Found reference to these on the net, insert in a variety of calibers that can be used in a break action shotgun. I've exchanged several emails with the owner, but he answers in single syllables. He didn't answer how fired cases are extracted. Does some do-hickey engage from the shotgun extractor or do you push out the fired cases with a rod? Interesting concept to make a single shot shotgun into a rifle.
"Adaptors" are normally inserted/extracted for each shot. To do that, the gun's ejectors or extractors either flip them out or raise them just as they would the shells for which the gun was orgiginally made. The sub-caliber cases of the cartridges used in them are then removed with a rod after the adaptor is out of the gun.
"Inserts" usually either have their own extractors, or are slotted so the ejector of the gun itself will function to extract the fired subcaliber case(s). Either way inserts are not normally removed from the gun between each shot.
In reviewing his web site, it appears that his adaptors and inserts work the same ways... (meanng his adaptors are removed after each shot, but his inserts stay in the barrel after each shot).
My country gal's just a moonshiner's daughter, but I love her still.
Posts: 9685 | Location: Cave Creek 85331, USA | Registered: 17 August 2001
Yes it would be a pain to remove the inserts between each shot. But, if you check my post again, the "inserts" are not intended to be removed between each shot.
It is the "adaptors" which are removed between each shot. Their outside dimensions are identical to those of the original cartridges for which your gun is chambered, so your gun will eject or extract them just like it does the regular cartridges for which it is made.
He makes and sells both adaptors and inserts, so you have to choose which you want. The adaptors are for occasional use, which is why they are removed after each shot. The inserts are for regular (continuous) use, which is why they are designed to NOT be removed after each shot.
My country gal's just a moonshiner's daughter, but I love her still.
Posts: 9685 | Location: Cave Creek 85331, USA | Registered: 17 August 2001
I've got two MCA products. The 6 inch 22 lr insert barrel for my 44 magnum Contender barrel works okay and is reasonably accurate. I flick the cases out with the tip of a pocketknife blade. IIRC it was made by Harry Owen, the original owner. I have what's left of a 22 lr in 22 Hornet cartridge adapter for a Contender Carbine barrel that worked for an inaccurate shot or two then gave up the ghost - the rimfire case is jammed fast. The MCA website describe it as steel but it looks like a brass Hornet case that has been drilled through then blacked. Mine is close to decade old so maybe they've updated their manufacturng process. Never got around to asking them to replace it; so many guns, so little time.
OK, I think I'm getting it. The inserts don't have a mechanism that engages the existing extractor; the cases are manually pried out after firing. Anybody used one in a break action shotgun? Bob
In addition to the MCA jobs in the Contender I've used barrel inserts in break action shotguns. The Savage Four-tenners (in 12 and 20 ga) have their own ejector which is activated by the gun's ejector. I once had a 22 in 12 ga insert barrel (made by the same outfit that used to make the soda bottle suppressor muzzle adapters). The 10 inch barrel was offset so the centerfire firing pin would strike the rimfire correctly. Wasn't much a fella could do with such a set-up in a single-shot with only a front bead so I let it go in a trade. Like the MCA units it used a knife blade for an extractor.
