Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Having Trouble Understanding Shotgun Laws

I would like to buy a "name brand" shotgun to carry in the bush, but I'm struggling to understand the laws. Can I buy a Mossberg or Winchester factory shotgun with a long barrel and replace it with a factory barrel (from those manufacturers or another company) in the 12"-14" inch range as long as it has not been modified after leaving the manufacturer? Do these companies sell short barrels in Canada and if not could I import just a barrel from the U.S. and still be legal? How about buy a Mossberg Shockwave in the U.S., change it to a regular stock (I don't think it can be a short barrel and pistol grip stock) and import? I'm really not interested in a Norinco, Canuck Defender, Grizzly, AKKAR or similar.

I really just want a traditional stocked shotgun with a short barrel, but darn this seems to be a ridiculous regulation.

Thanks Wyatt

North6120:
Good evening to you Wyatt, I hope that this finds you well other than the shotgun quandary.

I believe that while you've asked the question in the Canuck section of the 'Fire, what you've got to solve is whether or not what you want to end up with will be legal at home for you in Alaska, no?

When I read about the short Mossberg offering with the odd grip - they are careful not to call it a "pistol grip" I note - it it, in my limited Canadian understanding - done in order to fit into the "any other weapon" category to satisfy a requirement of your ATF folks.

If you have a regular stock on a short barreled arm, will you not end up with a Short Barreled Rifle - SBR - which will need a tax stamp and registration much like a suppressor or short barreled AR variant?

Anyway, it could be a case similar to certain mufflers for autos sold here years ago. It wasn't illegal for you to buy them and it wasn't illegal for someone to sell them to you or install them on your car for that matter. What was emphatically illegal, was for you to drive the car on a road with that muffler installed......

In other words, you may well be able to import all the parts, but when you assemble said parts, you may then be breaking some laws - or not - I'm not sure.

Hopefully that was at least a foundation for useful research for you sir. Good luck with your short shotgun quest and on your hunts this fall too.

Dwayne

LESS THAN 18.5″/470mm BARREL LENGTH RULES:

CC s. 84(1) “restricted firearm” (b): If a firearm has a barrel length less than 18.5″/470mm AND is centrefire AND is semi-automatic, that combination forces the firearm into the “restricted firearm” class. In such a case, IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW THE BARREL ARRIVED AT THAT LENGTH. The rule is the same regardless of how it ARRIVED at the too-short length — but note carefully that this rule is overridden by the rule just below if the barrel is SHORTENED BY CUTTING IT DOWN OR BY SUBSTITUTION to less than 18″/457mm. That is a case of “the specific overrides the general.”

Therefore, a Browning Auto-5 or Remington Model 11-87 shotgun with an 18-5/8″/474mm barrel is non-restricted. Cut the barrel to 18-1/4″/464mm and it becomes a “restricted firearm.” Cut it again — to 17-7/8″/454mm — and it becomes a “prohibited firearm.” It is amazing how cutting 3/8″/10mm rings off its barrel changes the basic character of the firearm, with less than an inch of overall length change!

If you then refit the firearm with a 20″ barrel, it becomes a non-restricted firearm again. It doesn’t HAVE to make sense, it’s GOVERNMENT POLICY.


Click Here

In short, you can't have a shotgun in the field with a barrel less than 18.5 inches.

Sorry, I should have clarified my post better! I have a PAL and RPAL and this will only be used/never imported back into the United States. Also, I am talking a pump or break action shotgun, not semi-auto.

I know I can carry less than an 18" barreled originally equipped shotgun (AKKAR or similar) into the bush and I cannot cut a barrel down below 18 that came longer, but can I put on a replacement "factory" 14" and be legal.

Guess I will give the RCMP a ring.

Thanks

North6120:
Good evening to you sir, I hope the day treated you acceptably and this finds you well.

As far as I'm aware, as long as the barrel is a "factory" barrel or aftermarket manufactured to be that length - that is to say not a factory barrel cut down - then on anything other than a semi-auto you're good to go.

Guys were doing this to make 16" Trapper length 94's and there was no problems that I was ever aware of.

If you're not already on gunnutz, then it's a good place to start looking for parts for what's known as "black and green" shotguns up here.

That said, I'd think the only other fly in the ointment would be an original Mossberg or Remington barrel may well cost more up here across the medicine line than an entire Turkish shotgun.

As noted in other spots, I picked up an Uzkon to play with a couple years back just to see what they were like and so far I'm not unhappy with it whatsoever.

Hopefully that was some use to you sir, good luck on your quest and by all means feel free to give us a shout if you think I can be of any assistance.

Dwayne

walt501;
Good evening to you sir, I hope all is well in your part of the world tonight.

The information which you posted - thanks for doing so by the way - is correct as far as I'm aware.

That said, it perhaps needs to be clarified that the Canadian government has always had an unnatural and inexplicable phobia regarding any semi-auto firearms - so we can have pump, lever or hinge action arms of much, much shorter lengths and nobody so far blinks.

It's common to see 13" barreled shotguns in the bush here - as North6120 says - but you're also correct in that they're not semi-autos.

Far and away the most common are either Chinese or Turkish pumps, though it's not exactly rare to see some very abbreviated hinge actions - but honestly I see them more either at gun shows or the range. The prospectors, timber cruisers and fishing folks are typically running a pump shotgun.

Anyway that's just a bit of extra info on our odd gun laws and nothing more. All the best to you all this fall.

Dwayne