What the devil is this thing?

[crkckr]

I've had this thing in a box of stuff I picked up in trade 40+ years ago (all the stuff I got was pretty old then, so no telling it's age). I have no idea what is! There are no markings on it at all but it's the same base size as a .308 cartridge... and no, I've never put in any of my rifles! A .22 LR cartridge will fit in the base but there's no rifling in the end, plus I've seen sub caliber inserts before and they were off set so a firing pin would hit the rim... in this case it would just leave a dent in the center, accomplishing nothing. The center hole size is probably a coincidence. So, any guesses what it is?
Cheers,
crkckr

 

[Jerry M]

Will a 22 hornet fit?

 

[crkckr]

No, just a 22 lr. A .22 mag won't fit either. Since there isn't any rifling at the end, I'm pretty sure it's not a sub caliber conversion. It's a straight hole all the was thru it, whatever it is!
Cheers,
crkckr

 

[sedancowboy]

I am wondering if that would work in a Thompson Center Contender.
They have a center firingpin for centerfire cartridges and a offset one for rimfire.
You rotated a little lever on the hammer nose. Looks like you could put the adaptor in and insert a 22lr and move the hammer to the rimfire position. I don't have mine or I would take a picture of it for illustration.

 

[Khavic]

Will it chamber in a 22-250?

 

[sedancowboy]

I found this if it helps

 

[KyCarl]

Is it used in a nail set with blanks?

 

[carl1775]

My guess----
Looks like a practice, or "snap-in" adapter. Where you can fire a .22lr through a .308 rifle. M14...
Just a guess.

 

[crkckr]

I doubt it's a sub caliber conversion since a bolt action FP would just hit the center and not set the round off. The Contender idea might just be valid. I have one but didn't think of it because I don't have one with a .308 base cartridge but the rimfire pin would definitely work. The dates also sort of match, since the Contender came out in '67 and I got this pile of 'stuff' around 1970... although all of the other contents were from back in the late 50's/early 60's. I have no desire to try and chamber this thing in any of my rifles, since there's no telling if the unnamed thingy might get stuck and there's not a lot of frontal area to push on! Why yes, I am chicken! Make that Chicken! Carl's idea of a nail set is also valid and may in fact be the most likely answer. The only thing that makes me wonder about that is why would they make it with the same base dimensions as a .308? I just don't know, too much not making sense!
Thanks for the replies,
Cheers,
crkckr

 

[kiwikid]

My thought is this is a pellet adapter. A shotgun primer goes in the base and the pellet (as in air rifle) goes in the neck end. What calibre is the neck end?

 

[J E Custom]

Interesting! The first thing I would do is see if it head spaces in a 308 Chamber.

Then measure the diameter of the bore. If it does meet these dimensions, it may be for finding COAL. It could be a home made gauge.

????


J E CUSTOM

 

[epoletna]

It looks very similar to an adaptor that was used to fire .22 rim fire cartridges in a larger chamber. A Friend had a .30 caliber machine gun that used this type of insert to fire .22 rim fire cartridges in a belt-fed machine gun. I saw it fire about 50 years ago, and it functioned well, but I no longer remember the details. I do remember putting rimfire cartridges in the inserts and putting them into the belt, then firing it fully automatic. I think it might have had a .22 caliber barrel installed, as firing a .22 through a .30 caliber barrel would have been of little value and my recollection is that the machine gun was moderately accurate.

 

[del2les]

22 LR and rat shot adapter for a TC. 30 Herrett?

 

[26Reload]

Could be used to fire 22 cal blanks....giveckids opportunity to fire for practice and learn trigger with noise....
Might be a percect trainer....