WB
In case I get busy tomorrow morning.
Sunday, December 29, 2019, 22:53

I have always been fascinated with caliber converting inserts. However, other than a .45 Colt to .22 cartridge Denning gave me once I have only had one previous. It was a 20 ga. To .22 RF smoothbore for shooting rat shot. Obvious its limitations were seen quickly and I traded it off. Now they are quite expensive!

I purchased this Chiappa X-caliber rifled shotgun converter. They market a really cobby survival type combo gun that uses the caliber converters. I pass on the combo rig but the converters at $30-40 each seem a value. It is all steel, fully rifled, and 7” long overall. This particular one is a 12 ga. to .44 Magnum. I see about 5-3/4” of rifling ahead of the end of the chamber, the power equivalent of a 7” Contender. An O-ring adds a bit of concentricity and sealing to prevent blowback. It just plops into place and you can pull it out with your pinky. The milled away portion mates to where the extractor of the main 12 bore barrel is located so the breach can be closed. Cartridge extraction is easy and could be done with a fingernail, I used a key.

My old beater shotgun is an old Baikal with no trigger guard. I dropped it once and the cast metal guard shattered. Being a single shot it is less of an issue, I have it on my to-do list. I have filed a groove in the rear for a back sight and on the bobbed 19” barrel a fiber font sight. Firing the short 12 bore off-hand at 25 yds. I struggled with a good sight picture. My shots were about a 5” group a bit high and just to the left. My group got into the box flaps but I can see where they were going. In my pictures later I noted the insert was rotated just a touch counter clockwise too. Since I was shooting .44 specials, 240 gr. SWC at 900 fps the higher hits are workable. Faster loads should hit lower to POA. Since I knew where it was shooting gong hits were simple. Minute of hog for sure and so much fun!

I have a short double 20 and I think a brace of inserts would be very entertaining. For that gauge they are available in .38/.357, 9mm, .45 ACP, and .45C/.410. I have an idea of a pair in 9mm for economy and fun shooting a “double rifle” in spirit. Then again one in .45C/.410 would add some serious versatility. I’m not intending to talk anyone into anything, but I have had fun so far. I think there is some much better accuracy available if you have a rig with some more workable sights. I do think they missed the boat omitting the .327 Federal as an option.