Originally Posted By: VarminterrorI bought a 12ga to .22WMR and a 12a to .410 adapter when I was in college, I figured the .22mag would be great for picking up rabbits on the odd opportunity, and the .410 would give me a versatility to get down on dove without the 12ga pounding. I really thought they'd be the coolest thing since sliced bread.
By and large, they sucked.
The 12ga is the most versatile weapon in the world, bar none, leave well enough alone.
Keep in mind that you're converting a long barreled shotgun into a short barreled weapon. Blow a .22lr slug, or even a .45colt bullet out into a 12ga bore (0.729"), and most of your energy, and all of your stabilization is gone.
Just as he mentioned in the video, "sure, it keyholes at 15yrds, but at least you're hitting what you're shooting at." I'd argue that you're only going to hit what you're shooting at if you're shooting at something BIG.
What I quickly realized with the 12 ga to .410 adapter was that I had converted a shotgun that was capable of shooting the most widely available shotgun cartridge in the world, that costs about $3 a box, into a much WEAKER version of a less popular shotgun that costs about 3-4x as much.
The pattern with the .410 was absolutely terrible, and irregular as all get out from one shot to the next. In my head, I'm expecting that the shotcup teeter-tottered down the bore like shaking a pencil out of a garden hose, spraying shot randomly down the bore.
The only adapter that I bought when I was young and foolish that I was happy with was a full length barrel sleeve for a 20" baikal 12ga SxS shotgun that converted one barrel to .45-70. Sure, I wish it would have been a .223rem rather than .45-70, as the Gov't was a little hard on coyotes, but if I wanted "one gun to do it all", it's pretty hard to beat a fast handling 12ga SxS beside a .45-70.
Then again, a 12ga slug vs the .45-70 out of the SxS (no sights) would be pretty similar.
It seems like a great idea, but in the doing of it, it's just dumb.
This is a really good post, compliments and accolades to the author.
