handling everything up to 3 1/2 inches in length. This same feature could also be used to make more compact shells — if you want to go to all this work. Reducing the overall length of the shell from its standard 2 3/4-inch length to 2 inches, f or example, would give you a few more bangs before reloading the magazine; this might be a consideration if you're using one of these guns for self-defense. Depending on the reloading mechanism on the particular gun, you should anticipate failures to feed if you shorten the case too much: loading mechanisms are designed to feed in shells of a certain dimension. If you have access to a drill press or a lathe, you can create metal sub-caliber devices from brass or aluminum that will accommodate a pistol cartridge, centering it in an adapter that has the outer dimensions of a shotgun shell. Of course, the pistol bullet will have a pretty low velocity when it leaves the shotgun since the barrel won't contain the gases behind the bullet. For this reason the "barrel" of the insert should be as long as is practical and exactly the same diameter as the bullet. A 16-gauge shell can also be made to fit in the 12 gauge by wrapping the smaller 16 gauge with tape or paper, this is not safe, however, and 16-gauge shells are usually less common than 12 gauge, making this a doubtful proposition at best. Wrapping a 20-gauge shell and jamming it into a 12-gauge barrel's chamber might work, but it is also dicey. I've heard stories about people who claim to have fired .50-caliber BMG cartridges from 12 gauge shotguns; I have to say I have serious doubts about such a practice. Though this would likely produce spectacular muzzle blasts, the velocity would have to be rather low, with more bark than bite, as the bullet and top of the brass cartridge rattle down the bore. Probably a better bet would be to pull the bullet from a .50-caliber BMG cartridge, cut the cartridge shoulder off (making it a straight-walled case) , and then peening a rim on the head so it would headspace in a 12-gauge chamber (and maybe even catch the extractor claw on the bolt after the shell has been fired, if you're lucky) . A serious word of caution: Don't try anything with the .50-caliber BMG cartridge in a shotgun unless you're facing certain death. Even then, you should realize that using this combination will most likely destroy your firearm and injure or kill you. Loading the cartridge with a 0.729-inch-diameter bullet would give you a potent round because this is the inner diameter of a 12-gauge barrel. Obviously, you'd want a very soft-lead bullet if you had any choke on the shotgun barrel — the less the better with this or other slug loads . A more practical way of firing odd rounds of ammunition in a gun not originally designed for them is to use cartridge adapters, which have been marketed over the years by Marble and other companies . Harry Owen was one of the more notable successes in creating viable forms of these adapters. His operation has since been taken over by Bill Herrick, who sells the adapters through MCA Sports. Harry Owens' original units consisted of brass adapters that took up the slack in space between the chamber and a small cartridge; the newer units offered by MCA Sports are tougher and made of stainless or blued steel, but work basically the same way. The MCA Sports adapters could be worth their weight in gold — or ammunition — if the stores close for good. To use an adapter, it first has to be loaded with the smaller cartridge that is to be fired from it. Then the adapter is chambered like a regular cartridge (easing the bolt forward by hand because releasing the bolt of a gun with a free-floating firing pin can sometimes fire a pistol cartridge in an adapter) . Once the cartridge in the adapter has been fired, the bolt is manually cycled and the adapter caught before the ejector can toss it into the grass. Reloading is a slow process; the empty has to be pushed out with a stick or other small object and a new cartridge placed in it. (With the .22 rimfire adapter, the procedure is much the same, but a small firing pin assembly goes behind the cartridge to transfer the force of the gun's firing pin from the center of the adapter to the edge of the rimfire cartridge.) In addition to the lower recoil the smaller rounds offer, the report is also softer, making them ideal for quiet hunting or inconspicuous self-defense. MCA's blued steel adapters cost about $19, whereas stainless adapters run around $27. The more common adapter chamberings permit firing .22 LR as well as .22 Shorts, .22 Longs, or .22 CB Longs in the .223; a similar adapter allows firing .22 Magnum rimfire cartridges in the .223. These adapters are also available for the .222 Remington chambering. For those having .30 caliber rifles, adapters that permit firing the .30-caliber carbine or the .32 ACP in the .308 Winchester, .300 Winchester Magnum, and .30-06 are also available. Other adapters are also available from MCA from time to time. As far as actually making brass cartridges from scratch is concerned, the task is next to impossible for anyone other than a skilled machinist. The casting and swaging is a complicated