Need info on Win. chamber adapter

[grizzly60]

I have a chamber adapter which is Win. Repeating Arms Co. marked & pat. date of Aug. 22, 1899.   .32-40 Win. use  .32 long or .32 short colt. I'd like to know which Win. rifle this was made for & its approx. value,in good condition.

[Rangr44]

IIRC, the only rifles Winchester was making in .32-40 at that time were the Model 1894 and the Model 1885 single-shot - but cartridge adaptors are made for cartridges, not specific guns.

That adaptor will work in any firearm that will allow it to feed through the action, albeit a levergun, a falling-block single-shot, or a break-open single or double rifle.

I have no clue as to worth, since it's valuable only to a Winchester collector, IMO - unless of course some shooter has a .32-40 rifle, no ammo, and wants to shoot something through it.

[Mikey]

grizzly60:  those adapters are made of steel and usually conform to the first chamber they are fired in, lever, bolt or single.  Once the adapter has been used it is sized to that chamber and may not fit another chamber.  If your chamber adapter fits a rifle chamber you currently own you have a real prize. 

I'm not sure they can be sized down again, being steel but possibly they can.  One gun writer wrote, recently, of reloading steel cases found on the range and although the chamber adapters are, by necessity, a bunch thicker than a steel shell casing, they made not be able to resize.  Maybe they can be resized is you use a bunch of sizing lube, and this would allow you to use the adapter in a rifle properly chambered. 

On the other hand I would opt for a new one and keep that as a collector's item.  I believe you can get new adapters from MCA Sports, and at least then you would know the proper adapter chambering.  HTH.  Mikey.