Chamber Sleeves
Several months ago I posted a question asking how to make chamber sleeves. In my case I wanted to shoot 12ga shells in a 10ga gun. I believe it would also be able to sleeve other guns. I think a 16ga could become a 20ga with this method. Other gauges may need to start with different materials.
The purpose of this exercise was to simplify my loading, shooting, and cleaning procedure. The gun in question is a 2 7/8" 10ga. I could not find hulls in this length or much in the way of data. Since the gun is also damascus, I wanted low pressure loads. From John Meeker I did eventually get some load data.
But by then I had already purchased some brass shells from Ballard Rifles.
http://www.ballardrifles.com/These worked great with blackpowder, but the clean up after each shoot was a killer. Since I usually shoot after work. It means being up late doing the ugly part of the whole shooting bit. Not to mention, loading the blackpowder rounds takes quite a bit of time. On top of that I only have 30 of the cases.(28 now, follow along and I will explain) I wanted to practice more with this gun, since I plan to hunt waterfowl with it this year. The sleeves will allow me to use the same low pressure ammo I use in my other 12ga damascus guns.
Someone at some time mentioned to me, chamber sleeves. So I posted the question and set off to make some.
Before I go any farther, I want to say something about safety. What I am about to describe is a modification to a firearm. I f you are not above average in your mechanical skills, or do not feel comfortable with what I am about to describe, DO NOT do it. You only have two hands and two eyes.
As I have posted about these I have received several emails about making them. I decided to try my hand at a how to post.
Included will be pictures as I go along, but if you want to skip that part, you can see all of the pics at:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=194024&a=6739218The first step if you don’t have any brass cases is to purchase some.(Or brass barstock.) I bought mine from the above mentioned Ballard. I used two of the ones I had already. That is why I only have 28 left. You should also be able to use barstock, but I did not have any, and I did have the cases.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=194024&a=6739218&p=22602185If you had a lathe, the next step can be done by yourself. I do not currently have access to one, so I had the machine shop next door to my work make them for me.
1)The first step is to turn the rim off of the 10ga case.
2)Next is reaming the inside diameter. One post said to use a fired 12ga case and ream the inside until the case would fit easily. Since I was paying a machinist good money, I took him two barrel sets. The 10ga set, and another set of 12ga barrels from my Crystal Indicator. I told him to make the inside of the sleeves to match the chambers of this gun.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=194024&a=6739218&p=22602186I realize that I have made it sound really simple up till now. But I am sure someone with a lathe, some good micrometers and patience should be able to do this. I am sure I could, I just didn’t have access to the lathe. One thing to note, is that if you are using the lathe yourself, you will most likely need a plug to go in the end of the case chucked in the lathe to keep it from collapsing.
According to Russ and a couple others, I would have to drive the sleeves into the chambers (carefully), but since I paid a rather expensive machinist to do the work, he held very good tolerances and the sleeves fit snugly, but not tight. When I fired the first two shots, the sleeves came out with the fired shells. To prevent this in the future, I took several suggestions from people on the BBS.
1) I roughed up the outside with emery cloth.
2)With finger pressure only, I squeezed the muzzle end of the sleeves out of round. and
3) I put a couple lines of nail polish on each case to take up some of the tolerance. I thought of using LOCTITE, which I have used numerous time at work. But I want to be able to remove these someday, and nail polish remover should get them out, without the heat and or struggle involved with LOCTITE.
(Anybody know what nail polish remover will do to blueing or browning????)
You may not need to do any of this if your sleeves fit tighter than mine.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=194024&a=6739218&p=22602187http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=194024&a=6739218&p=22602190http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=194024&a=6739218&p=22602192The next thing I had to address was the extractor. The left barrel caught enough of the rim to pull a shell out(barely), but the right barrel extractor slipped under the shell every time.
First I removed the extractor from the gun.
I wanted to soft solder a shim to the extractor, but the day I was working on the extractor I was short a couple of hands, and didn’t have clamps small enough to hold it in place.
As a last resort, I laid a bead of soft solder on the top of the extractor.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=194024&a=6739218&p=22602193http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=194024&a=6739218&p=22602194I chose this approach, because of the low heat involved, and the ease of returning it to its original state. I would imagine with a lot of shooting that this solder will wear and need to be touched up.
I am a little ahead of myself on this project, since I have not fired the gun since I made the modifications to the sleeves to “stick” them to the chambers, but several people have asked me how I did this so I thought I would write the post now.
I am sure I have forgotten a dozen or more things, so if anyone has any more advise, please post it.
I am not writing this as a method to reduce your risk while firing damascus. That is done on your own judgement. I personally do not recommend firing any smokeless gunpowder in damascus without the gun being thoroughly checked out by a very competent double gunsmith. It is your fingers and eyes. Play at your own risk.
By the way, I have not given up on blackpowder. I plan on using the remaining 28 cases and black with bismuth in this gun for ducks this year. I also have a 12ga hammer gun with Laminated Twist barrels on it. This gun has been thoroughly vetted by a good gunsmith, but I ONLY shoot blackpowder in it.
I hope this was informative and helpful to someone.
Vaya con Dios,
Mike
