You could always email T/C the serial number to see what configuration it was sold as. However, I did once ask them, and they said they've had all their frames technically classified as pistols now. That would explain why my mom had so much trouble buying my dad's Pro Hunter muzzleloader all those years ago. I think in my state you had to have a license to buy a handgun (that you were basically issued when you buy the handgun) back then, but it required additional documentation other than just a driver's license. There wouldn't have been any reason for her to have had to go through all that just to buy what would technically be considered a rifle if the frame wasn't classified as a pistol.