Other caliber chamber inserts, any ideas?

[RJW NZ]

I see one of our regular and favorite ebay enfield sellers has for sale this week chamber inserts that allow one to shoot 32 acp/32 H&R mag/32 S&W and also 25 Tokarev. Any idea where these come from and if they come in other calibers like 7.63x39, which is one of the cheapest ammos here in NZ?

303 British to 32 adapter | eBay

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[vintage hunter]

I see them advertized in magazines and catalogues here in the U.S. but don't know if they're made here or where everything else is made now a days,China. Only calibers I've heard of are the ones you've listed.

[Thunderbox]

I think 7.62x39 is too big at the shoulder to leave enough metal on a .303 sub-cal device.

In UK these devices are classed as a Section1 firearm, and require to be proofed.....

[Peter Laidler]

What about .30 carbine?

[vintage hunter]

Anybody have any firsthand experience with them, especially the 7.62x25 caliber? I've taken some measurements of .303 and 7.62x25 cases and asuming the inserts are made to the dimentions of an unfired .303 case the wall thickness is only .037''. With the 7.62x25 being a fairly high pressure cartridge, if not properly heat treated it seems possibly for the insert to become bulged in the chamber area within a short period of time rendering them useless. Any thoughts?

[Rumpelhardt]

No first hand experience but I did read that accuracy left a lot to be desired. It was a while ago and I can't remember which board I read it on or the adapter used but I gathered that they were not happy with the results.

[Thunderbox]

Anybody have any firsthand experience with them, especially the 7.62x25 caliber? I've taken some measurements of .303 and 7.62x25 cases and asuming the inserts are made to the dimentions of an unfired .303 case the wall thickness is only .037''. With the 7.62x25 being a fairly high pressure cartridge, if not properly heat treated it seems possibly for the insert to become bulged in the chamber area within a short period of time rendering them useless. Any thoughts?

I've got one of the .32ACP versions, but haven't used it yet. When i do. I'll be using a target good for about 500 MOA.......

Presumably the case, being steel, will either spring back to shape after forming to the chamber wall during firing, or it will adopt a smaller bulge than would be the case will malleable brass.

[vintage hunter]

Peter, there are some adapters made that use the .30 carbine round but the ones I've seen were for .30-06 or .308/7.62 NATO. I always figured accuracy would be lousy, way too much free bore for such short bullets.

[RCS]

I bought one for 30-06 and 303 British that will use 32 S&W short or 32 ACP. The insert is steel but not that hard, you can remove some steel from the base should the insert be too long for your chamber. I used the 32 ACP in a Mark 1***, COND II* and a BSA Mark III (1909). All these rifles were shot at around 20 or 25 feet from a rest. Interesting is that they all made a four shot group with the bullet holes all overlapping and the fifth shot just outside the group. Still around a half inch group for five rounds.
You could get a chamber reamer and rechamber the insert to 32 S&W long or even 32-20 Winchester. The 32 ACP with the jacket bullet appears to shoot better than the lead bullet in the 32 S&W.Attachment 23035 Photo shows the 303 cal insert

[Bruce_in_Oz]

The 32 ACP with the jacket bullet appears to shoot better than the lead bullet in the 32 S&W.

The 1:10" twist may have something to do with that.

The little .32 (.312") bullet is quite short and will stabilise in a fairly slow twist. The lead bullet may be stripping in the rifling.

Check for lead fouling if you are using unjacketed projectiles. If you get a bit of a build-up, the next .303 jacketed round will scoop it up and leave a nasty ring in your bore towards the muzzle.

I learned this lesson from expensive personal experience with mixing cast and jacketed ammo in my youth.