Sane Gun Different Cartridges

Shotgun Inserts of various types

Remember, by the rules of aerodynamics, a bumble bee cannot fly. We begin with this seemingly unrelated thought so when I say things that seem incredulous - things like, “for less than 50 bucks you can shoot 28-gauge shells in your 12 gauge, with perfect success,” you won’t laugh and rip up your magazine before you read the next sentence.

Trust me, I almost laughed at the fellow who suggested his product would accomplish this feat. In truth, it was only the mention of West Point and its shooting team that kept my attention. Stay with me, what you are about to read is truly amazing. So riflemen don’t feel left out, we have discovered an almost equally wonderful way to have very reduced power with a selection of bullets and powder charges to delight any handloader.

Let’s begin with the rifle conversions. While they are wonderful and surprisingly versatile, they are easier to believe than the shotguns to come. I covered the subject of subcaliber inserts in the May 2001 issue of Rifle (No. 195). Generally, the inserts we talked about there used various handgun ammunition in selected rifle calibers. Here with the Hammond Game Getter, we have a system that is more or less a “handloader’s” proposition - handloading, that is, in the sense that you have a choice of four “powder” charges and you add your own bullet.

The history behind these is interesting. Mr. Hammond is a sheep hunter from Canada. Sheep hunters spend a lot of time in little tents eating freeze-dried food. Now freeze-dried is not bad stuff, in fact, I actually like it. Grouse and rabbit, however, are better. While living in the States, Mr. Hammond had a .22 pistol, a more or less perfect answer to the gourmet dish called “grouseforsupper.” Unfortunately, Canada takes a very dim view of handguns. To that end the Game Getters were created, the first for a .270 Winchester.

The essence of the project begins with a cartridge case for the given caliber. A steel insert is made the same size as the case head but without a primer pocket. This insert replaces the web section and rim and is “chambered” for .22 rimfire. The chamber is quite eccentric, so the rim of the rimfire ends up in the center of the case. With this, the normal centerfire firing pin hits the rimfire in the correct place to set it off.

No, we do not use .22 rimfire ammunition and try to make it go around a corner. Instead the chamber is for “Power Loads.” These are the blanks used in power nail drivers. They are specifically designed to act as a power source to drive various projectiles into wood, concrete or even steel. Thus, they are perfect for driving little chunks of lead out a rifle barrel. The ones I find most often are by Remington and are available in most hardware stores. They come in four different power levels, with #1 Gray being the mildest and #4 Yellow the most powerful.

Bullets are also simple and interesting. Now we are able to use what I see as the ideal short-range small game bullet, a roundball. If we look at the spectrum of shotgun shot, buckshot and balls for muzzleloaders, we see there are few calibers that want for a bullet. Further, each Hammond Game Getter comes with a little sizing die that is designed to size roundballs to a perfect fit in any given caliber. For example, No. 4 buckshot fits .22 calibers, No. 3 works in the 6mm’s, 0 or 00 is correct for .30 caliber. Larger calibers begin to use the various calibers of muzzleloader roundballs; or in the instance of .35 caliber, 000 buck is about right. By the way, Hornady makes a complete spectrum of buckshot and muzzleloader balls. From its selection you can find a bullet that will fit almost any rifle. If you like economy, five pounds of buckshot is a lot of bullets! In .30 caliber, that’s about 650 of them for less than $15. After the initial cost of the insert, shooting is very inexpensive.

My Game Getter is for my .303 British and I found, not to any great surprise, that the roundballs gave me some of the best accuracy I have ever experienced from a “converter.” The set came with the sizer to reduce 0 or 00 buck down to about .312 inch. With sized 0 buck and the #2 Power Loads, velocity was about 700 fps and groups were in the one-inch range at 25 yards. Moving up to the #3 loads increased the velocity almost 150 fps and cut the group size to regularly under an inch and at times as small as 1/2 inch. These were fired with a post front and aperture rear sight. The next load was with Hornady .310-inch balls for .32-caliber muzzleloaders. These were fired without sizing and gave me the best accuracy of all. With the #2 loads it was not unusual to have a “cloverleaf” with all the holes touching. Another load used .320-inch balls and the #3 loads, but this time we let the rifle do the sizing.

Normally a bullet of the correct size for the bore is a gentle thumb-press fit in the case neck. (If the neck expands and does not hold the balls properly, you can resize it in a standard die.) The .320-inch, oversize bullets will not go all the way into the case neck. Instead they press in just short of their equator. When they are fired, the larger ball centers itself in the rifle’s throat and then is sized down to a perfect fit in the barrel.

This plan, in my rifle, gave outstanding accuracy with absolutely no muss and fuss. Also, there was no worry about expanding the case neck too far to properly hold the bullet. For other calibers and the oversize-ball concept, it will only be necessary to be sure the ball diameter is less than the outside diameter of the case neck. This dimension is usually between .020 and .025 inch greater than the bullet diameter. The self-sizing loads were the second most accurate in my rifle. Groups were about 1/2 to 3/4 inch. Any way you slice it, it provides plenty of accuracy for short-range small game hunting.

Performance in other calibers and rifles should be similar. As the bore diameter increases, the velocity from any given load will decrease. As an example, Hammond suggests you can expect about 1,000 fps from a #2 load in a 6.5x55 and 600 fps from the same load in a .375 H&H.



In my trials with the .303, I found the #1 loads were a bit soft and the #4 certainly too powerful. The little loads were almost totally silent but seemed to lack enough punch to be effective much beyond 20 yards. Number two loads were about perfect and should easily thump a rabbit or squirrel out to 50 yards. The #3 loads started to be a little troublesome. They would expand the case neck a little and also required my knife blade to extract them from the case, where the #1s and #2s could be extracted with fingernails. The #4s wrecked accuracy, leaded the barrel, expanded the neck and stuck tightly in the case.

A note about case neck expansion: The adapters are designed to hold the ball or bullet in the case neck. If the neck expands so the bullet falls into the powder chamber part of the case, it should not be fired. Instead, resize the shell before use. The #4 loads might work fine in a .45 caliber but should probably be avoided in the smaller bores. Remember, this is not about power and noise but, instead, the lack of both.

For small game hunters with big game rifles, the adapters become great tools. These offer plenty of latitude for the experimenter and handloader to tailor loads to suit his rifle and needs. If you want to use a high-powered rifle as a dedicated small game rifle, you can rezero to fit your loads. If you are hunting big game, zero with the hunting load and then check the point of impact with the roundballs. Chances are very good that it will be different, even at close range - at least grouse-head different. The answer is to do some shooting to see where the grouse loads hit. Then, you adjust the hold accordingly.

If the versatility of blanks and roundballs in high power rifle cartridges seems wonderful, the concept of using smaller gauges in 10-, 12-, 16- and 20-bore shotguns is truly amazing. To set the stage we should recognize there is another way to get there from here. These are the full-length subgauge tubes. Those from Briley and Kolar are the most famous. These utilize the barrel-inside-a-barrel that is complete with extractor and choke. I use these often and they are wonderful. However, there is a downside. They are relatively expensive, are generally not available in 10 and 16 gauge, and to my knowledge, they can only be made to work in break-action (o/u, s/s and single) shotguns.

The product called “Little Skeeters” is incredibly simple. So simple in fact it is difficult to believe they will work. In essence they are chamber sleeves. Put another way, they are steel or aluminum sleeves that are the same size as the shell that normally fits in the gun. To use a 28-gauge shell in a 12-gauge gun, all you have to do is put the smaller shell inside the Little Skeeter, then put the composite shell in your shotgun. Of course, that all sounds good; but we know for certain it is not possible for the 28-gauge wad to seal the bore, create velocity, and certainly it will not throw a good pattern. Then too, bumble bees cannot fly!

I was skeptical. The test was relatively simple. To begin we fire at a pattern plate. Wow! Lots of holes, uniformly spaced holes. The pattern looked as if it came from the intended 12-gauge shell. Recoil was understandably very mild. My devious mind then turned to the velocity question. One of the reasons the pattern might still be okay would be greatly reduced velocity. Enter the great “deliar,” the chronograph.

Chronographing shotshells is a little more complicated than most rifle or pistol cartridges. There are two basic reasons you may have trouble. First, shotshells work very close to the speed of sound. At times chronographs will “see” the sound wave in front of the shot. It will read this wave, telling you the speed is about 1,200 fps. As an example, I have fired several rounds of .45 ACP hardball that clocked 1,200 fps, instead of 830 fps. No, we did not defeat the laws of physics, the chronograph just read the sound wave in front of the bullet. Shotshells are further complicated by all of their pieces - lots of shot pellets, wads or pieces of wads, etc. Last, but not least, with the spread of the shot stray pellets are apt to kill your skyscreens, or in the case of a Chrony, the whole machine.

To prevent trouble and make your results more accurate, use a baffle in front of the screens. My baffle is a 1x12-inch board with a 2 inch wide by 4 inch tall window in it. I mount this just in front of the start screen. The baffle knocks down the sound wave and also catches stray pellets and pieces of wadding. Incidentally these bits and pieces are apt to have higher velocity than the main body of the shot and also contribute to false readings. With the apparatus set, some of the velocities I obtained are listed in the table.

As we look at these results we see some interesting and informative things. If we begin with the only marginal part of this program, the .410 shell in 12-gauge guns, the most apparent thing is the low and variable velocity. This can be explained with two basic components of the combination. First there is a huge disparity between the wad/charge diameter and the bore. This is further complicated by the relatively slow and difficult-to-ignite powders necessary in the .410.

Add these together and we have an admittedly marginal combination. The patterns vary some also. Does the .410 Little Skeeter make a perfect match in a 12 gauge? No. Does it throw decent patterns and will it break clay targets? Absolutely. This is all about perspective. From my experience I do not want to tell you the .410 is perfect. They go bang, shot comes out in a reasonable pattern, but they are not quite as good as the rest. The reduced and different velocities make hitting different, even perhaps more difficult than with a “normal” gun.

Moving to the 28 gauge in 12 gauge, the magic starts to happen. Now we have essentially full performance and uniform ballistics. Patterns from my tests will be a bit more open than a similar 12-gauge target load from the same barrel. Yes, the 28-gauge shot does respond to the choke in the 12-gauge barrel. At times we see a few pellets fused together, crypto balling as the English called it, but that is about the only fault I can find. How is this possible? The .550-inch shell is being fired in a .729-inch bore.

No, the wad skirt does not expand to fill the bore. Actually the opposite happens. The gas sealing portion of the wad gets compressed rather than expanded. The petals of the wad go right out to the bore and may even be folded backward. Some shot may even end up behind the wad, but the combination of the shot and plastic do seal the bore. The shot string sets back, becomes shorter and expands to the full 12 bore. This is why the pattern responds to the choke and bore.

Explaining the almost full velocity is a little more difficult. The most basic answer is that the pressure in shotshells peaks very early, while the wad is in the hull. Therefore the shell develops maximum pressure in the Little Skeeter. Bore friction is reduced. This may help offset the increased bore volume and the certain drop in pressure as the load enters the 12-bore barrel.

The 20-gauge shells in 12-gauge guns turn a corner. Now the wads do obturate and seal the bore. We essentially have an “overbored” shotgun. The results are great patterns and even slightly increased velocity. This technology has been used for years in sophisticated trap and even waterfowling guns. Stan Baker began making what he called “big bores” many years ago. They were effectively 12-gauge shotguns with 10-gauge bores. Modern “back boring” is a slightly reduced version of the same concept.

At this point we must pause to point out that, yes, we understand the combination of 20-gauge shells and 12-gauge guns is a bad one. If you drop a 20-gauge shell into a 12-gauge gun and then fire a 12-gauge shell, or even a 20 in its Little Skeeter, you will almost certainly blow up the gun. This, like other endeavors in life, driving a car for example, can be dangerous if you are careless or stupid. If you use the 12/20 concept, you must be very awake and very careful. You must think! Simply do not allow a 20-gauge hull, or load, to get into the barrel. Remove the Little Skeeter each time, punch out the empty with the load you are about to use, drop the load into the insert, peek in the bore and then load the gun. The problem fits the old medical situation, “Doctor, it hurts when I do this.” The doctor replies, “Don’t do that!”

Ten-gauge guns really benefit from the concept, especially the old doubles with 2 7/8-inch chambers. Basically there is no ammunition for them. With the inserts you can use either 20-gauge or even 12-gauge shells. They work perfectly. The 20 gauge in the 10 is almost identical to the 28 in the 12, in terms of wad action, velocity and pattern performance. The 12s in the 10 are like the 20 gauge in the 12 bore.

The only small glitch I found in the 10 gauge was that the 12 in 10 insert is very thin. They can expand to fill a large chamber and then fail to fit in another gun with smaller chambers. The answer, if this happens, is to dedicate a set of Little Skeeters to each gun.

I have not tried the 16- or 20-gauge inserts, but can say with almost perfect certainty they will work just like the larger ones. Like the 10, the 16-gauge guns will seriously benefit from the addition of the great variety of ammunition available in 20 and 28 gauges and .410 bore. Most factory 16-bore shells are trying to be 12 gauge, which is a mistake. The sweet sixteen is happiest with an ounce or less of shot and this is a great way to get it.

The origins and primary intent of Little Skeeters is target shooting. They were developed at the request of the West Point coach. It seems that guns supplied to the cadets are only 12 bore and small-gauge practice was almost impossible. The coach asked his friend, who just happens to be a world-class machinist with a large, very sophisticated machine shop, if he could make some little inserts that would help. Well, the fellow who actually made parts for the camera that took the first pictures on the moon was also a skeet shooter. And voila, it worked. Near perfect scores are the result. The skeet range and, of course, the sporting clays field is a perfect application.

As most of you know, I am hunting, rather than target, oriented. I waited for the first of September with great anticipation. My 10-gauge Purdey was going dove hunting. Weighing 9 pounds with very full chokes sort of rules it out of the “dove” class, but dove hunting it went. I missed the first two. Then we found the swing. The first half of my limit fell to the big 10, five birds with the next seven shells - 12-gauge shells. We switched to a 12-gauge game gun for the next half, but a 12-gauge game gun with 28-gauge shells. It worked like magic and hit about 60 percent, or just above my dove average. On another hunt I shot the first half with 12-bore shells in this same Rigby and finished with No. 8 1/2 shot, 28-gauge sporting clays loads. It took one less shell with the 28 gauge than the 12.

On the hunting subject, the manufacturer recommends that only “target” loads be used in the inserts. I tried both the compression formed hulls and even the 28-gauge Reifenhauser hulls with equal success. The compression formed hulls do extract more easily in most instances. Steel shot should absolutely not be used because the shot is not held in the shot cup. Loose steel pellets will contact and probably damage the bore.

There is perhaps one more unusual thing associated with the Little Skeeters. You may notice more soot and powder residue in the chamber and even on the breech face than normal. The inserts do not seal the chamber perfectly, and a bit of smoke reaches the breech. Also, there may be some fouling buildup right in front of the insert. Most importantly, do not be alarmed, the situation is harmless. Next, do clean it away from time to time and before you fire normal shells in the gun. A bit of nitro solvent takes care of it.

Beyond doubles, over-and-unders and singles, the Little Skeeters can be used in pumps and perhaps autoloaders. I would personally caution against autoloaders because of the risk of damaging the insert when it hits the ground.

In the end, if the world championship were on the line, I would stick with my Briley or Kolar full-length tubes. However, when it is for practice, or just for the fun of it, for a 10 gauge, or 16 gauge - or if you do not want to spend the price of a very good gun on your sub-gauge set - these really work. And yes, look out the window, bumble bees can indeed fly.

Little Skeeters come in the following combinations: 10 gauge - 12 and 20; 12 gauge - 20, 28, .410; 16 gauge - 20, 28, .410; 20 gauge - 28, .410.

At the last minute we have learned of an even greater “Stamp of Approval.” Sales of Little Skeeters will be handled by Browning. They are available from Browning dealers, Cabela’s or on Little Skeeters’s web site: www.littleskeeters.com. For more information contact: Hammond Game Getters, Box 41061, Petrolia PO, Edmonton Alberta T6J 6M7, Canada.