[cgwj]

I have heard a lot about ”sleeving" shotgun barrels to a rifle caliber, but I never really had any interest in it, until I found some mechanically sound but ugly H&R Topper single shots for under a hundred each.
The possibilities for custom stuff really are giving me ideas.

Is this something that is done much, what is involved?

I have only the barest idea of how this process works, so any advice is appreciated.

I plan on going a different way. I have the H&R that has the 30-30 barrel on it. I bought one of the cheaper .223 barrels to make my own block to lock it in. The only thing would be needing a rod to knock the spent brass out.

 

[Mr. Sockpuppet]

I've seen plenty of shotgun to shotgun round and shotgun to handgun round caliber conversion sleeves, but only a few shotgun to rifle round caliber conversion sleeves, and even those were in smaller rifle calibers.

 

[hiwall1]

I had an old Stevens SS action in my junk pile. So I took an extra 22 barrel I had here and made a sleeve so the small barrel would fit the action. Worked out pretty well and is as accurate as any other common 22. I had to make the stock and forearm also. Instead of making sights I just put a scope base on the barrel and added a cheap scope.

The main problem with inserts is you still have no sights, just the front bead. Never going to get consistent accuracy without sights.

 

[Wulfthang]

I knew a kid back in high school in the early 70's, whose Dad was a Air Force Colonel. Back then, we hunted deer on the A/F Base reservation. It was shotgun only and they meant it! No center fire, no pistols, no rimfire. They would inspect and if found with anything other than a shotgun, you'd loose the gun and your car and the A/P's would leave you standing by the trail miles from nowhere. (No, not me. An idiot I knew)

His Dad the Colonel was a Lifer and loved to hunt so he had a custom shotgun built by some company "out West". It was officially a .double barreled .410 shotgun and was marked so on the barrels. It would shoot .410 shotgun rounds just fine too. However, the barrels were rifled and it had a scope 'smithed on between the barrels. The receiver was a custom thing machined by them. All of that was legal per the base rules. So were the custom loads that he got for it, also from the "company out West". He was hunting with a double barreled high powered .45 caliber rifle. It was very accurate out to way longer distances than normal rifled slug range and his deer never took more than a couple of steps.

 

[Sneeky]

Don’t make life harder than it already is. Use as shotgun to fire shotgun loads. There are tons to choose from, find some that do what you want done or else get a rifle.

 

[hatchet jack]

John did .38 Special +P, .44-40, and .45 Colt for me.

I remember you saying that. As long as you have the SB-2 receiver you should be good to go. And IIRC the SB-2 has a proper firing pin for centerfire rounds. Before I went crazy in a sleeved barrel I would look at gunadapter.com and get the longer sized rifled inserts. Try at least one and see how it works for you. After you sleeve a barrel you aren't done. There is still the matter of having better sights installed. These videos show the shooters getting pretty good accuracy out to 50 yards with rifle sights. I am on the "notify me" list for a 38 or 357 adapter.

 

[hatchet jack]

And one more brand of barrel inserts from Chaszel. Optics added for sights. I have been on their Notify Me list for over a year for a 357 insert.

 

[Outpost75]

Mine is the WW1 era H&R small frame .44/.410 Garden Gun, originally with 2-inch chamber. John rechambered the shotgun barrel to take modern 3" .410 shells. Shotgun barrel is now 20" long with cylinder bore .425" because when I was a kid I stupidly burst the muzzle shooting .44-40 softpoint jacketed rounds in it, which didn't make it through the full choke, so last 6 inches got cut off and front sight bead remounted.

The short barrel cylinder bore .410 is far more useful in the woods, using either shot or ball and shoots skeet patterns. Game Getter ball loads in .44-40 brass with .425 soft lead ball and 6 grains of Bullseye get 1000 fps and will stay in black of a B8 repair center at 25 yards just looking down the barrel. Normal .44-40 cowboy loads with bulleted ammo shoot wild in the smoothbore barrel and won't stay on the target paper.

I found a Marlin 1894 .44-40 barrel on Numrich. John cut the threads off that, set back, made and fitted underlug and ejector. Chamber is not to SAAMI, but to old school black powder dimensions which John uses to restore 1873 Winchesters when relining. Shoots 2-inch 50 yard groups with Accurate 43-215C 215-grain soft lead .430" bullet with 6 grains of Bullseye, for 1080 fps. Same load in a 5-1/2" revolver gets 880 fps. Decent woods deer gun within 50 yards. The .44-40 single shot finished with a 19" barrel weighs 4 pounds, only 34 inches overall. Great backpack gun. My .38 Special and .45 Colt barrels were fabricated from Green Mountain 20-inch "gunsmith special" blanks. Overall very satisfied with John's work.

The .38 Special barrel shoots well with .38/44 Heavy Duty loads I use in my Colt New Service and give 1200 fps in a 20-inch rifle with 173 grain Keith bullet and 14 grains of 4227, vs. 1050 fps in the 5-inch New Service Colt. In .45 Colt 7 grains of Bullseye with 255 grain #454424 gets 1050 fps in the single shot rifle, vs..900 fps in 5-1/2" Colt revolver. All good woods loads.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

H&R / NEF single shot shotguns have cast iron receivers, they can be used for some low pressure handgun rounds, but firing rifle rounds in a cast iron receiver that close to your head would be unwise.
The H&R / NEF Handi Rifles have steel receivers to handle the higher pressure.
For all the information you need, the H&R section of www.marlinowners.com is where you need to be. Those guys know their stuff, and there’s a classified section as well.

 

[DisgruntledPatriot]

What about the Stoeger coach gun? They are currently manufactured, almost certainly they have steel receivers. Sleeving a 20 gauge coach to 45-70 would be pretty cool. Expensive, but cool.

I was actually thinking about green mountain for the blanks myself.

 

[rhansen]

I have one of the Chaszel adapters (11" 12 ga to 40 s&w), only have around 100 rounds through it so far. Using 3 dot vent rib sights on paper at 40 yards I was able to get around 2 moa, at 70 yards it was more like 8 moa. Someone with better eyes and/or optics may keep better groups...

 

[DisgruntledPatriot]

This whole thing started because I was on Gunbroker and saw an H&R model 6, a "bay state" single 12, and an H&R model 158 topper, for $36, $50, and $62 respectively.

The second two are WELL within my abilities to bring back from the dead and beautify. The model 6 I know nothing about.
Now, if that gorgeous case-hardening that H&R was known for was still there, I would try to restore. These last two are ugly bordering on FUGLY.
I bring guns back from the dead to spit in the democrat's eyes.

And it's fun.

 

[hatchet jack]

The short barrel cylinder bore .410 is far more useful in the woods, using either shot or ball and shoots skeet patterns. Game Getter ball loads in .44-40 brass with .425 soft lead ball and 6 grains of Bullseye get 1000 fps and will stay in black of a B8 repair center at 25 yards just looking down the barrel. Normal .44-40 cowboy loads with bulleted ammo shoot wild in the smoothbore barrel and won't stay on the target paper.

Pictures of the gun would be nice. I bought a 410 on a whim a few years ago and fell in love with the round. I made my own home made reloader for the shells and have several loads and one of my favorites is a 3 ball load with three .395 balls loaded in the shell. They go through the full choke with just a little bit of a push and keep a tight group out to 20 yards. Thats the farthest I have tested them for group. I now have two H&R/NEF 410 single shots and a Mossberg with the screw on choke tubes. Remove the tubes and you have a cylinder bore barrel. I got it cheap because bolt action shotguns are the least sought after guns. I like them.

 

[pinkerpv]

When we were bored during REFORGER, we would take 5.56 blanks and wrap them with 100mph tape until they fit in the chamber of the 1911. Then we would take a 1911 cleaning rod (with the big loop on the end) and launch it like it was a mortar. It would go about 30 feet. We would see who could get the best hit inside a circle in the dirt.

cool idea. 3rd Cav?

 

[Cigars]

cool idea. 3rd Cav?

Lol. 1st Squadron/2nd ACR.

 

[pinkerpv]

I was 3 Cav on Reforger 83. 43 Engr

 

[chuk101]

And one more brand of barrel inserts from Chaszel. Optics added for sights. I have been on their Notify Me list for over a year for a 357 insert.

Chaszel currently on ebay, just saw 45 acp n LC from 12ga there

 

[charliemeyer007]

I did 2 Reforger's. I supported 2nd ACR and many others. 34th Sig Btn "We Communicate" 7th core direct support

 

[hatchet jack]

Chaszel currently on ebay, just saw 45 acp n LC from 12ga there

Thanks. I never thought to look there for inserts. Here is a page with 45-70, 22 and 380 along with 45 colt inserts. No 357 or 38 special. I will keep looking though. That 410 to 380 is really tempting.

chaszel inserts for sale | eBay

Get the best deals for chaszel inserts at eBay.com. We have a great online selection at the lowest prices with Fast & Free shipping on many items!

www.ebay.com

 

[GKII]

What about the Stoeger coach gun? They are currently manufactured, almost certainly they have steel receivers. Sleeving a 20 gauge coach to 45-70 would be pretty cool. Expensive, but cool.

I was actually thinking about green mountain for the blanks myself.

I think you will have a problem sighting it in, I believe the bbls on a double are NOT parallel to each other. So the would be one distance and just one where both bbls would impact. I could be wrong though.