https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2z1aEeJh0I
Although the Chiappa X-Caliber was actually first shown at SHOT Show 2014, it only started shipping a few months ago. It’s a lightweight survival gun configured as a break-open over/under with a 12 gauge shotgun barrel on top and a .22 LR barrel on bottom and a dual extractor in between. What truly makes it a survival gun is that it can shoot at total of 10 different calibers, including. . .
.380 ACP, 9mm Luger, .40 S&W, .357 Magnum / .38 Special, .45 ACP, .44 Magnum, .410 gauge / .45 LC, and 20 gauge. I guess that’s actually 12 calibers, even if Chiappa doesn’t seem to count the two “bonus” ones — .38 Spl. and .45 LC — in the X-Caliber name (assuming the X means 10).
This caliber swapping power is provided through a set of 8, 12-gauge caliber adapter inserts. They’re somewhere between 7 and 8 inches long, and they are rifled:
The inserts are also sold without the firearm in complete kits of all 8 adapters or individually, and they’ll fit in most any break-action 12 gauge shotgun.
Also unique is the X-Caliber’s stock, which is made from sealed polypropylene foam sandwiched between steel sideplates. Supposed to be very light, while absorbing some recoil and retaining good strength. Looks like you can store some 12 ga shells and .22 LR rounds in it as well.
12 ga on top, .22 LR on bottom, extractor in the middle.
The X-Caliber is also available with a 20 gauge shotgun barrel on top, but it doesn’t accept any of the adapters.
Tyler is working on a full review. Watch this space.
X means “fill in the blank” or in math, a variable.
Or 10 in Roman numerals.
Good catch.
X is the Roman number for 10 they are made by an Italian company Rome in in Italy get the confection DUHHHH
even a girl knows that
Sounded like a play on “Excalibur” to me.
Her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft X-calibur
from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I,
Amercian male was to carry X-calibur.
You cant expect to wield supreme power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!
-Dennis
Help, help, I’m being repressed!
Bloody peasent!
“Now we see the violence inherent in the system!!”
I’m not dead, yet!
Well, I didn’t vote for you.
Strange women lying about in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!
Ni !!!
“Oh, what sad times are these when passing ruffians can `nee’ at will to
old ladies. There is a pestilence upon this land, nothing is sacred.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable
economic stress at this period in history.”
PS –
Shrubberies should be nice, but not too expensive…
$600.00 ?? I’ll get one for fun after the rush. (read $300) Love the mall ninja rails on it………please
It’s the set of caliber adapters that accounts for most of the asking price. The 8-piece adapter kit alone has an MSRP of $450 and is available at places like KYGunCo for ~$380, or purchased individually they go for around $45-ish. Not unfair considering it’s a basically a 7-8″ pistol barrel that’s machined precisely enough to fit snugly in a 12 gauge, but purchase 8 of them and it adds up.
IMHO, the only way I see the price on the gun changing is if the market isn’t willing to buy it with the entire adapter set and Chiappa starts selling the gun by itself. Then you’ll see it for a couple hundred bucks and can spend $45 a pop for the adapters you want. But, as of now, the gun is only sold with the complete adapter kit AFAIK.
What’s up with it looking like a lever action?
My guess is the lever releases the break action barrel and misleads people into thinking that these are lever-action repeater rifles.
I see two potential problems with this platform if you operate an eight inch barrel insert within the 12 gauge barrel.
(1) Will the ATF consider this a short barreled rifle which is subject to the National Firearms Act of 1934 … which requires registration and a $200 tax stamp?
(2) Will the ATF consider the eight+ inches of 12 gauge barrel that extends beyond the eight inch barrel insert to be a suppressor which is also subject to the National Firearms Act of 1934 … which also requires registration and another $200 tax stamp?
Let’s write the ATF a letter and see!!!!
Great idea! Let’s also make sure we write several letters for each individual insert too.
Leave BATF alone. If enough folks write about this it will make them think and you know what happens when the think….
No. Barrel inserts for shotguns have been around for-freakin’-ever and they’re completely legal. And a permanently-attached “barrel shroud” is considered barrel length, just like a permanently-attached flash hider or other muzzle device is. Since you’re putting the 8″ barrel inside of the 18.5″ shotgun barrel the total barrel length as far as the ATF is concerned is 18.5″.
If you had a .22lr adapter in a 12 ga and were shooting subsonic loads, how much muffling would the rest of the 12 ga barrel provide?
Hypothetically speaking, of course…
*cough*
For all I know, it could act as an echo chamber and make it louder. It ain’t a silencer without certain features like baffles and such anyway. Or “design intent.” Usually. Subsonic .22 won’t be particularly loud out of an 18.5″ .22 LR barrel anyway… not silencer quiet, but somewhat quiet-ish when shooting outside.
I once had a dream in which I was young and didn’t know about certain laws and happened to notice that a 2 liter bottle fit snugly on the muzzle of my Yugo SKS. In this dream I thought, hey, it might be fun to shoot it with an empty 2 liter on the business end to see if it silences the gunshot. Much to my surprise, the ensuing 20-second-long echo off all of the mountains in N’Idaho confirmed that I was dead wrong, and I had simply added a high pressure air bomb drum to the end of the gun. Good times. Dream times.
Maybe SilencerCo should make a Salvo variant that’s shotgun silencer on top and .22 LR silencer on bottom. One silencer, one gun, 12 calibers haha
Think of it as an 8″ barrel with a really long flash hider. should be no legal probs.
Similar to combination (Drillings) guns that are popular here in Germany. Except the insert barrels are wildly expensive, over 1000 Euro for each insert. If this gun can fire somewhat straight it seems like a pretty good deal
my survival gun would be 308WIN on top, 12GA on the bottom.
Savage used to make one, a buddy of mine had one, surprisingly accurate for a pencil thin barreled .308, and the 12 gauge was… well a 12 gauge
Make it a 20 ga. over a .22mag at a reasonable price and ditch the heavy extra barrels and I’d be interested.
Well they do make it as a 20 gauge over a .22 LR at a significantly lower price (the barrel inserts are most of the price of the 12 ga one). There are no inserts for the 20 gauge one. If you were really motivated, a gunsmith could ream the .22 LR chamber out to .22 WMR for you.
There are other manufacturers that make adapters for 20 gauge shotguns. You could use one of those.
My family has one of those – that was my go-to rabbit & squirrel gun when I was a teenager, with a hollow point in the .22 magnum barrel in case I ran into a wild dog or coyote. If I had run into a pig, the bullet (hell, probably the whole weapon) was the appetizer to distract him while I ran for a tree.
I have no idea who the manufacturer was, have to ask Dad. But it’s been in the family for at least 40 years and probably longer.
What I really want is a .223 over 12ga, like Savage used to make (24F?). This gives you .22LR as well, with a chamber insert, but the ability to scale up to .223 gives so much more versatility.
Even better if such a rifle would have an integrated chamber insert (or equivalent) to switch between .22 and .223 for the same barrel. Something like having two chambers on a sliding selector that locks in place.
I think this might be the answer to that Trunk Gun thread.
Its a cool idea, but they need to ditch the side rails that really don’t do anything, and rethink that stock. All the square edges look a bit uncomfortable. What I would prefer is a hollow synthetic stock. That way you could actually make it a “survival” gun, or at the least store the inserts.
The rails are all individually removable. Attached with Torx bolts.
how come these kits no longer come with adapters for 5.56 or 7.62 like they used to when first advertised?
I must have missed that or forgotten about it. If I were to venture a somewhat random guess, I’d say maybe the pressures were deemed too high? Although, yeah, the insert should handle that and once the bullet leaves the end of it the pressure is going to drop really quickly, the chamber pressure of a 12 gauge shell is up to 11,500 psi and the chamber pressure of a 5.56 round is up to 62,366 psi. Maybe this doesn’t have anything to do with it though… could be the breech face of the gun isn’t made to handle that much pressure or recoil energy on such a small case head? I dunno. Maybe accuracy of the inserts isn’t quite sufficient to really justify a rifle round? …I’m sure Tyler’s testing will vet the accuracy from the inserts…
It has to do with the burn rate. 5.56 isn’t designed to burn in an 8″ barrel, so there would be a massive pressure fluctuation when the bullet exits the insert, and the remaining powder behind it gets burnt in the open area around it. This is just a guess, but it’s the best I can come up with. Think about it like minimum barrel length requirements for suppressors. 8″ is way too short. Also notice the calibers mentioned are all pistol calibers that would burn fully (or close to it) in 8″.
If they really felt like it they could always make a much longer insert haha. Heck, make a 19.25″ insert with a threaded muzzle so you can drop the 5.56 or .308 or other rifle caliber one into the 12 gauge barrel and then thread a muzzle brake or suppressor to the end 🙂
A full length drop in fitted barrel instead of an 8″ drop in fitted barrel? And you thought the first set of adapters was expensive!
Haha yeah. As the manufacturer I’d probably use standard or bull barrel blanks, which can be had in excellent quality for very low cost. Chamber ’em, cut ’em down to the right length, and through whatever ‘permanent’ means chosen affix one bushing sleeve around the chamber end and one near the muzzle end that fit snugly into the 12 gauge barrel. Would be WAY easier than trying to machine a ~19.5″ version of one of the X-Caliber pistol caliber adapters. Barrel blanks are cheap. Adding a sleeve to either end would be pretty simple.
chamber pressure on floating firing pin ??
I understand the appeal of the lightweight stock, but it makes it look like a Made in China toy.
Now THIS is the ultimate survival gun! The only glaring deficit I can immediately see is leaving out .22 WinMag, as that would seem to be a no-brainer.
Would you have to re-zero the sights each time you change inserts?
Yes. It sucks a little.
Yes (well, or you can compensate). But they’re not particularly accurate, anyway.
Are they going to put RFID tags in them and then make fun of me when I get upset about it?
X-calibur means the “caliber” is variable. or you can smack people with it like a sword.
The adapters are very good – much better (read more accurate) than I initially expected them to be. I can hit a 6″ reactive target at 25 yards. Certainly minute of badguy or bobcat.
The 44 magnum is a lot of fun to shoot. The 357 and the 9mm are really practical. I have never seen the originally advertised set with 308, 7.62×39 and 223 in the “wild” and an adapter for 7.62×39 is available from a custom shop in Alaska – they also do a 44-40 and some others. A german company does a wide range of rifle adapters as well.
Completely useless for now -.- just got mine and none of the adapters let my gun close. They seem like they fit in tight but the gun just doesn’t latch shut. Now to buy a gun that will work… Or abandon the set
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