doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Use of Chambermates?

Now that I have bought a full set of them, what are your opinions on the use of chambermates? I want to shoot smaller gauge fodder in some of my older SxS's for hunting and for some "fun" clay work.

Do they work well for this?

This from a previous discussion:
Inserts were reviewed in the March/April 06' Shooting Sportsman. I've used the Browning Little Skeeters-simple tube/sleeve to slide the smaller shell into. They were messy with powder blow back into the receiver and even AAs or STSs will eventually get stuck, and Estates and others will stick the first time. The Gauge-Mate Tubes are similar but have a little cut out to help remove the spent shell. Both might work ONCE in a repeater but if you don't catch the spent tube it's going to get dinged pretty bad if it hits the concrete pad.
The Chamber Mates and the GaugeMate-Golds http://www.gauge-mate.com/steves_corner.htm both stay in the gun by rubber O-rings. The Chamber Mates have integral extractors and the GaugeMate-Golds have a larger cut our so the extractor of the gun should work. However, the O-rings did not hold up well.
Most testers, and I agree, got good patterns esp. if going down only a gauge or two: 12 to 20 or 16 to 28, but some patterned well even 12 to .410.
Advertised cost: Gauge-Mate Tubes $40, GaugeMate-Gold $130-150, Chamber Mates $240. I think my Brownings were $50 and I'm not sure they're still offered.

Bottom line-dirty and kind of a pain but they pattern surprisingly well and pressure testing show significantly lower pressures. I can post that data if desired.

The answer is that it depends. This has been discussed but apparently not in the past year as a search revealed no threads. Subjects have included sticking with appropriate pressure shells, ease of extraction and chamber length problems. Someone who has used them will no doubt be along to help.

I have not used the ChamberMates, but the Gold Gauge Mates. Of course, high pressure cheaper shells other than AA or STS type will stick agressively. I have found in going from 12-20, that keeping the pressures under 10,000 psi, makes them extract much better and they are not so dirty. It is surprising how the 12 ga. bore lets a 20 pattern and kill better. I have been shooting some starlings with the lower pressure 20's and they kill to surprising distances.

Lenard

Thanks guys for the quick responses.

Seminole cut a 12 to 28 ga to fit my tight chambers in Md. 21. Can't wait to try it out. I'll make sure to post the results. I bought the 12 to 20 and 12 to 410 as well to try as well. I have a Superior grade Daly that I wanted to try.

I bought 4 of the "little skeeter" tubes. They work okay but are a pain when shooting targets as you have to extract them and then punch out the shell. If you lube them a little, the target loads I used in them (AA's) will come out fairly easily. Works for bird hunting okay but definitely a pain for shooting any kind of volume.

If the Seminole 28 ga. work well, I would love to carry them along and shoot some bismuth 28 ga. shells during that "perfect" day when the ducks work close and decoy nicely.

revdocdrew-

I would like to see the lower pressures exhitbits as this would make me feel better about shooting them in older guns.

Thanks,
Cory

Here you go Cory:

Here is what I received for Gauge Mates when asking questions pertaining to 16 ga., reduced to 28 ga.

Quote:
We have commissioned independent pressure/velocity test with Winchester AA and Remington STS ammunition in 12 to 20, 12 to
28 and 16 to 28g adapters.
Pressure testing was done at the forcing cone area. Because different test guns were used, the 12g gun was measured at 3" and the 16g at 3 5/16" from the breech face. There are no industry standards for pressure at that point.
Here is a sample of the data:

16 to 28 Winchester AA -- 5900 psi and 1252 fps
16 to 28-g Remington STS -- 5100 psi and 1215 fps

Nominal velocity for both brands is 1200 fps
SAAMI pressure standard for 16g at one inch from
the breech face is 11,500 psi.

Wow, the pressure is cut about half! That is tremendous about of reduction. Even light loads of those gauges would not have that much reduction.

Thank you for posting this.

I've run thousand's of 20ga. target loads through my 1911 Fox SW using 12 to 20 ga. Chambermates. (Even run a few 100 straights on skeet targets with 'em.)

The key is to forget about using the grease they recommend, and instead wrap over the O-rings with 3-4 laps of the yellow gas pipe thread tape. This makes for a very tight press fit, but the tape will last for 200-300 firings with no blowby and usually the O-rings will survive for reuse.

No problem ejecting factory shells or reloads either.

Note the pressure difference is from two different points. At 3 5/16" from breech the 11,500psi 1" 16ga pressure would have fallen quite a bit already. Also note the 11,500 is "Nominal Maximum" for the average pressure of 16ga ammunition, that specified for the Gauge-mates was actual measured. The 28ga shell will have a lighter powder charge & shot weight than a noiminal 16ga load & will produce as high or higher chamber pressure (even in the Gauge-Mate) than will a 16ga shell. It will of course have the extra wall thickness of the insert to help contain it. Of course after the nominal 28ga load enters the full 16ga bore it gains 45% bore capacity over a 28ga bore. Pressures should fall considerably. I suspect though if you loaded a 3/4oz load in a 16ga hull with a suitable charge of fast burning powder to acheive the same ballistics, you would be surprized just how close the pressure of the two would be at the 3 5/16" point. We simply have to get past the idea the whole of the bbls are pressurized to that breif max pressure recorded at the 1" point.