Have you ever wanted to convert a .410 shotgun into a pistol-caliber carbine? Or, in my case, converting a .410/.45 Colt large-format pistol into a .32 S&W Long pistol? I know what I’m saying sounds bizarre, but I love the .32 S&W round, and I’ve been loving the Rossi Brawler. With that in mind, I purchased a barrel liner from Chaszel that converts a .410 bore to a .32 S&W Long.
The Chaszel Adapter
Why The .32 S&W Long?
I’ve made .32 caliber rounds a plank in my personality. This includes the .32 ACP, the .32 H&R Magnum, and the diminutive and awesome .32 S&W Long. The .32 S&W Long is a seemingly ancient cartridge born during the rise of the modern double-action revolver. It dates back to S&W’s first hand-ejector in 1896. I love the caliber, and I have a handful of handguns chambering the cartridge, but I wanted to go a bit bigger.
The .32 S&W Long is an interesting cartridge. It’s not exactly a powerhouse of a round, but for some reason, it’s absurdly accurate. Accurate enough that Olympic shooters commonly use it. It’s a staple in semi-auto, mag-fed precision pistols that only fire specific wadcutter cartridges. With the right cartridge, it can do okay for self-defense, but it’s also a great rabbit cartridge.
You can take rabbits with .22LR and a well-placed headshot, but the .32 S&W Long will drop rabbits in their tracks with even marginal shot placement. It’s low recoil, fun to shoot, and I couldn’t help but think it would be a super handy cartridge in my Rossi Brawler. With the Chaszel adapter, I’m now capable of shooting .410, .45 Colt, and .32 S&W Long. I have a solution to any pest I might run into in a tiny package.
The Chaszel Adapter
The Chaszel adapters come in a wide variety of sizes. This particular model comes in five, ten, and sixteen-inch long adapters. With the Brawler having a 9-inch barrel, I went with the five-inch model. These adapters are fully rifled, and the .32 S&W Long uses a 1:12 twist rate. Five inches of rifled bore or so are going to be enough to get the most out of the quaint .32 S&W Long.
The adapters have a small chamber and rim that allows them to align inside the .410 barrel. A slight cutout makes it easy to remove the cartridge. With .32 S&W Long, the cartridge was easy to remove. I imagine others might fit tighter, or steel case ammo will expand and get a little stuck in the adapter. In these cases, you can remove the adapter and punch rod it.
Overall, it’s a simple tool that uses a larger chamber portion to align reliably inside the barrel. The cost is about fifty dollars, and Chaszel delivered promptly.
Shooting With the Chaszel Adapter
The .32 S&W Long is known for its accuracy, so that was the most critical function to me. I used Magtech S&W Long ammo because I was foolish enough to buy a ton of it. Luckily, the Brawler hammer hit hard, so the hard primers weren’t a problem this time.
The .32 S&W Long rounds produced extremely nice groups. At 15 yards, I made a ragged hole. Out to 25 yards, in a rested position, I can create palm-sized groups. This made me quite happy, and I was picturing the rabbits I’d be tagging this fall. The one downside is that the rounds were all hitting high by about three inches at 25 yards and an inch or so at 15 yards.
The rail makes it easy to add a red dot, and I think that will be my next upgrade to take advantage of this caliber’s accuracy. My main fear would be how the .45 Colt would perform with a red dot. The zeroes will be different, so which one will I use? That’s not a question I’ve answered yet.
The rail is long, so maybe I’ll mount two dots! I’m serious, I might do that. I wondered if I removed and replaced the adapter, if that would affect accuracy. It didn’t seem to create issues. The high hits were still consistent.
Staying Reliable
I had no problems with reliability, but the reliability will likely be more determined by your gun than the adapter. The Magtech .32 S&W Long has super hard primers that suck in revolvers, but the single-action hammer of the Brawler strikes hard enough to ignite and fire. I only fired brass-cased, and each round was easy to remove with just my thumb.
The recoil was so light and cute; it was more akin to a .22LR than anything else I’ve fired from the Brawler. It was cute, quaint, and fun. Sure, it’s slow, but functional. I’m excited to see how rabbits will become stew this fall. You know, the rail is long enough for a thermal…
Chaszel Adapters – Worth It
The $50 adapter is a ton of fun. It’s simple, well-made, and rifled, so accuracy is spot on. It might be more useful for a single-action, shoulder-fired shotgun, but I’m having a ton of fun with this adapter in my Brawler. I’ll likely purchase more to see just how many calibers my Brawler can fire.
