right|thumb|300px|A 32 ACP FMJ cartridge, a 32 ACP FMJ cartridge in a blued .303 British supplemental chamber, and a .303 British  FMJ cartridge (left to right)

A caliber conversion sleeve or adapter sleeve is a device which can be used to non-permanently alter a firearm to allow it to fire a different cartridge than the one it was originally designed to fire. The different cartridge must be smaller in some dimensions than the original design cartridge. Alternative names sometimes imply the type of dimensional difference. A chamber insert may be used for a shorter cartridge of similar base diameter. A supplemental chamber or cartridge adapter is typically used for a shorter cartridge of reduced diameter. A cartridge conversion sleeve may include a short barrel of reduced bore diameter. Shotgun conversion sleeves may be called subgauge inserts, subgauge tubes, or gauge reducers. Sleeves intended for rifle or handgun cartridges may have rifled barrels. Additional variations may allow centerfire weapons to fire rimfire ammunition and/or retain autoloading function with the smaller cartridge.

Altering cartridge length
The simplest conversion is one that alters the length of the cartridge used, allowing a shorter but otherwise similarly dimensioned cartridge to be fired. Commonly called chamber inserts, these conversions resemble the front of the case, and are inserted into the firearm by placing over the new cartridge and inserting both into the chamber of the firearm. This seats the chamber insert into the front of the chamber, where it remains after firing. Once inserted, the chamber insert will remain in place until removed with the use of a stuck case remover. The most commonly encountered chamber inserts are ones designed to convert .30-06 Springfield to the shorter 7.62×51mm NATO. Since the chamber insert remains in the chamber, this type of conversion will function in semi-automatic firearms, and is commonly used in military surplus arms such as the M1 Garand, allowing the use of often less expensive surplus military ammunition.

Altering the cartridge diameter
The next level in complexity involves altering the diameter of the cartridge used, typically allowing a short, straight walled handgun cartridge to be used in a rifle.  These are often called supplemental chambers or cartridge adapters, and the entire supplemental chamber is treated like a cartridge, being loaded and ejected as a unit with the smaller cartridge.  Since the barrel of the firearm is used, the caliber of the cartridges must match.  The most commonly encountered supplemental chambers are for .30 caliber rifles designed for  diameter bullets, to use .32 caliber handgun cartridges with bullet diameters of approximately . Cartridge adapters have also been made to use .38 caliber handgun cartridges with bullet diameters of approximately  in .35 caliber rifles designed for bullets of  diameter.

Supplemental chambers in .22 caliber, and potentially .17 caliber as well, pose a special problem not shared by larger calibers.  Rimfire cartridges, with their low cost, noise, and recoil, are ideal for use in a supplemental chamber, except for the fact that the firearm in question is almost certainly a centerfire design.  This means that supplemental chambers that use a rimfire cartridge must also provide a special offset firing pin.  This is a metal insert that fits behind the rimfire cartridge, and has an appropriate projection to act as a firing pin.  When this insert is hit by the firearm's firing pin, it is pushed forwards, which causes it to crush the rim of the rimfire cartridge, igniting it.  Use of the centerfire to rimfire conversion requires a longer case, and so is not suitable for short cartridges such as .22 Hornet.  A notable exception to this is the Thompson Center Arms Contender, which has both centerfire and rimfire firing pins which can be selected with the turn of a switch, and does not require a centerfire to rimfire converter.  The Hammond Game Getter works around this problem in its sleeves for .22 rimfire by creating an eccentric chamber that places the rim of the .22 cartridge in the center of the original chamber, thus allowing the firing pin to strike it directly.

Since the supplemental chambers are approximately the size of a normal loaded cartridge, they will usually feed from a magazine, though they will not provide sufficient energy to cycle an automatic action.

Altering the caliber
The most complete transformation is offered by the caliber conversion sleeve.  These include not only a new chamber, but a new barrel as well, allowing a smaller diameter bullet to be fired.  These sleeves may be significantly longer than a loaded cartridge, if the length of the parent cartridge is not sufficient to provide the desired performance.  Unlike the other types of cartridge conversions, this type incorporates rifling to stabilize the bullet; the other types rely on the rifling in the firearm's barrel.

Chamber length sleeves
Chamber length sleeves are restricted cases where a short cartridge is used with a long parent cartridge.  The sleeve is rifled up to the end of the sleeve.  Since most cartridge cases are only a couple of inches long (about 5 cm) this provides limited power.  On the other hand, these will function from magazines in the same way as supplemental chambers, and allow the use of the least expensive rimfire ammunition in firearms chambered in calibers larger than .22 (5.56 mm).

Greater than chamber length sleeves
Sleeves that exceed the chamber length are generally used in break open actions, which allow easy insertion and removal.  Like supplemental chambers, caliber conversion sleeves completely surround the new cartridge case, but cannot be ejected or fed from a magazine, so they only offer a single shot per barrel without manual extraction and reloading.

The calibers supported by caliber conversion sleeves are limited by the difference between the calibers.  The sleeve's barrel must be thick enough to provide structural integrity to the barrel, and so requires a large enough internal barrel diameter to hold the new barrel.  One manufacturer has a .40 caliber (10 mm) minimum diameter for these inserts in .22 rimfire caliber.

Some manufacturers offer caliber conversion sleeves for shotguns, which convert a shotgun into a rifle with the use of a rifled barrel.

Shotguns
Inserts for shotguns are called subgauge inserts, and function in much the same manner as inserts for handguns or rifles.  However, due to the nature of shotguns, the implications of using an insert differ.

Since shotgun shells are all straight walled, a change in chambering means a change in diameter of the shell.  However, since subgauge inserts are designed to be used with shot, not slugs, the shotgun's barrel can continue to be used, with little or no impact on patterning.  Many makers offer longer inserts, though due to the variations in shotgun bore diameters, these usually require custom manufacture.

Rifled inserts are also available, to allow the use of handgun cartridges or relatively low-power rifle cartridges such as the 12 gauge X Caliber adapter sleeves.

Automatic firearm conversions
Conversions for automatic firearms are often more complex than those for single shot or manual repeaters, as the difference in power available to the operating mechanism can be significant.  There are a number of makers of cartridge conversions that convert various centerfire firearms to .22 Long Rifle, operating both as cartridge conversions and caliber conversions.

These conversions typically convert the firearm from gas operation or recoil operation to a simple blowback operation.  This typically involves replacing the firearm's bolt or slide with a lightweight part lacking the locking mechanism, and a reduced power spring.  The magazine must also be replaced, and in the case of caliber conversions, often the barrel as well.  Conversions for short recoil pistols, such as the M1911, Glock, and Beretta 92 consist of a new upper assembly and magazine.  Conversions for .22 caliber centerfire rifles and carbines such as the AR-15 and Mini-14 consist of a magazine and an insert that replaces the bolt and includes a cartridge conversion insert that goes into the chamber.  Conversions for rifles and carbines of larger caliber, such as the AK-47 or Thompson submachine gun include a rifled insert barrel extending beyond the length of the chamber.

One exception to the use of a special lightweight bolt was the Colt Service Ace, offered as a complete pistol or as a conversion kit for the M1911.  While still nominally a blowback conversion, the Service Ace used a special "floating" chamber in the barrel that acted like a gas operated firearm's piston, helping push the bolt back with more force than a typical .22 Long Rifle blowback action.  This additional force allowed the small .22 Long Rifle cartridge to cycle a standard weight slide, which made the pistol handle more like the standard .45 ACP version.

One interesting cartridge conversion was the Pedersen device, which was designed to convert the bolt action Springfield 1903 Mark I into a 40 shot blowback semi-automatic firearm chambering a lengthened version of the .32 ACP cartridge.  The 1903 Mark I differed from the standard rifle in that it had a slot cut in one side of the receiver, which served as an ejection port for the Pedersen device.  The Pedersen device replaced the bolt of the 1903, and loaded from a magazine inserted from the top right of the receiver.  Intended as a "secret weapon", the device was not ready for issue before the end of World War I, and it was eventually declared obsolete without being issued, and all but a handful of the devices were destroyed by the military.

Uses
In addition to often being less expensive than the larger cartridge, the smaller cartridges offer much reduced recoil and muzzle blast.  Potential utility for short range target practice or killing small pests is limited by significantly reduced accuracy of handgun bullets encountering faster rifling twist after gaining velocity in the long jump through the unrifled adapter.  Low-powered ammunition, such as the .22 LR, allows the use of indoor ranges or outdoor ranges with smaller downrange impact areas.  This can make it possible to conduct training in places where live firing would not be possible (for safety or regulatory reasons) if firing the original full-power ammunition.

With shotguns, the smaller shot load carried by a smaller shell increases the challenge of hitting targets, and therefore can be used as a handicap for a skilled shooter, or to increase difficulty when training.

Some European conversions exist for special gallery cartridges, similar in concept to the .22 CB rounds, which use a primer but no gunpowder.  These adapters were chambered for centerfire versions of these tiny rounds, such as the 4mm 4mm Übungsmunition cartridge.  Gallery cartridges such as these were intended for use in indoor target practice, and are similar in power and report to an airgun.

An episode of the television series ColumboTelevision episode "Double Exposure" of "Columbo" series. Season 3, Episode 4, originally aired December 16, 1973. featured a "calibration converter," as it was called in the show.  The killer had a large handgun collection in his office but none of them matched the .22 caliber of the bullet he used to kill the victim and Columbo had to figure out what happened to the gun the killer used to commit the crime.

References

External links
 MC Ace caliber adapters
 Hammond Game Getter
 Short Lane

Category:Pistol and rifle cartridges

The most commonly encountered chamber inserts are ones designed to convert .30 - 06 Springfield to the shorter 7.62×51 mm NATO .

Since the chamber insert remains in the chamber , this type of conversion will function in semi - automatic firearms , and is commonly used in military surplus arms such as the M1 Garand , allowing the use of often less expensive surplus military ammunition .

Back in the June 2002 issue of Shooting Times I submitted a report on the Springfield M1 Garands. These rifles were based on newly manufactured receivers using original U.S. government specifications. Also newly manufactured were the barrels and stocks. The remaining internal parts were leftover originals from the various original suppliers of M1 Garand rifles such as Winchester, Springfield Armory, International Harvester, and Harrington & Richardson. I reported in that article that these M1 Garands were to be a special run of 10,000.
In the fall of 2002 I attended a seminar put on by Springfield Inc. where I learned many new facts. Two of which are of special interest to M1 Garand fans. First, the .30-06 version of newly manufactured M1 Garands has been so well received that Springfield Inc. is going to continue it as a catalog item. Second, the M1 Garand variation in .308 Winchester caliber is now a reality. During the seminar I was able to fire a sample M1 .308 at steel targets, and I requested that same rifle be sent to my home for more extensive shooting.
The History Of The M1 Garand Before getting into those results, perhaps it would be appropriate to backtrack a little and give some M1 Garand history. The M1 Garand was designed by John C. Garand, a Canadian-born employee of the U.S. government's Springfield Armory. His rifle was officially adopted by the U.S. Army in 1936, but because of monetary restrictions caused by the Great Depression it was not produced in significant numbers until 1941. For example, I own an original M1 Garand made by Springfield Armory in the 16,000 serial number range, and research shows it was produced in 1939. Some M1 Garands did see combat usage early in World War II, and favorable reports on them were sent from the Philippines in the fighting done there early in 1942.
During World War II M1 Garands were produced only by Springfield Armory and Winchester. Between the two facilities more than four million rifles were made. When the Korean conflict began in 1950, M1 Garand production was again initiated by Springfield Armory, and contracts were let to both International Harvester and Harrington & Richardson. The two privately owned firms ceased M1 production in 1955, and the Springfield Armory did likewise in 1957. Altogether between 1936 and 1957 over 5.5 million M1 Garands were made.
Something common to all those millions of rifles was the chambering of the venerable .30-06 cartridge. When the military adopted the M14 rifle in 1957, it was merely a modernized version of the M1 Garand. However, its cartridge was the 7.62 NATO round, which is interchangeable with the .308 Winchester. Introduced to the American public as early as 1952, the .308 Winchester is essentially a shortened version of the .30-06 using the exact same case head dimension and bullet diameter but in a cartridge case 2.015 inches long as opposed to 2.494 inches for the older .30-06. Therefore, there was no reason the .308 Winchester round could not be adapted to the M1 Garand's mechanism. The U.S. Navy did convert some M1 Garands to 7.62 NATO caliber by means of a chamber insert, but my understanding was that this conversion met with indifferent success because the inserts sometimes came loose.
The .308 Winchester cartridge (L) is almost one-half inch shorter than the .30-06 round, which the M1 Garand was originally designed for. However, the .308 still functions perfectly
from regular M1 Garand en-bloc loaders.
Brand-New M1 Garands The new Springfield Inc. M1 Garands in .308 Winchester certainly don't suffer from this problem because their barrels are made brand new and chambered as .308s.
Except for the chambering the new M1 Garands are dead ringers for original military rifles. Barrel length is 24 inches, and the oil-finished walnut stock's length of pull is 13 inches. All metal parts are given a Parkerized finish. The buttplate is checkered steel with a hinged door into which cleaning supplies can be stored. Sights on M1 Garands are perhaps the best ever put on an issue battle rifle. The front is a simple post .066 inch wide protected by two steel wings on each side. The rear peep sight is fully adjustable for windage and elevation. Knurled rotating knobs are click adjustable in one minute of angle increments; the one on the right side changes windage and the one on the left changes elevation. Clockwise movement on the windage knob moves the sight to the right, clockwise movement on the elevation knob moves the rear sight down.
An M1 Garand's safety is also one of the simplest ever put on a rifle. It consists of a tab in the front of the trigger guard. When the tab is pushed rearwards into the trigger guard the rifle is on "Safe." When it is pushed forwards out of the trigger guard the rifle is ready to fire. Like most military rifles, the M1 Garand comes with a two-stage trigger. There is about 1/8 inch of travel to the trigger before it begins its actual pull. My trigger pull scale measured this sample M1's pull, after the free travel, at 5.5 pounds.
SPECS
Springfield M1 Garand .308 Winchester Semiautomatic Rifle
Manufacturer: Springfield Model: M1 Garand Operation: Gas-operated autoloader Caliber: .308 Winchester; .30-06 also available Barrel length: 24 inches Overall length: 43.6 inches Length of pull: 13 inches Weight, empty: 9.5 pounds Safety: Two position Sights: Click adjustable rear; post front Stock: American walnut Rifling: 6 grooves, 1:11 RH twist Finish: Parkerized steel; oil-finished wood Price: $1061
All M1 Garands load by means of an en-bloc loader. Military ones hold eight cartridges, and the same ones that work for .30-06 also do so for these new .308s. It should be noted that in some locales autoloading rifles are limited to five rounds if used for hunting. Creedmoor Sports (Dept. ST, P.O. Box 1040, Oceanside, CA 92051; 800-273-3366; www.creedmoorsports.com) markets en-bloc loaders for M1 Garands that hold two and five rounds.
I got some surprising results with the various test loads. In a recent project with one of Springfield's M1A match-grade rifles, the very best groups came with competition-grade .308 Winchester factory loads carrying 168-grain bullets. Those same loads gave indifferent groups from this rifle while factory loads carrying lighter 147- to 150-grain bullets gave much better accuracy. The charts show the exact particulars, but this incident is a good example of why you should try a variety of ammunition in any given rifle. If I had judged this rifle's accuracy only by those 168-grain factory loads I would have been disappointed.
Shooting the .308 Winchester version of the M1 Garand was a pleasure. The gas-operating system of this rifle tones down recoil considerably, and this .308 was a real pussycat. Through the firing of well over 150 rounds at my benchrest in group shooting and steel target plinking afterwards, there was nary a hitch. I even tested the sights by moving the groups about on a large paper target, and the group centers followed the changes made in the sights perfectly.
For shooters who would like to combine interest in a finely made historical rifle with the popularity of the .308 Winchester cartridge, Springfield Inc. now offers that option.
[FEATURED TITLE]
North American Whitetall
North American Whitetail is designed for the serious trophy hunter. It provides authoritative coverage of world-class whitetails, the latest approaches to deer management and advanced hunting techniques.

Question: what does the.30-06 springfield chamber insert convert to

Answer: 7.62×51mm NATO

what does the.30-06 springfield chamber insert convert to

Question: what is an example of a military surplus gun

Answer: M1 Garand

what is an example of a military surplus gun

Question: where can chamber inserts be used

Answer: semi-automatic firearms

Question: where is the m1 garand commonly used

Answer: military surplus arms

Question: what part of the gun is used to convert the.30-06 springfield to

Answer: chamber inserts

what part of the gun is used to convert the.30-06 springfield to

Question: what is the m1 garand used for

Answer: less expensive surplus military ammunition

Question: why is this type of conversion used in semi-automatic firearms

Answer: Since the chamber insert remains in the chamber

why is this type of conversion used in semi-automatic firearms

A notable exception to this is the Thompson Center Arms Contender , which has both centerfire and rimfire firing pins which can be selected with the turn of a switch , and does not require a centerfire to rimfire converter .

The Hammond Game Getter works around this problem in its sleeves for .22 rimfire by creating an eccentric chamber that places the rim of the .22 cartridge in the center of the original chamber , thus allowing the firing pin to strike it directly .

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Question: what gunsmith has both centerfire and rimfire firing pins

Answer: Thompson Center Arms Contender

what gunsmith has both centerfire and rimfire firing pins

Question: what system works around the rimfire problem in.22 rimfire

Answer: Hammond Game Getter

what system works around the rimfire problem in.22 rimfire

Question: what is an example of a game that works around the rimfire problem

Answer: The Hammond Game Getter

Question: what does the hammond game getter create that places the rim of the.22

Answer: eccentric chamber

Question: how are centerfire and rimfire firing pins selected

Answer: the turn of a switch

how are centerfire and rimfire firing pins selected

Question: what type of chamber does the hammond game getter create

Answer: eccentric

what type of chamber does the hammond game getter create

Question: which rifle has both centerfire and rimfire firing pins

Answer: the Thompson Center Arms Contender

which rifle has both centerfire and rimfire firing pins

Some manufacturers offer caliber conversion sleeves for shotguns , which convert a shotgun into a rifle with the use of a rifled barrel .

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TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Our insert barrels have a standard length of 10 inches and are
$95.00 each. This is an excellent length for many calibers, particularly the
22LR, 22 Mag, 32ACP, 38 Special, 45 ACP and 45 Long Colt. Pistol barrel lengths in these
calibers are often less than 10", yet they still achieve excellent results and great
hitting power. Six inch shotgun inserts shoot better than pistols of the same length.
Longer insert barrels are available in all calibers. While more
costly, they have several advantages. The longer barrels develop more velocity and hit
harder, while reducing the noise of the shot. The 32ACP, 38 Special, 45 ACP and 45 Long
Colt are surprisingly quiet in the longer barrels. The extra length is particularly useful
in calibers such as the 45-70. The use of the 45-70 inserts makes an effective double
rifle or combination gun at a very reasonable price.
All of our inserts can be removed in seconds to reconvert to a
double shotgun.
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INSERTS FOR 410
SHOTGUNS ARE AVAILABLE IN:
|22 LR
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22 Mag
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22 Hornet
|218 Bee
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22
LR and 22 Mag require rimfire to centerfire plug.
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|INSERTS FOR 20 GAUGE
SHOTGUNS ARE AVAILABLE IN:
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|22 LR
||22 Mag
||22 Hornet
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|218 Bee
||32-20
||32 ACP
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|32 H & R
||32 S & W
||30 Luger
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|30 Mauser
||380 ACP
||9 mm Luger
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|30-30 Win
||45-ACP
||38 Special
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||30-40 Krag
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22
LR and 22 Mag require rimfire to centerfire plug.
|INSERTS FOR 12 and 16
GAUGE SHOTGUNS ARE AVAILABLE IN:
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|22 LR
||22 Mag
||22 Hornet
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|218 Bee
||32-20
||32 ACP
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|32 H & R
||32 S & W
||30 Luger
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|30 Mauser
||380 ACP
||9 mm Luger
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|38 Special
||44 Special
||45 ACP
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|45 Long Colt
||45-70
||410 Shotgun
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|30-30 Win
||38-55
||30-40 Krag
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|7.62x39 (US made Ammo
only!)
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22 LR and 22 Mag require rimfire to centerfire plug.
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|PRICES
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For 2 3/4"
length
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$35.00 plus $3.00 S
& H
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For 10" length
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$95.00 plus $6.00 S
& H
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For 18" length
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$150.00 plus $8.00 S
& H
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Each
insert is custom made. Please allow 8-12 weeks for delivery.
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|To order E-Mail us!
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You can also order by calling or writing us at:
MCA Sports/Ace Bullet Company
2800 West 33rd Road
Anchorage, Alaska 99517-2201
(907) 248-4913
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HOME ABOUT US
ADAPTERS RIFLE INSERTS BULLETS
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Question: what are caliber conversion sleeves used for

Answer: shotguns

what are caliber conversion sleeves used for

Question: what do some manufacturers offer for shotguns

Answer: caliber conversion sleeves

what do some manufacturers offer for shotguns

Question: caliber conversion sleeves convert a shotgun into a rifle using what

Answer: rifled barrel

Question: what do caliber conversion sleeves use to convert a shotgun into a rifle

Answer: a rifled barrel

Question: what do caliber conversion sleeves convert a shotgun into

Answer: a rifle

what do caliber conversion sleeves convert a shotgun into

Question: what do caliber conversion sleeves convert into

Answer: a shotgun

what do caliber conversion sleeves convert into

Question: what does caliber conversion sleeves do

Answer: convert a shotgun

Conversions for short recoil pistols , such as the M1911 , Glock , and Beretta 92 consist of a new upper assembly and magazine .

Conversions for .22 caliber centerfire rifles and carbines such as the AR-15 and Mini-14 consist of a magazine and an insert that replaces the bolt and includes a cartridge conversion insert that goes into the chamber .

This website is current as of the dated noted at the bottom of this page.
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Official charges were never brought because the accusation was BASELESS!
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Order ONLY.
As of 3-1-2022 regardless of what the order page says.
Orders paid by ANY other method will be returned with additional charge(s) if resubmitted.
**********
"To every thing
there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the Heaven."
Ecclesiastes 3:17
My loyal customers
and fans that time has come for Jonathan.
40 years as come and gone. It is time to enjoy the sunset of my remaining years.
As you will note from the website pages most products are out of stock.
There are plenty of spare parts to support past products.
I believe the
products are still very viable in the marketplace.
Companies with manufacturing and marketing ability are encouraged to contact for licensing opportunity.
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MEMORIES"
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Thank you ALL for a GREAT ride!
.22LR Conversions
Looking for some NEW fun in your shooting?
Come on get CONVERTED!
*ARTICLES AND REVIEWS ON OUR PRODUCTS*
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The .22 LR Conversions contain all parts necessary to convert your firearm
from it's existing caliber down to the inexpensive .22LR rimfire
cartridge. The conversion is achieved with no permanent alterations to
your firearm so it can be quickly returned to it's original caliber.
They allow semi-auto .22LR fire in semi-auto firearms and select-fire
operation in select-fire firearms.
|
Magazines are all metal, only plastic is the conversions box.
|[ "Have you forgotten how it felt that day..." ]|
Handgun .22LR Conversions
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We now have threaded barrels. See individual conversion's parts page.
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And soon "Project X"
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Item availability is marked on order page. Items out of stocker (o/s) are marked. Pages are updated as stock changes.
Orders paid by USPS Money Order are usually shipped within two working days of receipt of order.
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UPDATED Wednesday, March 16, 2022
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Question: what type of pistol has a new upper assembly and magazine

Answer: short recoil pistols

what type of pistol has a new upper assembly and magazine

Question: what are some examples of short recoil pistols

Answer: M1911, Glock, and Beretta 92

what are some examples of short recoil pistols

Question: what does the m1911, glock, and beretta 92 consist of

Answer: upper assembly and magazine

what does the m1911, glock, and beretta 92 consist of

Question: what does the ar-15 and mini-14 have

Answer: a magazine and an insert that replaces the bolt

Question: which.22 caliber centerfire rifles have a magazine and insert that replaces the bolt and

Answer: AR-15 and Mini-14

Question: what do.22 caliber centerfire rifles have

Answer: an insert that replaces the bolt

what do.22 caliber centerfire rifles have

Question: what is an example of a pistol with a new upper assembly and magazine

Answer: Beretta 92

One exception to the use of a special lightweight bolt was the Colt Service Ace , offered as a complete pistol or as a conversion kit for the M1911 .

While still nominally a blowback conversion , the Service Ace used a special " floating " chamber in the barrel that acted like a gas operated firearm 's piston , helping push the bolt back with more force than a typical .22

By Rick Breneman
Some of the more interesting Colt products, both from the collector’s and shooter’s perspective, are those in the “Ace” line of .22 rim-fire pistols, based on the Government Model .45. Included in this group are the original Ace pistol of the early ’30’s, the Service Model Ace introduced just before WWII, and the .22-.45 Conversion Unit, which allowed the owner of a Government Model to practice with cheap .22 ammo while retaining the feel of the big pistol.
The first Ace was a conventional blow-back operated semi-automatic that outwardly resembled the gun adopted by Uncle Sam in 1911, but with the swinging link and locking lugs of the .45 replaced by a barrel pinned solidly into the frame by the slide stop. Other modifications included a 1/4″ shorter slide and barrel, a unique rim-fire firing pin and stop, ejector, and a stack of shock-absorbing washers under the barrel. These washers limited slide travel, necessitating relocation of the slide stop notch to suit the new .22-length action. Atop the slide sat the adjustable Ace sight, also unique to this model. This sight was developed at the behest of the U.S. Army, which was helping in the development of the Ace, and upon whose approval Colt depended for the promise of volume sales.
Reports on the gun, both contemporary and modern, are a mixed bag. The pistol was beautifully fitted and finished in the manner of all pre-war Colts; and accuracy, from what amounted to a fixed-barrel pistol, was excellent. Of course, the Ace had the familiar feel of the .45, but there were problems associated with trying to operate a big-bore size pistol with the recoil energy contained in the .22 Long Rifle cartridge. With Colt’s own sleek, handy Woodsman on the market, the Ace’s popularity was never great, with either the commercial or military contingent; but the gun remained in production for about ten years.
Still, there was interest in a gun with the handling characteristics of the G.I. .45, but with the economy of rim-fire ammunition. In the days before hand loading was widespread and commercially reloaded ammo was available, the cost savings to the dedicated shooter was considerable. There was evidence, though that the rim-fire ammo of the day was a contributor to the Ace’s reliability shortcomings, the pressures generated not being as consistent as today’s uniformly excellent products.
Colt went back to the drawing board, to find a better way to adapt the small cartridge to the big pistol. If the pistol couldn’t be made to act small, maybe the cartridge could be made to act big. Enter David Marshall “Carbine” Williams, whose expertise in perfecting the short-stroke gas piston system would earn him his nickname after his design was incorporated into the mechanism of the wildly successful Ml Carbine. A variation of Williams’ principle, in which a separate “floating” chamber was itself the piston, allowed the recoil energy of the .22 cartridge to be boosted sufficiently to cycle a slightly modified .45 slide. Although this new Ace would still have many unique parts, it was very much more like the service pistol than the original one, so it would be called the Service Model Ace. It not only looked and operated almost identically to the .45, its new recoil-boosting design made it an even better trainer, causing Colt to tout it as an ideal companion to their new National Match .45. The Service Ace even included the new Stevens-pattern target sight as offered on the center-fire pistol.
The development of the Service Ace, with its fewer unique parts, allowed Colt to market a “conversion” kit of components that permitted someone already in possession of a Colt Government Model, National Match, or Super Match to swap the slide, barrel, spring and magazine for those in the kit, and have a .22 pistol. Conceptually, this was an even better idea than the Ace, as the .22-.45 Conversion Unit allowed retention of the all-important feel of the trigger of the parent arm. And since economy was the whole point of the exercise in the first place, having to buy only half a gun was an added attraction. The same idea, in reverse, did not work out so well, as the .45-.22 Conversion was a short-lived offering from Colt (In what has always seemed a confusing circumstance, Colt chose to name the Conversions in what would seem to be a counter- intuitive manner – the one converting the .45 to a .22 being the .22-.45 Conversion. If you take the meaning to be “a .22 from a .45”, it then makes sense). A few years after the introduction of the Service Ace and Conversion Units, the world was plunged into war, and all of Colt’s Aces were drafted into military service for the duration.
In 1949 the original Ace and Service Ace were no longer available, the last pistols having been assembled from parts produced during the war. The .22-.45 Conversion Unit however, was reintroduced to the commercial market, in slightly simplified form, and sporting a new rear sight – the Coltmaster. At that time, Colt ceased the serial numbering of the units, continuing to sell and catalog them throughout the 1950’s and ’60’s, although they were not always in production.
In the late 1970’s, Colt reintroduced the Service Ace pistol, updated with, you guessed it, a new rear sight. The Accro was pressed into service (pinned, actually . . .), this sight having superseded the Coltmaster in 1955.
Although there were detail changes made throughout the production runs of all of these models, I emphasize the rear sights as an aid to identifying the era in which a given pistol or conversion was built. It’s possible to date pieces by checking serial numbers against various lists intended for just that purpose, but if the subject is an unserialed conversion, or just a rough estimate of age is desired (is it pre- or post- war?), then the rear sight tells a lot.
The Ace sight was fitted exclusively to the original Ace pistol, from 1931 to 1941. It was screw adjustable for windage and elevation, and was only slightly bulkier than the fixed sights available today on Colt’s service pistols. The production runs of the Ace and Service Ace overlapped for about four years, the latter pistol being commercially offered initially in 1937. By this time, Colt had adopted the Stevens sight for its other target arms, so the same sight went on the Service Ace, and the Conversion Unit when it was introduced in 1938. This sight featured a “shield” type rear blade, presenting a flat, square surface, angled to prevent glare. Its chief improvement over the Ace sight was the slight lengthening of the sight radius that it allowed. When the Conversion Unit was reintroduced after the war, it was equipped with the then-new Coltmaster sight, which was also on Colt’s other adjustable-sighted models, from the Match Target Woodsman to the Officer’s Model Special. The Coltmaster was similar to the Stevens in general configuration, but featured a single, spring-loaded adjusting screw for elevation, and one for deflection, dispensing with the locking screws of the earlier design. The blade showed the notch set into an angled, horseshoe-shaped cut-out in a rounded, oppositely-angled surface – the whole sight picture looking very much like that of the “modern”, highly touted Novak fixed sight. In 1955 the Accro replaced the Coltmaster throughout Colt’s line. Whereas the earlier sights had all been set into transverse dovetails, the Accro was held in a lengthwise slot, in a rib raised above the slide. When the Service Ace was reintroduced after a 20-year absence from the market the Accro was, and still is, the standard on most Colt models. This sight features a thin blade, set into a heavy body containing the adjusting mechanism, similar to that of the old Micro and Ruger sights. A shooter who teams his modern Ace or Conversion Unit with a Gold Cup National Match might want to switch the Accro for the Colt-Elliason sight which is a drop-in modification, and commonizes the sight pictures.
All of the Aces and conversions were finished in the blue of the day, with the pre-war models in overall polished finish, and the later models done in the polished flats/sandblasted rounds, which is still in use at Colt. Military surplus pieces can also be found parkerized, and a magazine photo of a “rare” nickel-plated Conversion Unit would indicate that some were also finished in that manner at the factory.
If you are a shooter, and you have a Service Ace or Conversion Unit, you are fortunate, because they have never been made in large numbers, having been rendered less viable market-wise by hand loading for the center-fire calibers and the introduction of newer, cheaper conversions by other manufacturers. Although the original Ace pistols are almost too valuable for the collector to shoot, with prices well into four figures for pristine examples, most Service Ace and Conversion Units can be shot; but not necessarily with much accuracy or dependability. Published reports indicate great variations in accuracy, and everything from feeding and ejecting woes, to severe bore leading. While the Service Ace can be a well-fitted gun, the Conversion Unit’s potential for accuracy is limited by the nature of its one-size-fits-all concept, and reliability varies from piece to piece. Williams’ ingenious “vibrating member”, the floating chamber, seems to be the source of most of the grief, while acknowledging that the gun wouldn’t operate at all without it.
My own Conversion Unit is a circa 1950 model, with the Coltmaster sight, and without serial number. The post-war Units were not supplied with a barrel bushing, recoil spring guide or plug, as were the earlier ones; and the whole is packaged in a black cardboard box. I have also seen conversions of the same period packed in brown boxes. The slide shows the legend COLT’S MFG. CO. HARTFORD, CONN. USA which was peculiar to products manufactured in the 1947-55 period – a handy way to recognize Colt products from that era.
Mounted on an M1911Al lower, many trips to the range, over a period of years, ended in as few as fifty round fired, with the floating chamber no longer floating in its seat in the barrel. So caked with lead and powder residue that it had to be pounded out with a mallet, the separate chamber worked much better in theory than in actual use. Hundreds of rounds of Remington, Winchester, CCI and every hardware store brand I could find were sent down range – but rarely more than fifty at a time, lest the tightly-fitted chamber would freeze up. Besides the choking, the converted .45 showed indifferent accuracy. Although the donor pistol is a nice, low-mileage Colt (purchased by my father through the NRA in the ’50’s for $20!), the Conversion Unit was designed to fit every pistol made since 1911, and tolerances are necessarily large. To improve the grouping, all of the conventional work done in “accurizing” a .45 can be applied – closely fitting the rails, installation of a National Match bushing, etc. But could this tightening rob the slide of the necessary energy to reciprocate under the urging of the diminutive rim-fire? Even if the accuracy could be improved, what fun is a pistol that can only go fifty rounds? Old, printed road-tests of the Service Ace and Conversion Unit advise against using standard velocity ammo, as poor function and leading would result. I was getting plenty of leading from high velocity stuff, so I thought to go one better, and try “hyper-velocity” ammunition (Since virtually all .22 ammunition on the market today is “high velocity”, then why isn’t our choice either standard or low?). These cartridges feature lighter bullets, driven faster than even high velocity ammo. The difference was like night and day. The hyper-velocity CCI Stingers left only a light wash of lead build-up, even after 100 rounds. Rim-fires of all types seem to display pronounced preferences for some types or brands of ammo over others, and now that I have discovered the improved function of the hyper-velocity ammunition, I can investigate the accuracy potential of other brands, as well.
Why does the ammunition so dramatically affect the operation of this gun? Putting my liberal arts education to work on this problem of combined engineering and physics, I believed originally that the leading was caused by the bullet having to jump a gap between the chamber and the barrel as the gun fired, like the flash gap in a revolver, only internal. I reasoned that the high velocity bullets were able to pass the chamber/barrel joint before the chamber moved under recoil! Yeah, that’s it! But, then I remembered from my “Physics for Liberal Arts Majors” class, that part about the equal and opposite reaction, and figured that the action of the gun would open just that much faster as well – and the bullet would be long gone before the recoil could overcome the inertia of the slide, and the force of the recoil and mainsprings. After additional thought, and examination of a dozen different bullets, it appears that the bullets of the hyper-velocity rounds have a much thicker jacket, compared to the plated bullets of the slower-moving ones. This allows the bullets to pass the joint of the chamber and barrel (while it’s still tightly closed!) without shaving or distortion, resulting in cleaner shooting. Also, it has been reported in various publications that a coating of this, or a drop of that special lubricant will prevent leading of the chamber. I have not found this to be the case, so working to reduce the leading to a minimum is the way to go.
Although the days of the Aces as serious sub-caliber trainers are mostly over, they do afford a moderately-priced collectable, and the economical shooting originally promised 65 years ago.
Bibliography:
(Although there are no direct quotes from any of these sources, I referred to all of them to varying degrees.)
Colt: An American Legend
R. L. Wilson
Abbeville Publ., 1985
A History of the Colt Revolver
C. Haven & F. Belden Bonanza, 1940
Guns & Ammo Magazine:
1/76, 10/77, 9/78, 12/80, 10/83, 8/86
Shooting Times Magazine:
8/76
Comments, suggestions, contributions? Let me know

Question: what was the only pistol to use a lightweight bolt

Answer: Colt Service Ace

what was the only pistol to use a lightweight bolt

Question: what pistol did the colt service ace convert

Answer: M1911

what pistol did the colt service ace convert

Question: what type of chamber did the colt service ace use

Answer: floating" chamber

what type of chamber did the colt service ace use

Question: what type of conversion was the colt service ace

Answer: blowback

what type of conversion was the colt service ace

Question: what did the service ace's floating chamber act like

Answer: gas operated firearm's piston

what did the service ace's floating chamber act like

Question: what was the only lightweight bolt used for the m1911

Answer: the Colt Service Ace

what was the only lightweight bolt used for the m1911

One interesting cartridge conversion was the Pedersen device , which was designed to convert the bolt action Springfield 1903 Mark I into a 40 shot blowback semi - automatic firearm chambering a lengthened version of the .32 ACP cartridge .

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- The
Pipsqueak Pistol That Never Was...
- By Dick Culver
The halls of Congress
were awash with rumor in the Summer of 1918...
It seems that a bit of Secret information had inadvertently fallen into
the hands of some Washington Officials. The United States was adopting a
new pistol! Why in the world would we do THAT??
Now it had only been seven years since our (then) new service
pistol had been selected to replace the ineffective .38 caliber service
revolver. The selection and testing procedure for the Colt Government
Model had been long and rigorous and everyone seemed happy with the new
Service Arm. To add insult to injury, the new pistol was supposedly
designated "The U.S. Pistol, Caliber .30 M1918".
Advocates of the Colt .45 Caliber Service Pistol were outraged...
A new pistol? And to add insult to injury, a in a pipsqueak .30
caliber at that! Hadn't we learned our lesson in the Philippine
Insurrection? The .38 Colt Revolvers simply wouldn't stop an enraged and
drugged Philippine Insurrecto, and NOW some idiot was adopting a tiny
.30 caliber as a replacement! Those who heard the news were indignant
and wanted some answers!
They
would have been surprised indeed if they could have found any of the
ammunition for the new pistol, had an opportunity to dissect it and been
shown the fact sheet - perhaps even impressed! It seems that the new
cartridge for the .30 caliber pistol utilized an 80 grain projectile
launched by 3 1/2 grains of Bullseye Powder. This tiny pill left the
muzzle of its intended weapon at 1300 feet per second, could reliably
hit a man-sized target at 350 yards and would kill, given a good hit, as
far out as 500 yards. Not bad for a handgun! The fly in the ointment was
that this pistol looked like nothing ever before seen and was held in
strictest secrecy. While
the U.S. Pistol, Caliber .30 M1918 functioned like a blowback pistol,
shooting what appeared to be an extra long .32 ACP round, there all
resemblance ended. Much as Winston Churchill named the first armored
vehicles to fight in WWI "Water Tanks" to conceal their
identity and purpose, so it was with our new “pistol”.
It
all began with the experiments and vision of a noted Ordnance designer,
Mr. John D. Pedersen, a long time employee of Remington Arms. It was
just a question of time before the United States was to enter "The
War to End All Wars", and virtually everybody over the age of five
could see it coming. The troops became bogged down in static trench
warfare, with both sides utilizing machine guns to make it extremely
costly to gain even one foot of contested territory. Since both the
Allied and Central Powers were using bolt action rifles that were clumsy
to operate on the run while advancing across No Man's Land, Pedersen
calculated that an infantryman with a semi-automatic rifle that could be
fired from the hip or from the shoulder would give the side so armed, a
tremendous advantage. A semi-automatic rifle could be used to create an
increased volume of fire to keep the enemy's head down while the advance
went forward. Remington was busily engaged in producing Pattern 14
Enfield Rifles for the British and Mr. Pedersen's imagination and
ordnance skills were put to solving the problem without designing a
whole new rifle... Time was short and the infantry was bearing the brunt
of the casualties.
When John Pedersen
appeared in Washington in 1917 and asked that he be allowed to conduct a
secret demonstration, the request was readily granted. Mr. Pedersen’s
considerable reputation as an arms designer had preceded him. A
collection of Generals and Ordnance Department Brass assembled at the
Congress Heights Range Facility in Washington D.C.
Although
the demonstration started in a rather mundane way, the witnesses were
destined to leave with their mouths open!
To kick off the festivities, Mr. Pedersen fired several shots
from a conventional looking M1903 Springfield Rifle in the normal bolt
action fashion. He then produced a peculiar looking device, removed the
standard bolt, and inserted the device into the M1903 bolt recess. He
then proceeded to fire a tremendous number of rounds downrange in what
seemed to be a very short period of time. To those observing the
demonstration, it almost appeared he had converted the Springfield to a
one-man machine gun! Even though the device was only semi-automatic, no
one had ever seen a conventional rifle fired so rapidly. They were
impressed! An immediate secret classification was slapped on Mr.
Pedersen's invention. To deceive the enemy, the Ordnance Department
decided to call it The U.S.
Automatic Pistol, Caliber .30, Model of 1918! The mysterious
"Pedersen Device", designed to give the Allies the upper hand
during the big spring offensive of 1919 had been born...
The information of the
existence of such a weapon was flashed in code to no less a person than
General John J. Pershing. At his direction, an Ordnance Captain was
sworn to secrecy and dispatched to France to demonstrate our first
prototype semi-automatic rifle. The demonstration took place in December
of 1917 and General Pershing was more than impressed. He ordered 100,000
of the devices with appropriately modified M1903 Springfield Rifles to
be delivered to France at the earliest possible moment. Remington went
into production started production of the Devices in early 1918. By now
Remington was well into the production of the Pattern 17 Enfield. Plans
were also made to do a feasibility study as to whether a similar device
could be made to function in the M1917 Enfield and the Russian
Mosin-Nagant. A tool room model of the Device for the M1917 Enfield was
demonstrated in August 1918 and designated the M1917
Mark II. A photograph also exists
of at least one tool room model of a Pedersen Device for the
Mosin-Nagant.
Word was
dispatched to General Pershing by courier that a total of 500,000 rifles
and Devices (a combination of both Springfields and Enfields) could be
ready for the 1919 Spring Offensive. Since the war ended just over two
months after General Pershing received the word, no production was
initiated on the Enfield version. Production of the Springfield Pederson
Device(s) was halted at the end of February 1919 with a total of 65,000
Devices having been produced. Strangely, the production of the specially
designed M1903 Rifle was not begun until 2 December 1918; almost a month
after the Armistice had been signed. Production of the Mark
I Rifle
continued until the fall of 1920. Total production figures of the Mark
I M1903 indicate that a total of
101,775 rifles were produced.
The question is, how
much of a job was it to convert
the M1903 bolt action Springfield into a semi-automatic, and just how
was it accomplished? The answer is simple, even if the solution was not.
Mr. Pedersen made very few modifications to the existing M1903
Springfield. Because it was necessary to mount the device into the
receiver of the rifle itself, an ejection port had to be cut into the
left side of the receiver and the sear mechanism of the ‘03 had to be
modified to release the firing pin of the Device once the trigger was
pulled. The specially modified receiver had a long oval slot milled into
its left side to act as an ejection port, matching the ejection port of
the Device. The specially modified receiver was given the nomenclature
of The
U.S. Rifle, Cal. .30, Model of M1903, Mark I.
In order to make such
an invention practical, it had to function in a service rifle, and be
readily converted back and forth to ensure that the infantryman had
access to both long range, accurate and powerful ammunition (.30-'06)
and the smaller rapid fire cartridge. Since the Pedersen Cartridge was
little more than a longer version of the .32 ACP Cartridge (which is
actually a .30 caliber), it would have obviously rattled around in the
.30-’06 Chamber. This “slight problem” was solved by using a
chamber filler that was part of the Device and was rifled with ten
shallow lands and grooves. The chamber filler had a much smaller pistol
cartridge chamber that mated with the firing pin and extractor of the
device itself. When the cartridge was fired, the “lump” on the rear
of the device acted as the equivalent of a pistol slide. The slide’s
weight allowed the device to function like a blowback pistol.. The empty
cartridge case was ejected through the ejection port in the side of the
device (see illustration of the left hand side of the Device below),
which was designed to be aligned with the ejection port milled into the
side of the Mark I Springfield Receiver.
The
device itself was held into the action utilizing a specially designed
Magazine Cut Off, and the sear of the Pedersen Device was triggered by a
special “tripper sear” that replaced the normal sear of a standard
M1903 Rifle. The “tripper sear” would function with either the M1903
utilizing the standard bolt or with the Pedersen Device in place. All
that was required to interchange the standard bolt with the device or
vice versa, was to put the Magazine Cut Off in the center position,
remove the standard ’03 Bolt in the normal fashion. The device could
then be rapidly inserted in its place, being sure to rotate the Cut Off
back into its normal position. With a little practice the bolt - device
exchange was extremely fast and easy to accomplish.
The Pedersen magazines
easily snapped in and out of the receiver with one hand, and held 40
rounds each. When firing the rifle with the Device in place, the
magazine stuck out of the right side of the receiver at a 45°, and the
rifle was fired in a conventional fashion. The tests conducted to
approve the production version of the Device and the Mark I were carried
out by both shooters and target-pullers all sworn to strictest secrecy.
The target-pullers were totally in the dark about what sort of weapon
they were marking targets for, and the shooters were not allowed to
speak to those pulling and marking targets in the butts.
The rifles were
manufactured by Springfield Armory starting with serial number
1,034,502, but reportedly, the serial numbers were intermingled with the
standard Springfield production, so no definitive serial number range
can be discerned. The Devices themselves were manufactured by Remington-UMC
at their Bridgeport, Connecticut plant.
It
was envisioned that the Doughboy would carry his normal cartridge belt
holding 100 rounds of .30-’06 ammunition, and two web magazine pouches
holding five 40 round Pedersen Magazines each for a total of 400 rounds
of Pedersen Ammunition. The Cartridge Belt would be further festooned
with a metal can designed to carry the Device when using the .30-’06
bolt, and a cloth pouch to carry the bolt when using the Device.
Ammunition for the Device came in 40 round boxes designed to fill
one magazine. The weight of the Device itself was just over 1 ¾ lbs,
and each loaded magazine added slightly over an additional pound. The
entire rig with 10 loaded magazines (400 rounds), the Device and the
storage can added approximately 14 lbs. to the rifleman’s load. This
additional weight was felt to be justified, considering the potential of
the Device to break the trench warfare stalemate. This was to be the
Allies’ Secret weapon to end the war!
An
evolution in tactics
began to emerge in the 1920s that seemed to indicate that the static
trench warfare was a thing of the past. In light of the new thrust of
infantry tactics, the pipsqueak cartridge fired by the Pedersen Device
would be of little use in a fluid Infantry environment, especially
against aircraft or armored vehicles. The projectile fired by the
Pedersen cartridge lacked the ominous “crack” caused by the
.30-’06 bullet breaking the sound barrier – a sound judged to be
unnerving to our enemies on the battle field.
All these considerations were added to the fact that Springfield
Armory had been seriously working on a full caliber version of a
semi-automatic service rifle since the end of WWI. The M1 Garand spelled
the final death knell for the Pedersen Device. Interestingly enough, Mr.
John Pedersen himself was one of the arms designers who had submitted a
semi-automatic rifle design to compete with the Garand.
Only the intervention of General Douglas McArthur kept the .276
Pedersen Cartridge from becoming the official service cartridge of the
U.S. Army. The original Garand was designed around the .276, not the
.30-’06.
By
1931 the Pedersen Device was declared obsolete and ordered destroyed in
April of that year.. The Secret
classification of the Pedersen had been downgraded to Confidential
on 17 December 1919, where it remained until their destruction in 1931.
The Mark I Rifles remained in storage until 1937-1938 when they were
restored to the standard M1903 configuration by replacing the tripper
sear and Magazine Cut Off with the standard versions and reinstalling
their standard bolts. Thus the Mark I was returned to service. The
ejection port, far from weakening the receiver was judged to provide
additional gas relief in the event of an overload or pierced primer. All
Mark I receivers were of the double heat treated variety, thus assuming
correct headspace, the Mark I Springfield is an extremely safe rifle to
shoot.
There are several
versions of the destruction of the Devices themselves, but the most
prevalent is that they were burned at Benicia
Arsenal in California by pouring gasoline over them and their magazines
and simply torching them off. This version receives some validity due to
an occasional magazine or even a Device itself that will appear with
obvious fire scale over all or most of their bodies.
There are precious few
of the Devices remaining, as only a small number of the devices were
saved for posterity. One may be seen at each of the following museums:
The
Smithsonian, Springfield Armory Museum, the Marine Corps Museum, the
Armor Museum at Ft. Knox, the West Point Museum and at least one at the
Remington Museum (presumably along with
tool room models of the Pedersen Device designed for the Enfield
and the Mosin-Nagant).
While several Devices
are known to be in private collections, the grand total of surviving
pristine Devices is probably in the neighborhood of between 25 and 30,
although there may be more. At least one was found in the German
Ordnance Collection at the conclusion of WWII, although the German
specimen may well be one of those currently residing in the Museums
listed above. The presence of a copy in the German Collection would seem
to indicate that our effort to keep the Pedersen Device classified was
all for naught, unless of course, they acquired their copy after the
Devices had become obsolete and supposedly destroyed.
Even though the
Pedersen Devices themselves are scarce, such is not the case with the
Mark I Springfield. While considerably rarer than the standard M1903,
many of the remaining Mark
Is
were later sold through the DCM sales program following WWII. Because of
the relative lack of publicity of the Device and its companion, the Mark
I M1903, the recipients were often
at a loss as to what they had acquired. An article written in the
American Rifleman in 1932 by then Major Julian Hatcher had explained our
secret weapon of WWI, but apparently few took note. The Mark
I and the Pedersen Device remained
largely an enigma until the mid to late 1950s when they started to
appear in steadily increasing numbers.
The recent lottery
conducted by the Civilian Marksmanship Program specifically allowed the
potential buyer to request a Mark I. For those of you lucky enough to be
drawn for the elusive Mark I, be assured that you have acquired one of
the most interesting pieces of U.S. Ordnance History ever produced by
Springfield Armory – the unique companion piece of the “The
Pipsqueak Pistol That Never Was”...

Question: what was designed to convert the bolt action springfield 1903 mark i into a 40 shot

Answer: Pedersen device

Question: the pedersen device was designed to convert a 40 shot blowback semi-automatic firearm

Answer: .32 ACP cartridge

Question: what bolt action Springfield was designed to convert into a 40 shot blowback semi-automatic

Answer: 1903 Mark I

Question: the pedersen device converts a bolt action springfield 1903 mark i into how many shot

Answer: 40

Question: the pedersen cartridge was a lengthened version of what cartridge

Answer: .32 ACP

Question: what was the name of the device designed to convert the Springfield 1903 mark i into a

Answer: Pedersen

Question: what did the pedersen device convert the springfield 1903 mark i into

Answer: 40 shot blowback

Uses In addition to often being less expensive than the larger cartridge , the smaller cartridges offer much reduced recoil and muzzle blast .

Potential utility for short range target practice or killing small pests is limited by significantly reduced accuracy of handgun bullets encountering faster rifling twist after gaining velocity in the long jump through the unrifled adapter .

Rifle Chamber Insert (Converts rifles to fire pistol cartridges)
By Andrew Willis
The catalog and Internet company Sportsman's Guide sells a steel cartridge adaptor that lets you fire .32 APC pistol cartridges in your .30-06, .303, or .308 Winchester rifle. This sounded like an interesting thing to try and so, for $14.97 plus shipping, I soon had a cartridge adaptor for .308 Winchester to play with.
The way this thing works is probably self evident from looking at the picture above. What you do is place a .32 APC cartridge in the end of the adaptor. The adaptor is then single-loaded into your rifle for firing. The .32 APC pistol bullet diameter of .311 is close enough to the normal .308 rifle bullet size that it goes through your rifle barrel with no problems. You will normally need to use a pencil to push the spent 32 APC cartridge out of the adaptor base. It does not require much of a push and sometimes they fall out by themselves.
To use the adaptor you will probably need to adjust the adaptor length to fit your chamber by sanding the head with emery cloth, as directed by the instructions enclosed with the adaptor. I used a small square of 120-grit emery cloth. What you do is hold the emery cloth on a hard smooth surface. Then, place the head of the adaptor on it and sand the end using a circular motion. Check it occasionally in your rifle action until the action just closes easily. I suggest you try to remove the circular swirls on the head end before firing it in your rifle by using a finer grade of sandpaper than I did. I believe that swirl marks left on the end of the adaptor were transferred to the end of my bolt during firing.
Even if you have something other than a single shot, you will still have to load and fire the pistol cartridges as you would with a single shot rifle. The pistol round does not have enough power to cycle semi-auto rifles and the pistol cartridge can easily slide out of the adaptor. If you tried to load several adaptors and load them into your magazine, a pistol cartridge would likely fall out while cycling, since the .32 APC cartridge has an easy slip fit in the adaptor. In addition, since the adaptor is shaped like an empty rifle case, it lacks a rounded bullet shape at the end that most guns rely on to guide the cartridge into the chamber.
Finally, you want to avoid the rifle's action throwing your 15-dollar-plus adaptor off into the weeds or onto a hard surface. I let mine hit the concrete once and the cartridge mouth was slightly bent. It straightened out with the next shot, but I concluded that I needed to catch it with my hand as it came out of my rifle's action.
The Sportsmans Guide product information page says, If you have a .308, .303 or .30-06., you can make it more 'town-friendly', and practice shoot it for less. It goes on to state, The gun becomes low recoil and low noise (similar in volume to a magnum air rifle).
I disagree with the noise statement. When I fired a Remington UMC practice cartridge, the noise sounded like a regular .22 LR rifle cartridge. I think that the .32 adapter is too loud to be called town friendly. Since I had been interested in some quiet backyard shooting, I did some test reloading of .32 APC shells to find out at what point they did become quiet. What I discovered was that I could put no more than 1 grain of Clays powder under a 71 grain metal case bullet fired from my 22" barrel. The average bullet velocity was 637 fps. At that point, the sound was more of a loud pneumatic blast that lacked the crack typical of supersonic bullets. I also tried using a 49 grain O buckshot pellet as a projectile, but it lacked the weight necessary to obtain good combustion and the exiting muzzle gasses were louder and had something of a supersonic crack with the same powder load.
Typical muzzle velocity from a pistol for my factory test Remington UMC cartridge is 905 fps according to Remington. The average muzzle velocity from my rifle was 1095 fps. Pistol cartridges are meant to fully combust in pistol length barrels, so the 22" rifle barrel only added around 17% more velocity.
The adaptor detracted from the rifle's accuracy. Typical five shot group sizes at 25 yards measured from 1-½ to 2-¼ using a 71 grain FMJ bullet. That was a little disappointing, as my normal 150 grain .308 Winchester hunting reloads typically shoot ½ three shot groups at that distance. These groups were all fired while sitting at a picnic table and holding the rifle with my elbows rested on the table. 2-¼ group accuracy is bad enough that I would hesitate to use this adaptor for squirrel hunting. I would certainly not go for the head shots that would be normal when using a .22 LR rifle. The point of impact shifted to the right a couple of inches from the settings normal for my deer hunting load, but this is to be expected when changing loads.
Sportsmans Guide only sells the most popular size cartridge adapters. However, MCA Sports sells 34 adaptors for a variety of .22, .30 and .32 pistol cartridges fired in various rifle cartridges. Incidentally, the Sportsmans Guide calls this product an "insert," while MCA Sports calls it an "adaptor." I think the adaptor term is more accurate.
Whatever you call it, this device has limited usefulness. Accuracy is reduced and handgun cartridge cost is much higher than plinking with .22 LR cartridges. It could possibly be used for introducing a youth to a larger rifle with negligible recoil if you cannot (or dont want to) handload low recoil cartridges. However, since the rifle's operation would be as a single shot only, that does not seem like a good training tool. If you want low noise for backyard plinking or pest control, CCI .22 Short or LR CB or Remington .22 LR CBee cartridges seem like a better way to go for less money, more convenience and greater accuracy.
Copyright 2009, 2016 by Andrew Willis and/or chuckhawks.com. All rights reserved.

Question: what is one limitation of small caliber handguns

Answer: significantly reduced accuracy

what is one limitation of small caliber handguns

Question: what is a downside of small caliber handguns

Answer: faster rifling twist

what is a downside of small caliber handguns

Question: what part of the gun does the bullet have a faster rifling twist

Answer: unrifled adapter

what part of the gun does the bullet have a faster rifling twist

Question: what does a smaller bullet have less recoil and

Answer: muzzle blast

what does a smaller bullet have less recoil and

Question: what do smaller cartridges have in common

Answer: recoil and muzzle blast

what do smaller cartridges have in common

Question: what is a potential utility of the smaller cartridges

Answer: short range target practice or killing small pests

what is a potential utility of the smaller cartridges

Question: what is less useful for short range target practice

Answer: handgun bullets

what is less useful for short range target practice

Some European conversions exist for special gallery cartridges , similar in concept to the .22 CB rounds , which use a primer but no gunpowder .

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November 2003
Those elusive Maltese cross boxes....
Brian Clark made the point to me in an e-mail some time back that the Western Cartridge Company boxes with the Maltese cross logo are very difficult to find in the centerfire calibers. I would have to agree wholeheartedly, as I haven't had a lot of luck finding them myself. The Maltese cross was originally the logo for the Union Cap and Chemical Company, formed in 1900 by the Western Cartridge Company and the Austin Cartridge Company, to produce primers for their shotgun shells. Western and Austin were relatively small companies that purchased the components for their shotgun shells from other makers. The Ammunition Manufacturers Association, made up of Winchester Repeating Arms Company, Union Metallic Cartridge Company, United States Cartridge Company, and Phoenix Metallic Cartridge Company, had begun limiting the supplies of components to the small producers in an effort to exercise more control over prices in the market. As a result, the small companies had to find other sources or face going out of business. At the time of the formation of the Union Cap & Chemical Company, Western only produced shotgun shells, but around 1905 they began producing .22 and .32 rimfire ammunition, which was sold through Union Cap & Chemical with that company's label and the Maltese cross headstamp. In 1908, Western bought out Austin Cartridge Company and continued using the Maltese cross, minus the letters 'U C C Co' in the four arms of the logo, on their rimfire ammunition, as well as for the cartridge headstamps initially, followed very quickly by their familiar diamond headstamp. They also soon began production of centerfire ammunition, also with the Maltese cross logo on the label, most likely only in the most common pistol calibers at the time. The headstamp on these early cartridges was 'W.C.Co.' I have only been able to find these boxes in .32 S&W and .38 S&W Special, both shown here. Note that the cartridges in the .32 box are loaded with 10 grains black powder; those in the .38 box are smokeless, for which standard practice was not to show the powder charge. I'm certain they must have been made in .38 S&W Special also, but I haven't been able to find that one yet. The diamond logo made its appearance on box labels around 1910. The short (2 years or so) period of production would account for the limited number of centerfire Maltese cross boxes found today. It would be nice to see the Western product lists from 1909 and 1910 to get a good idea of just how many calibers were produced in the Maltese cross boxes. I'd appreciate it if anyone with other calibers in the Maltese cross boxes would let me know what you have. An ironic twist to all this is that the efforts of the Ammunition Manufacturers Association's efforts were partially responsible for the Western Cartridge Company becoming a major player in the industry. Of the four companies that formed the association, only UMC managed to remain solvent, merging with Remington in 1912 to form Remington-UMC. Phoenix experienced financial woes following the death of one of its founders, and the assets were sold to UMC and Winchester in 1891, who continued producing the Phoenix line of ammunition as the American Metallic Cartridge Company until 1898. Following World War I, Winchester began experiencing financial problems, which continued through the 1920s. The company went into receivership in 1931, and, in what should be considered a classic example of 'just deserts', was purchased by Western at the end of that year.
A sealed box of 4mm Ubungsmunition M20 cartridges....
Here's another cartridge that is not too uncommon, but for which I have not seen a box before. Apparently this stuff is still being manufactured, so there must be plenty of boxes somewhere. This is a centerfire indoor target practice cartridge, developed in 1921 by RWS, and intended for use with a barrel insert that allows it to be adapted to pistols in most popular calibers. The case has no powder, the bullet being propelled by the priming charge only. There is a similar cartridge, the 4mm Ubungsmunition Geco, that has the same case shape, but with an added rim. It was developed in 1920 by Gustav Genschow & Co. It has been out of production for years and is quite scarce in this country.
An early shotgun shell.......
This is a 10 gauge 'conical base' shotgun shell, made by the Saint Louis Patent Shell Manufacturing Company of Saint Louis, Missouri. The company was incorporated in 1875, for the purpose of producing shotgun shells based on the patent of David E. Williams. His patent #108,543 covered a shell with a conical chamber in the base, formed of coiled paper and extending about an inch up the inside of the shell. The advantages gained from this design, according to the 1876 James Bown & Company advertisement shown below, are that 'a large saving is effected in the quantity of powder required, and the recoil is consequently much lessened'. Another obvious benefit would be the strengthening of the hull where it meets the front edge of the brass base. This coupled with the reduced loads would allow the shooter to get more reloads out of a case before the hull began to separate from the base. The Saint Louis Patent Shell Manufacturing Company went out of business in 1881, due most likely to their inability to establish a niche in a market dominated by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and the Union Metallic Cartridge Company. These shells sold for $1.50 per hundred in10 gauge and $1.25 per hundred in12 gauge. Anyone run across a full box or two of these anytime recently?

Question: what do some european conversions exist for

Answer: special gallery cartridges

what do some european conversions exist for

Question: what does the.22 cb rounds use but no gunpowder

Answer: a primer

what does the.22 cb rounds use but no gunpowder

Question: what type of gunpowder does the.22 c rounds use

Answer: primer

what type of gunpowder does the.22 c rounds use

Question: what is the difference between the.22 c rounds and the.23 c rounds

Answer: no gunpowder

Question: what is missing from the.22 c rounds

Answer: gunpowder

Question: what type of conversions exist for gallery cartridges

Answer: European

what type of conversions exist for gallery cartridges

Question: what does the.22 cb rounds use

Answer: a primer but no gunpowder

Question: what type of cartridges do some european conversions use

Answer: special gallery

what type of cartridges do some european conversions use