Is it an "assault weapon?"

M

Monkeyleg

New member
This question came up over on the shotguns forum, but didn't get too far.

I have a Benelli M1 with a pistol grip and five shell tube. A dealer here has a good price on a 7-shot extension tube that I think makes the gun look "cooler." I already have the three-shell limiter that came with the gun. If it's in the 7-shell tube, thus limiting the gun to 4 shells, is the gun an AW?

I called our BATF office, asked, and was forwarded to an inspector. She didn't know and called the technical division in DC. They didn't know, and said I should write them a letter explaining what I want to do and they'll send a reply as to whether I "can" do what I was talking about.

This is really stupid. Why is the limit 5 shells on a shotgun and 10 rounds in a rifle?
Why 5? Why not 6? 8? What genius determined that anything over 5 shells is just tooooo dangerous? :mad:

Dick
 
I don't think you should have asked that question. You are probably now on Janet Reno's list of potential terrorists.
 
Well, I own a Mossberg Persuader withan 8-shot (factory) tube. Bought all legal-like, last year. Put a second pistol grip on the pump. That's about as evil as you can get. So far, no BATmen at my door....
 
Federally, I don't think there is a limit unless you are hunting. If you are hunting you can only have 2 + 1 in your shotgun.
 
It matters if the Benelli is a post 94 version. I believe that if it is a post ban semi-auto shotgun, it can have the magazine extension or the pistol grip, but not both.
 
Dennis, you are in the clear because your shotgun is a pump. You can even put a folder on it.

Monkeyleg, Destructo6 has it right. You can have a semiauto shotgun with a mag extension only with the conventional stock if it was made after 9/14/94. If your M1 with a pistol grip is a preban gun you are okay with a mag extension. The plug (3 shell limiter) you are referring to is removable and does not effect the law on mag capacity. I would assume that you could use a long mag tube for looks, but as in a 10 round post ban pistol or rifle mag it could not be 'readily comvertible' to hold more than the legal limit. Hard to do on a shotgun mag tube.

Regarding the 5 round vs. 10 round limit, I have been asking the same thing about rifles being allowed 16" barrels, but a shotgun must have an 18" barrel to avoid NFA classification. In other words, I don't know.
 
Jeff, I understand your point about the limiter being removable. It's been quite some time since I bought a 20-round AR15 magazine, but the last one I bought had a 10-round limiter in it, which could be removed. What if the limiter in the shotgun tube were epoxied in?

In the end, though, all of these provisions are so arbitrary that you could go insane trying to figure them out. On my petition to GW Bush, somebody left the comment that the person (me) who wrote the petition sounded like "a disgruntled, angry individual." Disgruntled? Angry? I think it's a bit more than that.

Dick
 
Monkeyleg, the Early ten round mags had a block in it that could be removed. These mags used the same bodies as the 20 rounders. With the passage of the Brady Bill in 1994 those mags were no longer legal to make. The post ban 10 round mags are substantially shorter and cannot be converted.

I don't think that epoxy will work. Most mag manufactures had to go to shorter mag tubes and use a thick butt plate to make up the space difference. Some mag makers, to allow them to be able to use the same body and floor plate, crimp the mag body to prevent follower travel then laser cut the mag body to prevent the crimps from being machined out. If what you wanted to do was legal all the mag makers would have to do is epoxy a stop inside the mag body to prevent the follower from going too far.
 
Well hell guys, If you can't hit em with the first 10 shots, Whoop out the pistol! All you would really have to do is match the tube size id and machine some threads and you can have a 100 shot shot-gun, but the problem is that the tube will be sticking out so far the "ducks" will see it before you get a shot off. There again you'll have to pay big bucks for a custom case to carry it in! If I had anything :eek: that might be considered illegal I sure as heck wouldn't be posting it on the big www!
 
Sumabich, I don't have the extension tube. I'd like to buy it, but why buy something that's illegal to attach to your gun?

If I were considerably wealthier, I'd give serious consideration to buying it, attaching it and calling the ATF to come down and look at it. And then spend the next five years fighting it in court. But that's how they always have us by the shorthairs. We pay for the hordes of government attorneys, while we cannot afford a single one for ourselves.

:mad:

Dick
 
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