Subcaliber Adapters
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Load Development Subcaliber Adapters Practical and Fun by Bob Campbell hile it may require some imagination to find Wpractical application for subcaliber adapters, they do not represent a significant investment, This is how the adapter works – remove the base, insert the cartridge, replace the base. and the results are interesting. In- troducing young shooters to center- caliber. In other words, you need a chamber and offer good accuracy. fire shooting is one chore they can .30-06 adapter for the .30-06 and a The pistol cartridge conversions use handle, small game hunting with a .308 for the .308. The base of the cartridges that do not have enough big game rifle is another. adapter is a firing device. It is re- sectional density for accuracy or The subcaliber chamber insert moved to insert a subcaliber round, effect at 100 yards, but to 50 yards consists of an adapter with two such as the .32 ACP or .32 Smith they are great devices for marks- parts. The adapter itself is well ma- & Wesson Long, and each adapter manship practice and even small chined of good material with excel- is also specific to the subcaliber car- game hunting. The .32 ACP, as an lent finish. The adapter resembles a tridge specified. The base contains example, is very accurate when fired cartridge case and is specific to the an inertia firing pin that is struck in the long barrel of a .30-06 rifle. by the rifle’s firing pin. When the The Speer Gold Dot or the Federal Adapters in .22 Short and .22 Magnum for the subcaliber cartridge is inserted, the Hydra Shock hollowpoint bullets .223, the .32 ACP adapter and the .30 Carbine adapter. These adapters were in a storage base is pressed into place, and the expand well and are deadly on small room for over five years and picked up insert is loaded in the same manner game. The .32 Smith & Wesson a little surface rust, but they clean as any other cartridge. An extraction Long insert is my favorite of the up well! These well-made units groove is milled into the bottom two .32s, and this one is particularly are from Alex, Inc. of the adapter in the same place as well suited to use with cast bullet with a standard cartridge to facili- handloads, especially the Magnus tate extraction. Once the cartridge 100-grain semiwadcutter (SWC). in the adapter is fired, the adapter I have also enjoyed good results is extracted in the normal man- ner. A bullet nose serves to press the spent case into the adapter just a bit. This budges the base of the adapter enough to grasp and remove the base from the adapter. I simply shake the spent cartridge from the adapter. Then we start over. This is not a high-speed device, but the adapters are inexpensive enough that you may keep several on hand if your desire is to fire a string instead of a single shot. Due to the construction of the units, they normally have a good tight fit to the These are the adapters, loaded and ready to go. 1 LOAD DEVELOPMENT • Nov-Dec 2012 loaddata.com loads in .32 ACP, velocity is less This is a loaded .32 Smith & Wesson with the rifle than with a pistol. It Long adapter in the is simply true. The reason must be MCA Sports .30-06 that the cartridge isn’t very power- subcaliber adapter. ful and the bullet simply drags going through the barrel. As an example, used in a quality the zippy Fiocchi 71-grain FMJ bolt-action rifle, it bullet exits the Walther PP at about is far more accurate 1,005 fps. From the Enfield .30-06, than we would have 775 fps was realized. A few loads us- believed. Just the ing the slower powder choices meet same, most of my or beat pistol velocity. With the .32 experience revolves Smith & Wesson Long and the vari- around the .32 ACP ous slower-burning powders we saw adapter. I recently enjoyed an out- a modest increase in some loads but ing with my young daughter and never more than 25 fps over the pis- an Enfield .30-06 rifle. This rifle is tol calibers. Again, a bit surprising in excellent condition, although the compared to our experience with the stock was replaced with commer- .22 Long Rifle and .357 Magnum, cial wood at some point in the past. but considering the modest powder Since the collector value was gone, I with handloads using the Hornady charges used, we should not have had set the rifle aside in hopes that 60-grain XTP in both calibers. been surprised. Power isn’t increased one day I would run across an af- This bullet is light enough that but accuracy is. fordable original military issue stock some expansion is realized in the While the pistol calibers are the set. A better solution was realized. pistol calibers. The long barrel of a most economical, I also own a sub- My daughter Bobbie Ann had rifle provides good velocity but, sur- caliber insert in .30 Carbine that expressed an interest in Mossy Oak prisingly, very little velocity, if any, offers much greater velocity than the camouflage tape. The gun safe had over a 4-inch pistol barrel. pistol cartridge adapters and makes not a single rifle I deemed suitable Let’s talk about velocity. I had for a reasonable alternative for use for this project until I remembered quite a surprise with the .32 ACP at longer range. The .30-caliber car- the Enfield. Why not? She did a insert. As a rule, with the standard bine is a fine pest popper, but when good job after we spent some time disassembling and taping the En- field. I was proud that a young girl of 14 found something to admire in a rifle produced by Remington in 1917. This rifle is heavy for a 14-year-old, but it is what we had on hand and while we may end up deploying a lighter rifle in the field, this was a good starting place. Her first shots from a centerfire rifle were fired with the Enfield and the .32 ACP cartridge adapter. There is much to recommend in a young girl born in 1996 who finds a rifle pro- loaddata.com Nov-Dec 2012 • LOAD DEVELOPMENT 2 The cartridge is simply inserted into the hollow back of the adapter, and this works fine since the car- bine round is a longer rifle round. There is a little rubber ring around the shoulder that helps in seating the adapter. I have not used this one as much. The report is greater than when using the pistol calibers but not The Buffalo Bore 75-grain cast bullet load in The MCA Sports Adapter works just fine when .32 APC is a first-class pocket pistol load that fed from the magazine. much greater. Long-range practice to demonstrates excellent performance in the 100 yards is more profitable due to .30-caliber rifle. duced during the time of President the higher velocity of the .30 carbine Wilson useful and interesting. cartridge. The carbine round is out The Hornady 60-grain XTP showed With the .32 ACP subcaliber of the small game category but makes excellent expansion results in a wet- insert, recoil is nonexistent. There is a first-class pest popper. It is simply pack, and the accuracy was good. The no comparison to the gentle push of another interesting alternative. I have 85-grain bullets were okay but not a .22 rimfire or the slight recoil of a not worked up loads specifically for as fast as the 60-grain bullets. The .223 Remington. There is no move- the inserts and the Remington, but 100-grain XTP was no more accurate ment at all when the rifle is fired results were good with loads worked in this case than the 85-grainer. with the .32 ACP insert. Muzzle up for the Inland carbine. I originally envisioned the adapt- report is trivial. Just the same there I have handloaded for .32-caliber ers as providing .32 H&R Magnum is a degree of useful power. The bul- handguns on several occasions, but balli stics or even nipping at let is not dense enough to give good not on a regular basis. I did jump the heels of the .32-20 in an accu- accuracy results at 100 yards, but to with both feet into the .32 Smith & rate rifle with a minimum of effort. 50 yards there is real accuracy. It is Wesson Long a few months ago and I was wrong but this doesn’t mean no problem to hit a gallon milk jug had quite a few cartridges loaded for the combinations are not useful. offhand at 100, and with practice a this caliber. Several combinations in This experiment has been worth- target half that size may be engaged. the .30-06 adapter were tried with in- while on several points. The recre- On occasion, by holding the front teresting conclusions. Handloads us- ational value was there. I also took post several inches over the target, I ing the Magnus 100-grain SWC were a cartridge and tweaked it to better have connected with targets at 100 particularly accurate, and despite the accuracy and velocity, which is yards considerably smaller than a higher velocity in the long barrel, what handloading is all about. I also coyote. There is no ka bang on con- leading was not a problem.