ubetcha

Does anyone know offhand what the legal minimum rifle barrel length is ?
I think it is 16".The reason I want to know for sure is, I have a T/C contender and one of the bbl's I have is a 16" .223 rem. I do have a rifle stock and forend for it and do have a varmint scope on it.If I measure the bbl length from the muzzle to the breech when it is on the frame,it actually measures 16 1/4 ".I believe that this is both a legal rifle and handgun bbl,so it can be used either way.I would like to use it for coyotes' but want to be legal too.
Thank you for any help

HighDesertWolf

you are correct, it is 16". handguns are legal with any barrel length, you could put a 20 foot long barrel on a handgun and it would still be legal.

edit: just wanted to add, dont use your rifle stock with a pistol barrel that would be illegal

longrifle1000

HighDesertWolf is correct. 16" minimum barrel length on a rifle. And usually, the shortest you can get is 16.25". That way their isn't a chance of it being 15.99", which would be illegal.

mauser06

buy a class 3 stamp for it and anything is legal....but you and everyone else is correct....16inches for rifles and shotguns........

ubetcha

Thanks Guys for the fast reply.I thought it was 16'',but it certainly doesn't hurt to be sure.I do know that putting a rifle stock on a shorter bbl is illegal,but just making sure that the 16 wasn't.
One of the reasons I asked this was I just saw an ad in an NRA meeting flyer that I got in the mail because the meeting was in Milwaukee Wi which is near me,and Ruger has a new rifle out called a Handi-rifle.This rifle comes with a 16 1/2 bbl in several caliber and uses a long eye relieve scope( at least thats what the picture shows).The calibers are .223,243.300 win mag( I think) and maybe one more.Sounded interesting.
Thanks again for you help

ubetcha

oops
-sorry Guys.I just found the Ruger ad again and I was wrong.It's called a Frontier Rifle and it's chambered for.243,7mm-08,.300 wsm,.308 win,and.325wsm
Open mouth--insert foot,but start brain before opening mouth

HighDesertWolf

nope, 16" for rifles 18" for shotguns........

HighDesertWolf

a handi-rifle is a break barrel gun from NEF.

8mm/06

Don't forget that regardless of barrel length there is also an "overall" legal length. It is possible for a shotgun to have a sufficiently long barrel, but be illegal because the stock hase been altered so that overall length is shorter than allowed.
I probably have the info around here something from my FFL days, but off the top of my head I forget the overall length dimensions for rifles and shotguns.

8mm/06

Wikipedia is saying that shotguns must be overall at least 28 inches and on another source I found that it said rifles must be overall length of at least 26 inches. Not sure how accurate this is....anybody still got their FFL rule books laying around?