Indians For Guns

what imported/indian make 3 inch chambered guns are available in india? can 3" eley alplamax cartridges no. bb , lg,sg , contractile ball be fired safely in 70mm chambered guns?

The most common Eley Alphamax is a 2-3/4 round, should fire through any 70mm chambered gun. The Alphamax magnum is also available as a 3" round, for that you will need a 3 inch chambered gun, something not that common. Though a 3 inch cartridge (when loaded it is 2-3/4 inch, on firing the case pens and it becomes 3 inch) will chamber and fire in a 2-3/4 inch gun, it is not considered safe and appropriate (the pressure gets too high when the longer case expands into the shorter forcing cone).

BTW LG and SG are banned and moreoever why do you need a gun for a specific cartridge, which is uncommon in India, just curious!

The only advantage in a 3" chambered 12 gauge shotgun in India is that one can fire all sizes of 12 bore ammo (that does not exceed 3" length) from it without the fear of bursting the gun. Though I haven't seen a 3.5" shell in this gauge for a long long time and the last few I saw were part of someone's cartridge collection.
The concept of 3" shell is basically American as the Geese hunters wanted a shotgun to shoot dense patterns at longer distances. Of course much before that the Britishers designed some special shotguns,also called Jungle Guns, Explora, Paradox etc with 3.5" chambers aimed at Indian market where during that era, it was not uncommon to flush out a tiger, Wild Buffalo or a Rhino while expecting a Snipe to fly out from the swamps. These shell were mostly made in brass with conical lead bullets.
I am sure there must be some 3" shotguns still circulating in Indian market if you kept a look out for them.
Incidentally , I too possess a a 3" Magnum O/U shotgun for last 20yrs but have yet to fire a 3" shell from it.

Marksman

just wished to fire a eley bb alphamax am quite unsure if to attempt it in a 70 mm chambered gun. although i measured the cartridge it was exact 70 mm and fits the chamber well the dealer who sold it to me insists it should be fired in a 3 inch chambered gun only. i have many relatives who own good guns if i know what exact gun shall be suitable to fire it i may be lucky eneough to get my hands on one borrowing it for a day or two.

Mahboob,
Please understand that the chamber length described on a particular shotgun is the length of the shell after it has been fired. A shell that is supposed to be 70mm will be much shorter when factory loaded(unfired) and likewise with every shell, especially the crimped ones. Only the shells types like our 2.5" KF shells which are roll crimped will show very slight difference between fired and unfired shells.
In laymen's words, a 2 3/4" shell will easily fit in a 2 1/2" chambered shotgun and likewise a 3" shell will comfortably slip into a 2 3/4" chamber. The good news is that the shotgun will fire . It may blow up the face or the hand of the guy holding that unfortunate shotgun, that's the bad news.
Would you like to go ahead and take your chances?

Marksman

My grandfather had a W W Greener DBBL with chamber for 3 inch cartride .The gun was purchased in late 1920s when he was serving in than British India's Province of Bihar & Orissa from a gun shop in Main Road of Ranchi. Since the early 1960s , ie my early childhood till his passing away in 1978, we had about 30 Eley Alphamex 3 inch LG cartridges.The colour of the case was dark red, as compaired to the pinkish red of other cartridges of the same make. However, these were kept as reserve ,as according to him these were ment for killing of dacoits. According to him this gun and these particular type of cartridges were best for deer hunting, next only to his Winchester 375 rifle.With the banning of deer hunting after independence, these remained mostly in the ammunation box. We were generally using Eley ( spellin may be incorrect ) No.1 and No. 4 for killing ducks and other birds in the countryside. In 1980, with the change of time the elders of the family decided to sell the gun with all other arms of my grandfather. The same was done at a shop in Kashmiri Gate

@ Marksman and indiaone ,thanks , have peen preserving there cartridges since long they belonged to my grand father and then to my father , just the same case as what indiaone explained these were considered the best and since being scarce were considered to be kept for self defence but those with me were LG and SG , about a week ago i purchased some BB rounds alplhamax from a dealer in upper bazar ranchi and was anxious to try them but unfortunately i had sold out my fathers gun which i now guess must have been 3" chambered .

I have Webley & Scott Double barrel 12 gauge gun with 32 inch barrels with Greener type cross bolt. It has 3 inch chambers which is inscribed on the top rib. It is proof marked for one and half ounce of shot weight. 3 inch chambered British guns were basically water fowlers which were specifically made to order. It is having elongated forcing cones generally seen only on high quality shotguns.Both barrels are so perfectly aligned that it shoots as straight as rifle.In olden days the barrel alignment regulation of DB gun was done manually at range by firing several shots to achieve the best alignment. It added to the cost as more than one day went into barrel regulation of single shotgun.That is one reason that the British shot guns in those days were expensive.They were made to perfection as cost was not considered the primary objective.I have fired 3 inch magnum Remington slugs from both barrels.I was immensely pleased with the accuracy of the gun.