Gauge adapters?

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trae

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Hey folks,

Can anyone recommend shotgun adapters? I'd like to be able to use .410 (or 20 gauge) in my single shot break open.

Chiappa stuff looks real nice: https://www.chiappafirearms.com/category.php?id=23 but that's a bit more than I want to spend.

Are there any other options there you may be able to recommend?

Thanks
 
Chamber gauge reducing adapters work quite well in my experience for some purposes. They pattern a little more open than the actual choke of the host barrel but adequate for many purposes. They work best if the reduction isn’t too drastic, such as 12 to 16 or 16 to 20. If the reduction is two or more gauge sizes patterns will suffer noticeably. 28 to 410 might work but I doubt that the 410 would be satisfactory in a larger gauge. Of course they are slow to use because to reload you must first extract the adapter from the gun and then knock the empty out of the adapter with a dowel or such before reloading. Try to avoid steel based ammunition no matter what colour the metal is, use only real brass based ammo such as Winchester AA to avoid a lot of frustration. The best that I have used are Gauge Mate brand.
 
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Not to dissuade you from adaptors - I have a pair of "Little Skeeters" to fire 28 gauge shells in my 20 gauge double and O/U - I reload 28 gauge, but not 20 gauge, so for me, at least, it is cheaper to fire 28 gauge and reload them, than to buy 20 gauge, out here.

Back in the 1980's, when I taught hunter safety, could find very light recoiling 12 gauge shells - I think they were at Canadian Tire - light weight payload, lower than "normal" number of drams equivalent of powder - was what I had the new shooters use on our "range day" - 11 and 12 year olds - boys and girls - in a single shot 12 gauge, to shoot clay pigeons. I think I allowed for one shot at a stationary clay pigeon hanging on a post about 25 yards out, to get a sense of the sight picture, and then three shots at flying clay pigeons launched straight away, from a spring powered thrower. Many new shooters would get three out of three in the air - I suspect they were then "hooked for life"...
 
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I use savage 410ers in my 12ga guns. They work very well. I loose approximately 100 to 150fps depending on the brand of 410.
Full length tubes maybe an option as well. Better construction and a tad more extra weight.
Briley side kicks or companion tubes work well.

Friends dont let friends buy chiappa products
 
brybenn said:
I use savage 410ers in my 12ga guns. They work very well. I loose approximately 100 to 150fps depending on the brand of 410.
Full length tubes maybe an option as well. Better construction and a tad more extra weight.
Briley side kicks or companion tubes work well.

Friends dont let friends buy chiappa products
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What's wrong with Chiappa? I'm looking at their M6 survival rifle. Always wanted one.

Back to adapters -- the Briley looks too fancy for me. For the cost I can probably buy another shotgun. Who is the target audience for them?

Leaning towards this: https://www.gunadapters.com/12-gauge-to-20-gauge-scavenger-series/ certainly not expecting amazing accuracy but plinking should be fine.
 
Perhaps you’re thinking of using an adapter for slugs trae, I think the responses you’re getting use a shotgun for shooting flying targets with bird shot. If slugs are your intent and as you say you’re not concerned about accuracy, what’s your point? A single projectile with erratic accuracy is just an expensive noisemaker. In any case I don’t know how these adapters work with slugs, that isn’t what they were intended for. I would expect extraction difficulty and stone throwing accuracy.
The full length gauge adapters by Briley and one or two other makers are intended to temporarily convert a 12 gauge shotgun ( note - SHOTgun, not slug gun) to 20, 28 or .410 for shooting the various gauge classes in Skeet. Yes they are expensive but they allow one gun to perform up to four tasks at an Olympic class level and it’s much less expensive than four separate $3000 to $10,000 guns of different gauges. These aren’t casual toys, they are the best, for the best and made to win matches.
 
Ashcroft said:
Perhaps you’re thinking of using an adapter for slugs trae, I think the responses you’re getting use a shotgun for shooting flying targets with bird shot. If slugs are your intent and as you say you’re not concerned about accuracy, what’s your point? A single projectile with erratic accuracy is just an expensive noisemaker. In any case I don’t know how these adapters work with slugs, that isn’t what they were intended for. I would expect extraction difficulty and stone throwing accuracy.
The full length gauge adapters by Briley and one or two other makers are intended to temporarily convert a 12 gauge shotgun ( note - SHOTgun, not slug gun) to 20, 28 or .410 for shooting the various gauge classes in Skeet. Yes they are expensive but they allow one gun to perform up to four tasks at an Olympic class level and it’s much less expensive than four separate $3000 to $10,000 guns of different gauges. These aren’t casual toys, they are the best, for the best and made to win matches.
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Right on, thanks for the explanation. I know in theory about match grade stuff but it's certainly not my application. I'm looking to use my 12 gauge for camping clay shooting and letting my wife and kids shoot either 20 gauge or 410 if possible. Of course I'm looking for accuracy. It has to relatively accurate (I'm thinking 80-20 rule here, 80% accurate for 20% of the cost if you will).

I think I'll try one of the short lane adapters, https://www.gunadapters.com/12-gauge-to-20-gauge-scavenger-series/ even if it's garbage it's not a lot of money.
 
OP - perhaps spend some time to find out low recoiling 12 gauge shells - lighter than normal pay load; lighter than normal powder load - will be much cheaper to buy, per box, compared to 20 gauge (out here) and way cheaper than .410 (out here). Personally, not seeing the sense to spend money to buy an adapter to then buy more expensive shells to fire. Unless you already have significant stash of 20 and 410.

If you want the best (worst) compromise, go with 28 gauge - I have used my O/U to introduce many new shooters to hitting clay pigeons in the air with 28 gauge factory ammo - #8 shot - men, women, boys and girls.

For our grandson to start, I got him a used Cooey/Winchester Model 840 in 28 gauge and a couple boxes of shells.
 
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trae said:
Right on, thanks for the explanation. I know in theory about match grade stuff but it's certainly not my application. I'm looking to use my 12 gauge for camping clay shooting and letting my wife and kids shoot either 20 gauge or 410 if possible. Of course I'm looking for accuracy. It has to relatively accurate (I'm thinking 80-20 rule here, 80% accurate for 20% of the cost if you will).

I think I'll try one of the short lane adapters, https://www.gunadapters.com/12-gauge-to-20-gauge-scavenger-series/ even if it's garbage it's not a lot of money.
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gunadapters.com does not ship to Canada. Tried that years ago .... those adapters fall under US export restrictions.

At the time selfrelianceoutfitters.com was willing to ship to Canada .... and that is where I got mine from .... not sure if they still ship to Canada ....
 
I had a set of Rhino Stingers at one time. One of the 20ga tubes needed a new extractor. When I contacted the owner at Rhino we had a very interesting conversation and something you may want to keep in mind. He said he quit making the Stingers due to liability reasons. He said his products were made to exclusively shoot target loads not to exceed 1200fps except the 4.10 which he said could accept a 3" field load. He said it was expressly written in the manuals no field loads, high velocity or steel shot loads and especially no rifle cartridges but said people would ignore it and fire everything and anything through them then expect compensation when they destroyed the tubes or damaged their shotguns through misuse. He suggested since I bought the Stingers used that I have someone who does NDT to xray them for cracks the naked eye could not see before using them. He said you have no idea what the previous owner may have put through them and they could be damaged. He said up to you but I would not use them until they are examined and show no damage. Fortunately I worked with a few NDT crews in my job so they X-rayed them for me.
You may want to ask the manufacturer what ammunition types their adapters are designed to be used with. Last thing you want is a damaged adapter, gun or worse!!
 
buzzmagoo said:
Short shells shoot soft.
Less likely to jam in the chamber ( you have to remove adapter and then pry out the shell or ram it out with a long enough rod.) It gets old pretty quickly.
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That is what I realized .... there is such a variety of 12ga ammo available .... even very low recoil ammo .... like the KENT Elite Low Recoil Training ... a 3/4oz load at 1200fps .... or all those short shells that are on the market right now.

I sold most of those adapters .... and the only one that I kept I have not used in years .....
 
12 gauge AA low recoil, low noise - 1 ounce at 980 fps
A pussycat load that breaks clays just fine.
Cowboy action shooters love them too.
 
trae said:
What's wrong with Chiappa? I'm looking at their M6 survival rifle. Always wanted one.

Back to adapters -- the Briley looks too fancy for me. For the cost I can probably buy another shotgun. Who is the target audience for them?

Leaning towards this: https://www.gunadapters.com/12-gauge-to-20-gauge-scavenger-series/ certainly not expecting amazing accuracy but plinking should be fine.
Click to expand...

Chiappa is known for producing crap. Its a low budget company that uses subpar materials. Their warrenty and service suck. Just search the net for chiappa issues

If you just want to make noise. Intersurplus sells gauge adapters as do many other places such as canada ammo. If you want to use adapters in a 12 ga to shoot other gauges and actually have a functional worth while tool you will be dissappointed with the cheap options. The savage 410ers are likely the cheapest worthwhile adapter. Companion tubes and sidekicks are better and briley full length tubes are best

There are several threads about using rifled and non rifled adapters with rimfire and pistol cartridges. The end result is the novelty wears off quickly and accuracy is a pipe dream
 
From https://www.dinaarms.com/shop I bought the .22LR, 9mm & 44 mag adapters for my Lazer single shot 12 gauge with rifled sights. Seem to work pretty good. Not quite same point of aim but with practise should be able to takeout a rabbit at 15 meters or so. Yes they ship to Canada. Cheap toys. Have fun!
 
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