T/C fan!

This SXS was passed down to me and it's been in the family since '39. From what my Dad has told me, it was orginally "specially ordered" for a one-armed doctor to hunt birds with. So, with its "history", the BATF will let it slide. Thanks for the info wolf.

driftrider

I guess I don't see the difference between a 20" smoothbore cylender bore slug barrel made in a factory and a 20" smoothbore cylinder bore barrel cut down from a longer gun, when they are effectively one in the same. I'd like to see the law that states that one is legal when the other is not. I went over to the BATF website and tried to search for it, but found nothing. Of course, like all other government websites, it isn't the pinnicle of efficiency of user friendliness, and apparently the search function is non-function because several searches using several keywords all failed to get any results.

Mike

T/C fan!

I agree Mike. I'd also like to see what the BATF has to say about it, but after reading wolfs' post, I'm kind skittish to email them about it. I've got a buddy that owns a gunshop and I may see if he can contact them and find out some info on it for me. I'll let you know what I find out of he can come through for me.

Carter

Briman

Cutting the barrel down to 18.5" on a shotgun is perfectly legal. Cutting it shorter than that is legal also provided that you have an approved $200 NFA tax stamp from the BATF in your hands at the time of the cutting, and the tax stamp is not very hard to get.

T/C fan!

Thanks briman, that makes me feel a little better.

HighDesertWolf

Briman good to know that, but without the stamp it would illegal right? But I was told by a gunsmith that it was illegal to alter the length of a barrel when I asked him to shorten and re crown a slug barrel for me. he stated you could lengthen a barrel I dont know how you would do that other then welding on a muzzle break LOL but it was illegal to shorten a barrel even if it was within the legal length limit. who knows........

Briman

Your gunsmith was probably using too much hoppes #9 without proper ventilation. People shorten shotgun and rifle barrels all of the time.

Illegal to shorten the barrel less than 18.5" and there is also an overall minimum length of a rifle/shotgun that must be met also.

Briman

Something that you need to be careful about though- the barrel length is measured from the breechface to the muzzle. Some shotgun barrels, especially pumps and semiautos have the bolt lock up into a barrel. If you were to take a barrel off a shotgun, measure its overall length, then cut, you would end up cutting it too short.

HighDesertWolf

Briman thats all good to know im gonna have it out over the phone with that gun smith lol he probably puts hoppes #9 in a wrag to huff on it he did seem like the lights were but nobody was home lol then take my slug barrel to another gunsmith its a 24 inch rifled slug barrel with rifle sights I want it down to 20 inches im trying to make a light weight slug gun for close range use ( for shots 50 yards or less) A buddy of mine wants to do a handgun mountain lion hunt and im wanting to make a good back up gun that ill be carrying I want it to be quick swinging and not berdan to carry all day long in some of the roughest mountain terrain in the southwest.

Briman

Here's what the official BATF regs say:
Short barreled rifle-a rifle having 1 or more barrels less than 16" in length and any weapon made from a rifle, whether by alteration, modification, or otherwise, if such weapon as modified has an overall lenght of less than 26 ".

Short barreled shotgun- A shotgun having one or more barrels less than 18" and any weapon..... less than 26" in overall length (paraphrased as it reads exactly as the short barreled rifle rules)