Back in December, I wrote a review on
a 12 Gauge folding shotgun called the TriStar SB. Even though it only
cost me $149.95 at Sportsmans Warehouse, it turned out to be an
excellent buy. It proved to be effective and reliable while only
weighing 4 lbs 4 oz. After putting the SB through its paces, thoughts
filled my head about the many ways I could "bling" it out to enhance its
functionality as a survival tool. Here are some of the cool accessories
I found for it.......
Short Lane Multi-Caliber Shotgun Adapters
(Images courtesy of Short Lane Adapters)
The thinly stocked shelves at our local mountain hardware store since the ammo shortage began:
Short Lane was nice enough to send us a few of their adapters to test out in the TriStar, including their 12 Gauge to 20 Gauge Adapter, 12 Gauge to 410/45 Colt Adapter, 12 Gauge to .22LR "Zombie" 3" Rifled Adapter, and their Dave Canterbury designed Pathfinder 8".22LR Rifled Adapter:
Short Lane's leather belt case for the 3" adapters:
(Image courtesy of Short Lane)
FIELD TESTING
To find out if the Short Lane adapters were effective as survival/hunting tools, I tested them on assorted paper wildlife targets at typical small game hunting distances. I used a Nikon ProStaff 3 Rangefinder to ensure I was standing at an exact distance from each target.
Short Lane 12 Gauge to 20 Gauge Adapter
For the first test, I tried Short Lane's 12 Gauge to 20 Gauge adapter at
20 yards on a Champion squirrel target, using Winchester's popular 20
Gauge Low Brass 7/8oz #6 Birdshot load, freestanding:
(click to enlarge)
20 Yards at a steel vegetable can using the same load:
30 yards with the Winchester low-brass shells. The shot pattern thinned out considerably but was still effective:
20 Yards using Estate's 20 Gauge 7/8 Ounce # 7.5 Birdshot ammo (Estate
ammo is a generic Federal shotgun ammunition that performs well for the
price):
I also tried Federal's popular 20 Gauge 1 ounce Turkey/Pheasant
"WingShok" #6 Birdshot load in the Short Lane adapter (this load recoils
nearly as much as a 12 Gauge shell!). It patterned well on the squirrel
target at 20 yards:
Shooting the WingShok load at 30 yards. Just like the other loads at this distance, the pattern thinned out considerably:
I also wanted to see how well the WingShok would pattern on a Champion Turkey target at 30 Yards:
30 yards is pushing the limits pattern-wise, but it would have still been effective:
12 Gauge to 20 Gauge Adapter VERDICT
Weighing only 1 1/4 ounces, the Short Lane 12 gauge to 20 gauge Adapter
is an effective, easy way to transform your 12 gauge shotgun into a
reasonably effective 20 gauge shotgun out to about 30 yards. A better
shotgun with a full choke could probably extend this range out to 40
yards or more. Highly recommended
Short Lane 12 Gauge to 410/45 Colt Adapter
I tried a variety of ammo in the Short Lane 410/45 Colt adapter, and
found the absolute limit of its pattern effectiveness to be about 20
yards. I also discovered quite a bit of velocity loss when using this
adapter (see the test at the end of this section). After testing several
types of 410 ammo, I found these two loads patterned the best:
Remington 410 3" #5 Birdshot at 20 Yards:
Federal's 3" 410 # 7.5 Birdshot at 20 yards. This was by far the best patterning load in the adapter:
For curiosity's sake, I also tried out some of Federal's 2.5" 410
Handgun Personal Protection rounds, which are loaded with #4 Birdshot. I
wanted to see if they could be used for hunting in the event that more
conventional 410 hunting ammo was unavailable. Beyond 15 yards, the
pattern was too thin to be effective, but within 15 yards, they worked
quite well. Here is the pattern at 15 yards through the Short Lane
adapter:
Is there a loss of velocity when shooting 410 through an adapter in a 12 gauge barrel?
From the moment I received
the 410 adapter, I wondered how much power/velocity would be lost when
shooting it through a 12 gauge barrel. I didn't have access to a
chronograph, so I devised a simple "poor man's" test- shoot the bottom
of a steel vegetable can with a 410 shell through the Short Lane
adapter, and then shoot the same can with a 410 shell through a standard
410 shotgun barrel and compare penetration.
The
results were quite surprising. Shooting Remington 2.5" 410 #6 Birdshot
through the adapter at 15 yards (I used 2.5" 410 Shells since they have a
higher velocity than 3" 410 loads, to ensure a fair test), the pellets
were unable to penetrate the bottom of the can. I then shot the bottom
of the can at 25 yards with the same load using a Chiappa Double Badger 410 Shotgun. Even with 10 yards greater distance, the regular 410 had
noticeably more power, completely penetrating the can with all pellets
except for one which hit the edge of the can where the metal is
thickest.
15 Yards (left) with 410 Short Lane adapter, 25 Yards (right) with Chiappa 410 Shotgun:
VERDICT: Due to the velocity loss, I wouldn't recommend using this adapter past
15 yards for hunting. Anything further might might lead to an injured
animal that has to needlessly suffer due to under-penetration. Even so,
I'd still keep one of these in my preparedness kit for hard times,
because it still beats not having a gun if you need to hunt to survive.
Shooting 45 Colt through the 410/45 Colt adapter
Due to the 410/45 Colt adapter having a smoothbore to accommodate
shooting 410 birdshot rounds, 45 Colt rounds keyholed badly when shot
through it. In fact, most of the rounds fired were found stuck sideways
in the wooden stumps I was using for the target backstop. I found that
it was not accurate enough for hunting (unless you get REAL close) and
only good for self-defense purposes. Here is a 5-shot group shooting
Black Hill's popular 45 Colt Cowboy ammo at 15 yards:
VERDICT: If you're depending on shooting 45 Colt through this adapter for
survival hunting, look elsewhere. For self-defense and plinking, it
should work fine.
Zombie 3" Rifled 22LR Adapter and Pathfinder 8" 22LR Rifled Adapter
(Images courtesy of Short Lane)
Of all the Short Lane
adapters I tried, the 22LR Zombie and Pathfinder adapters were the
biggest disappointments. I tried both of them at ranges out to 25 yards
using the recommended Remington Golden Bullets, and could not get
consistent groups past 10 yards, and neither would shoot to the point of
aim beyond 10 yards. The Pathfinder adapter also tended to shoot to the
left, sometimes substantially if the range was farther than 12-15
yards.
To
make sure it wasn't just the TriStar SB that had this problem, I tried
the adapters in two other shotguns-- a brand new H&R Pardner 12 gauge Single-Shot Shotgun (the gun they were originally designed for) as
well as a Baikal Double-Barrel Shotgun. Even with these guns, the
adapters didn't work well. The results were virtually the same.
After
playing around with the 3" Zombie adapter a bit and figuring out how to
make it hit what I was aiming at, I managed to get this result at 15
Yards using the recommended Remington Golden Bullets ammo (I had to
point the bead of the SB's barrel on the lower part of the front paws of
the squirrel target to get this group):
VERDICT:
No matter how I rotated the adapters in the barrel, I could not get the
bullet to hit the point of aim unless I was within 5-10 yards of the
target. In a survival situation, this inconsistent accuracy would make
me SOL if I needed to harvest game beyond 10 yards to survive. Short
Lane has a great idea with these adapters and they are certainly of high
quality, but outside of self defense or plinking, I wouldn't rely on
one of these for wilderness survival unless I got REALLY close.
The
other negative is that these adapters are recommended to only be used
with Remington's Golden Bullet 22LR Hollowpoints for accuracy. With
today's massive 22LR ammo shortage, this disadvantage is obvious. Out of
curiosity, I did try other quality 22LR ammo in the adapters such as
CCI's Mini Mags and Velocitors as well as Winchester's Super X, and the
accuracy was even worse. So you're pretty much stuck with using
Remington Golden Bullets for accuracy if you're lucky enough to find
them.
For
self defense at close range, these adapters should work adequately, but
for survival hunting (where you might need to hit a tiny target such as
a Pine Squirrel at
25 yards), I'd stick with Short Lane's 20 gauge or 410 gauge adapters
if you need something to depend on in a crunch. Those adapters, within
reasonable range limitations, will consistently hit their mark at the
point of aim without fuss or drama.
Blackhawk Shotgun Shell Sling and Stock Pouch
I like the Blackhawk sling because it holds 15 shells, easily attaches
and unattaches from the shotgun with steel spring hooks, plus, it
converts into a belt bandoleer. It's not perfect (it can be a bit heavy
on one side when loaded with all 15 shells), but overall, I really like
it. It can carry a variety of different ammo, as well as some spare 22LR
ammo in coin tubes for a .22 trail pistol or for a Short Lane 22LR
Adapter, an idea I got from the Sensible Survival blog:
Although the Blackhawk pouch only holds five 12 gauge shells, I found that it can hold up to seven 20 gauge shells, or six with the Short Lane 20 Gauge adapter, due to its pouch/flap design:
Final thoughts
Cheers, Jason
About the author
Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)
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