Was chatting by email with a militaria crony, and the talk turned to deals that had fallen through. One such deal was for a batch of 37mm training rounds. These were sheetmetal formed into the chamber shape of the 37mm round, and had a .22 barrel and chamber down the centerline, with a spring clip to offset the strike from center to the rim of the .22 cartridge. A unique bit of the frugal antebellum history of our nation. Not at all common, either. Also, only really handy if you own an DD in that caliber.
No, what I next thought of, and on-topic for here, was the ads that used to be in the backs of the magazines for those sub-caliber gizmos, the ones that would let you make a "gallery" sort of load using a .32 in 30-06 dimensioned fixture.
So, I'm wondering, "What happened to those gizmos?"
Ok, so .32 rounds are not that cheap anymore. And, the gizmos are likely to be a grimy thing to clean, and likely finicky in use. But, still, where'd they go?
There are a few still on the Market like the Alex and of course Kreighoff tubes.
I even have some made by Uncle Sugar to fire 22Shorts in the 1903.
When I have old barrel stubs that I'm tired of looking at, I have a habit of throwing them in the lathe and making adapters from them. p[robably sell 15-20 of them a year.
Just made a 357 adapter and a 44 Mag adapter for my old 20 ga Ithaca 66. Have had a 30WCF adapter for it made from a 1903 bbl when I was in High school.
If you are ever looking for something to do with old tomato stake bbls, that's the project
Biggest commercial producer these days is
http://www.mcace.com/adapters.htm
Sam
http://www.lothar-walther.de/3.php
You can get all sorts of neato adapter gizmos from these guys.
I've got a desire for a 7.62x54R / .22LR adapter, as well as a .22/357 or .22/44 kit for one of my revolvers.