Smooth bore pistols

Most of the time, and I'm sure that I'm not alone, i lump NFA restricted arms in with illegal weapons. I don't mean to confuse issues or show ignorance, the fact is that certain weapons cannot be legally owned without a special permit for each weapon. The owner of unregistered NFA registered weapons are still violating laws and face prosecution and penalties.

I understand that manufacturing these weapons can only be done by special permit as well, whether it's the home gunsmith or a large scale maker, and those makers must provide the non standard weapons ONLY to resellers or individuals that have proper credentials.

I don't know enough about laws to go any farther.

I do have something to add, however, it seems that black powder doesn't fall under those restrictions. weapons change a lot of that. A blach powder blunderbuss that would ordinarily be restricted, say because of a short barrel, doesn't fall under those restrictions. I could be wrong, this is second hand, I did not read this directly.
 
Last edited:
I believe that the liberator came with four rounds in a storage magazine.

It's interesting that they bypassed NFA,so to speak, by not providing them to people within US jurisdiction. Our current system might raindrop them with a bill for $100 and demand that the be registered before using..
 
The modern reproduction of the LeMat mentioned by GWillikers is a muzzle loader and does not fall under federal regulations. A fellow I know made a modern .357 maximum reproduction of the lemat with a 20 ga barrel underneath. To make it legal, the 20 ga is rifled. A massive piece, I would not try to hold it up to shoot it. Presently it is on loan to the Whittington Center and is displayed at the museum there.
 
Rifling a 20 ga. barrel does not make it legal. The bore must be under .50 caliber-which the 20 ga. is not.

There are no "permits" for NFA weapons.
There is a procedure to follow and a tax to pay.
 
Many years ago I remember one state, I think it was Pennsylvania, had a regulation for deer hunting requiring the shotgun "to fire a single round ball."

The intent was to limit hunters to using a shotgun with shotgun slugs. But, at least for that season, the "round ball rule was enforced. Using a round ball in a smooth bore gun provided terrible accuracy, even less than that of an old musket.

Several writers tried, and published articles, splitting the ball and clamping a length of ribbon as a "tail" to stabilize the shot.

Don't remember the outcome.

Bob Wright
 
Here's the link he found: https://americanhandgunner.com/the-hower-12-shot-357-50/

HOWER-3.jpg
 
FWIW, I once tested my Liberator and found that I got about 16" "groups" at 50 feet. Strictly a close range weapon. (AFAIK, none were ever used in combat; the idea came from a fictional story and probably should have stayed fictional.)

Jim
 
Them boys used what in a sense was a "short musket" as a horse pistols. Smoothbore and large bore, flint then percussion. Loaded with paper carts. No real point in the expense of a rifled bore when galloping on horseback with a handgun so smoothbores were used until the Colts revolver came out. The old boys would carry a brace of "horse pistols" for a close in one-two punch before pulling their sabers or going to carbine at range.
 
When the contender first came out, IIRC, they sold a barrel that could fire .410. It was a .45 colt, standard rifling, and there was an muzzle attachment similar to a choke tube. The attachment just had a few ridges that protruded into the muzzle that would grab the wad and stop the rotation.
Click to expand...
Didn't TC also offer a special shot shell that had a huge soft plastic nose filled with shot? That screw in attachment shredded the shot filled nose & stopped the rotation.

IIRC, in both cases, there was no "safety device" that stopped using a solid slug in the barrel when the screw in attachment was n place.
 
For really close work in situations that were apt to be "motion filled" and very close range, we have the Howdah pistol. double smoothie.
 
On the subject of rifled barrels, Thompson Contender once made a .410 barrel for their pistol. To be legal, it had rifling. BUT the rifling was not spiral but rather straight lands and grooves that imparted no spin to the shot capsule.
Click to expand...

I've never heard of this, before. If T/C did make such a barrel, it would be a valued, rare collector's piece.

When the contender first came out, IIRC, they sold a barrel that could fire .410. It was a .45 colt, standard rifling, and there was an muzzle attachment similar to a choke tube. The attachment just had a few ridges that protruded into the muzzle that would grab the wad and stop the rotation.
Click to expand...

This is closer to the truth, though it wasn't "when the Contender first came out" as when the Contender first came out, .45Colt/.410 wasn't one of the calibers offered. That came several years later.

Also, the muzzle device came in two variants, over time, one fit inside the muzzle installed with a "key wrench". It has straight grooves, intended to counteract the spin imparted by the rifled barrel. It sort of works. I have one.

the other style is external to the muzzle, looks like the shotgun choke tube used on the Cutts Compensator. Also has the grooves to "straighten" the shot charge. This style is also used on the "Hot Shot" .44 and .357 barrels.

Didn't TC also offer a special shot shell that had a huge soft plastic nose filled with shot? That screw in attachment shredded the shot filled nose & stopped the rotation.
Click to expand...

This was the "Hot Shot" shell, a standard case with a long plastic shot capsule.

IIRC, in both cases, there was no "safety device" that stopped using a solid slug in the barrel when the screw in attachment was n place.
Click to expand...

True, there was no device that prevented this. T/C was very clear that the "straightener" must be REMOVED, before firing regular bullets. The only "safety" that prevented firing regular ammo with the tube in place was the intelligence and care of the user.
 
The Liberator was a single shot 45 acp pistol made by General Motors during the second World War. They made about 1 million of these things in about 6 months in 1942-43. The guns were made up oughta stamped steel parts, with the exception of a limited number of machined parts, the barrel being one of those. It cost about $2.10 to produce one of these. It was nicknamed the "Woolworth Pistol" after the "five and ten" store.

Smoothbores the effective range of the Liberator was 1-4 yards, according to the Army.

S&W and I believe Colt made a few of their standard revolvers in smoothbore about a century ago mostly for firing shot and for a few exhibition shooters who shot glass balls with shotshells. Now and again some were made for small flares.

tipoc
 
While the idea of the Liberator was that it would be air dropped to the French resistance, it never happened. By the time the Liberator was ready, things in France had passed the point where it would have been useful.

A few cases of Liberators were reportedly ground delivered (might have been by submarine) to Philippine fighters for use against the Japanese, but none were ever air dropped (or if they ever were, tiny numbers with no surviving documentation).

One fellow I knew got a smoothbore .38 special Colt Python. The .38 Python was intentional, the unrifled barrel was not. Colt was amazed the gun left the factory in that condition. (as far as I know they repaired it and sent it back, it was about 30 years ago...)
 
Jim Harvey, designer of the .22 Harvey Kay Chuk revolver, did a pretty good business in smoothbored choked shot revolvers until the Feds took judicial notice and classified them as sawn off shotguns.
 
simonrichter said:
Are there any types of smooth bore pistols besides the Liberator (and the Gyrojet, of course) featuring a smooth bore barrel?
Click to expand...
The original Liberator has a smooth bore and is exempted by ATF, the reproductions have to have a rifled barrel. The Gyrojet has a rifled barrel... barely - just enough to say it's not a smooth bore. It's tough to see, but if you ever get the chance to examine one, it's definitely there. The rifling does absolutely nothing, of course, as the projectiles get their spin from the angled rocket ports.
FWIW, I have both an original Liberator and a 12mm Gyrojet w/6 rounds. I've shot the Liberator with reduced loads, but not the Gyrojet. The Liberator holds 10 rounds in the grip. The ammo supplied with all Liberators was headstamped FA42.

https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192440
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top