Smooth Bore Pistols

4

45ACPShooter

New member
I was reading about weapons restricted by the NFA and I was wondering why smooth bore pistols capable of firing shotgun shells are.
 
Because, technically, being smoothbore makes them "sawed off shotguns", even if they don't chamber actual shotshells.
Silly? yes!
 
And isn't there a condition that restricts "hand gun" ammo to under .50 cal or some such number? If there is, anything larger than a .410 bore would be too large to be called "a handgun capable of also firing a shotgun shell" whether it is smooth or rifled... And IIRC, the rifling in the Taurus judge is very much shallower than most in the .45 colt chamber...

Brent
 
.500

And isn't there a condition that restricts "hand gun" ammo to under .50 cal or some such number?
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IIRC - it is for .500 and under. That is why S&W made their big pistol .500 on the nose.
For legal smoothbore pistols, you have to go to BP weapons. Perhaps that is one reason for the popularity of Howdah pistols nowadays.
Pete
 
The reason they are NFA is because the NFA requlations say they are NFA?

Everything that is NFA is because the NFA requlations say they are NFA?
 
When they turned sawed off shotguns into restricted weapons, they had to first define what a sawed off shotgun was and one of the things that defines a shotgun was having no rifling in the barrel.
So, the Judge revolver has just enough rifling in the barrel to keep it from being defined as a sawed off shotgun. Technically it is chambered for .45 Long Colt ammo but .410 shotshells just happen to chamber in it.
 
It does seem strange to single out ALL smoothbore pistols.

The >.50" part would already cover all sawed-offs chambered in anything bigger than .410, and it doesn't seem to me that a .410 has enough zap to write such a clumsy exception for.

I wonder if it was intended to regulate zip-guns.
 
kozak6 said:
I wonder if it was intended to regulate zip-guns.
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Probably not, sawed off rifles are illegal also unless they were manufactured as pistols by the manufacturer if I understand the laws correctly.
 
Not necessarily. "Sawed off rifles" are legal just like Short Barreled Shotguns are legal if properly registered under the NFA.
 
There is one smooth bore pistol that has been specifically exempted from the purview of the NFA and declared a C&R, and that is the original .45 Liberator pistol.

A repro is now being made, but I understand it has some "rifling" in the barrel. It also comes with the firing pin hole not drilled out and the maker says the buyer really shouldn't make it shootable. Hmmm!

Jim
 
If "gangsta rappers" started shooting folks with pistols with bayonets attached to them, they would be labeled "restricted" under the NFA too.
 
Hey, guys, get off "the regulations" thing. That whole short barrel gun business is in the law, not just in the regulations.

Write your Congressperson and spare us uninformed rants.

Jim
 


Following along with this, if I were to make an insert that chambered .410 shotgun shells and that insert slipped into a metal-framed 25mm marine signal flare gun, would I be in violation of any laws??

Since it was never a "shotgun", I don't think it can become a shotgun just because I drop a brass adapter into it...

I know the BATF will pass up no opportunity to use the sawed off shotgun law against anyone they can so I don't want to fall into that trap...

Any thoughts? :confused:
 
Following along with this, if I were to make an insert that chambered .410 shotgun shells and that insert slipped into a metal-framed 25mm marine signal flare gun, would I be in violation of any laws??

Since it was never a "shotgun", I don't think it can become a shotgun just because I drop a brass adapter into it...

I know the BATF will pass up no opportunity to use the sawed off shotgun law against anyone they can so I don't want to fall into that trap...

Any thoughts?
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As long as it's a rifled insert, it would be ok under Federal law. State laws are another thing entirely :barf:.
 
Not meaning to hijack the thread, but a guy in Phoenix just sold an unregistered H&R Handy Gun on Guns America, even after someone warned him about it. He claimed it is listed as a C&R and therefore not subject to any of the NFA regs. Obviously, he missed the major point that, even though it is reclassified as a C&R, it is still subject to all provisions of the NFA. It will be interesting to see what Guns America and/or BATF does about it.

Here's the item number in case anyone wants a looksee: 10246142.
 
No, it can't. The rifling must be at least a very slight twist. Personally, I love my 1-in-90" twist .410 barrel... doesn't effect the shot at all. :)
 
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