by Major Van Harl,
As the world turns to 9mm, so is the Short Lane Shotgun Adapter. For emergency situations when you need your 20ga shotgun to fire 9mm.
U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- European military and police have been using 9mm ammo in their handguns and machine pistols since WWI. The U.S. military switched from their WWI 45acp handguns in the mid-1980s to the NATO compatible 9mm handgun cartridge. U.S. law enforcement started their move to 9mm in the 1970s.
9mm is the best selling handgun cartridge in the world. Even the Russian and Chinese have switched to 9mm. So all the second and third world countries that fall under communist “inclusion” have moved to 9mm. This also means all the second and third world countries that fall under the influence of the west, are taking up the 9mm.
As the FBI goes, so goes the law enforcement community of the US. 40 S&W was all the rage of the 1990s and into the 2000s but there is a shift. Everyone in law enforcement who gives serious consideration about getting into a modern police shoot out, is carrying a long gun. Very few squad cars in today’s violent world roll out on patrol without a shotgun or more likely an AR-15 platform type of rifle in the vehicle.
The current thought process is you don’t need the power of the 45acp or the 40 S&W, so let’s shift to cheaper 9mm. The FBI is going to the high capacity 9mm and so thousands of law enforcement agencies across the US will also shift to 9mm, if they are not already there.
I am not a big fan of 9mm, but I do own a handgun chambered in that round of ammunition. It is the most readily available center-fire handgun cartridge in the world. There are very few places on earth that you could not find 9mm ammo. I could debate the advantages of using a larger more powerful handgun cartridge, in fact larger is what I would carry, but the world is headed to 9mm regardless of my concerns.
I am not going to build a custom made bolt-action rifle that is chambered in 9mm and take on the world. I can however see the versatility of having a shoulder fired weapon chambered in 9mm.
Short Lane Gun Adapters has the answer to shooting 9mm out of a long gun without buying one. Mr. Ray Banister has developed a rifled insert that is chambered in 9mm on the inside and chambered in 20ga on the outside. It is his Pathfinder model.
This allows the shooter to slip the 20ga to 9mm adapter into a break open 20ga shotgun and proceed hunting or stopping “walkers” effectively out to 80 yards with groups the size of your fist.
I have been shooting Mr. Banister’s adapters for years and I can tell you, you are not going to win any precision marksmanship contests using his inserts. What you will do is put food on the table and stop evil in a crisis situation.
I have been waiting for the 20ga to 9mm adapter for a couple of years. I have a Savage Model-24 in 223 / 20 ga and it has rifle sights. Slipping that 20ga to 9mm adapter into the Savage was meant to happen.
Most 9mm pistols have 3-4 inch barrels. Mr. Banister’s insert is a rifled 8-inch adapter. Shooting these Short Lane adapters are a lot of fun, regardless of the shotgun gauge to center-fire pistol cartridge you are using. With the weight of the long gun there is really no recoil.
The fact that a 50 round box of 9mm is a lot lighter and takes up a much smaller space than 50 rounds of 20ga shotgun shells, does not go unnoticed by the person trying to escape evil and dispatching “walkers” on the run.
I keep my Savage Model-24 rifle / shotgun broken down in a light weight canvas bag ready to deploy. The Short Lane Pathfinder 20ga to 9mm adapter will remain in the shotgun barrel so I do not allow it to become separated from the Model-24. The adapter also works very well in an H&R single shot 20 ga I have.
I am always talking about force multipliers. This is where you add something extra to an existing tool and you get an enhanced output. This enhancement of lifesaving capability is just what the Pathfinder adapter will provide.
My Pathfinder adapter was 20ga to 9mm, but Mr. Banister makes Pathfinder adapters in 12ga to 9mm and 16ga to 9mm. Again, I want to reiterate that 9mm pistol ammo is not the best thing out there in the ammo world, it is just the most available pistol cartridge out there in the ammo world. So in a crisis you can and will find 9mm ammo.
Short Lane does not recommend +P ammo for their adapters.
Tim Sundles at Buffalo Bore Ammunitions has his 24I, 9mm standard pressure ammo that uses a 147 gr JHP bullet. The round is moving out at 1000 FPS in a 4-inch handgun. Mr. Banister’s 20ga to 9mm Pathfinder adapter is 8 inches so you can add another 100 to 150 FPS to whatever 9mm ammo you are shooting out of the adapter.
This above round of 9mm ammo that Mr. Sundles makes will more than accomplish the mission of stopping evil or in a food emergency, harvesting a white tail deer at very close range. I know you don’t hunt deer with 9mm, but you do if it is a crisis and you are starving. You want to feed and defend your family in an emergency, of course it will work.
If you are a break-open shotgun owner you need to make a visit to the Short Lane website. Mr. Banister has adapters for 410, 16ga, 20ga and 12ga that allow you to shoot most of the mainline handgun cartridges used in the US.
These adapters are extremely easy to use and they develop an enhanced capability for your breach loading shotgun.
As I have said before they are also just a lot of fun to shoot.
Take a look at the entire Short Lane line of adapters and I am sure you can find more than one of these adapters that will bring improvement to your emergency shooting. Now, if “walkers” are not trying to have you for lunch then you can just enjoy the fun of shooting low recoil handgun ammo out of a shotgun.
Since “she” did not win the election, there is a glut of ammunition on the market. It is not just the imported 9mm ammo that is on sale. You can find brand name American 9mm for less than $10 a box of 50. Low-cost 9mm and low recoil shooting in a Short Lane adapter — it is a lot of fun. What else could you ask for?
About Major Van Harl USAF Ret.:
Major Van E. Harl USAF Ret., a career Police Officer in the U.S. Air Force was born in Burlington, Iowa, USA, in 1955. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Infantry School. A retired Colorado Ranger and currently is an Auxiliary Police Officer with the Cudahy PD in Milwaukee County, WI. His efforts now are directed at church campus safely and security training. He believes “evil hates organization.” vanharl@aol.com