 LR HP to power a small lead slug. Very accurate and have taken quite a few ptarmigan with it while sheep hunting. I wish I had gotten the 32 S&W that he offered instead as he apparently retired or went out of business shortly after my purchase and now I carefully hoard my supply of the ALEX bullets.

Mart

I bought 1000 slugs in each of .243", .257", .264", .284", and .308" when I bought my adapters. I hoard my remaining supply too!

Jeff

Amos,

I have that very adapter and find that it works OK. It won't chamber at all in my Model 700 Mountain Rifle that has a tight chamber, but works well in another 700 and my Dad's sporterized 1917 Eddystone. Accuracy is very dependent on the .32ACP ammo.

My preference for small game is a Speer 100gr "Plinker" half-jacketed bullet over a charge of SR4759 for a velocity of right at 1600fps and bug hole accuracy out to 50yds.

Ed

I should have added that the Game Getter includes a device to size the ball to your correct bore diameter.
Bfly

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I found a guide online for using IMR Trailboss in bottle-necked rifle rounds. I might experiment with that for a while and see how I like it. I will probably eventually pick up the 32 S&W adapter just because I have a a 32 handgun and I already reload for it. These adapters really aren't all that expensive, and I think it will provide a good excuse to get to the range and tinker.