Recommendations for 12 Ga Adapters

[Life During Wartime]

So, I'm trying to find good adapters for my 12 gauge Rock Island Arsenal M5 Pump Shotgun. I am most interested in 20 and 28 gauges and .410 bore. I have seen these online

http://www.gunadapters.com/products/12-gauge-to-20-gauge-Shotgun-adapter.html
http://shotgunadapter.com/

I was thinking of buying the 20 gauge from short lane, but it doesn't say it's for pumps. Will it work? Chambering manually or actually pumping the action?

 

[GarySTL]

I've never used one, but folks who have say they won't work in anything but o/u, sbs, and single shot.

 

[rcmodel]

They will work in a pump, to convert it to a single-shot.

They will not feed and eject through the action like normal shells.

rc

 

[Sam1911]

They will work in a pump, to convert it to a single-shot.

And will likely be quite hard to use without the wide-open access of a break action.

 

[Life During Wartime]

Okay! Great! Thanks for the information. In my time with guns I grew up on single shot BB guns so not a problem at all

One more question has arisen however, can I shoot 3 inch 20 gauge through them. I don't know about the short lanes, but the other website under FAQ says that you can but that it will stick out farther than the adapter when you fire it? I can't imagine how thats possible

 

[Sam1911]

There are different kinds of adapters. Some are roughly the length of a shotgun shell. Some are closer to a foot long. All of them are basically a small chamber and short section of barrel set inside the now rather irrelevant tube of the original barrel.

If the adapter is only the length of the shotgun shell, when it opens the petals of the crimp will be protruding from the front of the adapter. Basically no barrel, not even the forcing cone. When you fire the cartridge the wad and pellets are free to head down the much larger barrel more or less however they like.

The more useful kind of sub-caliber adapters are usually like these: http://soldiersystems.net/2012/11/23/x-caliber-survival-rifle-gauge-adapter-system/ as they at least give you a few inches of real barrel beyond the sub-caliber chamber itself.

The best would be these: http://www.briley.com/subgaugetubesets.aspx which will let a competitive shotgunner use his favorite shotgun with several different gauge shells and get match-quality results.

 

[rcmodel]

Just not in the OP's pump gun.

The barrel would have to be removed to insert it.

And empty's would have to be knocked out with a cleaning rod.

rc

 

[cpileri]

Been there, done that: it will fire, but the part of the hull that extends past the adapter "muzzle" will bell out, making extraction of the hull from the adapter very difficult. It will also blow your powder burn, causing a weakly propelled load.
C-

 

[Life During Wartime]

Oh I get it. For some reason I thought they meant from the back. Good to know, and just to clarify, that works in the SHort Lanes as well?

 

[Sam1911]

Yeah, the ones you lined to are the most basic kind.

Now, as short as they are, they MAY feed right though your pump gun. They'd eject with the shell and you'd have to pick them up out of the gravel and punch out the empty and load a new shell, etc. At least that's how they appear they'd work.

If you stick with only going from 12ga to 20ga, you might still get a decent group. Hard to say. It would be like the entire barrel being a huge open choke, but for $30 you could try it.

I don't see why it would be useful, but if you do try, let us know what patterns you get.

 

[Sam1911]

I think this one's your best bet! http://www.gunadapters.com/12-gauge-to-209-muzzle-loader-adapter/

 

[Life During Wartime]

Haha! I saw those blackpowder ones and I must say I am intrigued

I'll let you know as to how the 20 gauge patterns. Mostly the reason why I want to get it is because where I live, throughout this whole ammo scarcity, 12 gauge has pretty much always been available, though in fairly low quantities. Only this week did I find buckshot that was made in America instead of China. But throughout that whole time, tons of 20 gauge has just been sitting on shelves gathering dust. So, while the scarcity is finally going down, I want to be ready for when/if it happens again

 

[Sam1911]

Considering the bore size issue you MAY find that your 20 ga. shells pattern a whole lot worse than whatever results you got with the Chinese buckshot. You'll have to do a comparison to find out, though.

 

[303tom]

Never used one in a shotgun, I do use em in .308 & .303................

 

[Dirty Bob]

My .410 adapter is a little longer than a fired three inch shell and can be put in my Mossberg 500 (20 ga.) through the ejection port. Removing it requires taking the barrel off, however. Patterns and penetration with .410 buckshot were very good, though I prefer to use it in a single shot. Good product at a good price.

Regards,
Dirty Bob

 

[danez71]

These guys have some that are supposed to work in pump gun.


http://www.gaugemate.com/