Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters For the purposes of science...

For the purposes of scientific experimentation...

Are there any legal issues with screwing a 45 ACP barrel onto a Savage bolt action and testing it ?

For example, having a 24-inch long barrel chambered in 45 ACP and using both 45 ACP and 45 Super loads testing velocity while cutting the barrel shorter and shorter.

Assume no conventional stock but a machine fixture to hold the action while firing and chronographing loads.

Assume a Savage Striker action if it beneficial to the argument.


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I would think that using a action that was serial numbered to a rifle at the factory would have a legal issue tied to it. Using an original Striker would be legal.

Is it legal to have a 24-inch barrel Striker ?

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A handgun can have a barrel as long as you like. A rifle must have a minimum of 16." Chambering means nothing, so if you want to put a 24" barrel on a pistol, then have at it. And if you're going to use a rifle action, you have to stop your cutting at 16"

Mr. Hammer1;
I am reading this with interest, as I am curious as to the legalities of such questions myself, even though I�m in Canada.

I have an extension to your question and hopefully I am not clouding your original question by asking it.

Is it legal in the US to put a rifle length barrel on a Contender or Encore pistol frame and then attach a butt stock? I thought I recalled a similar factory option at one time.

If it is legal with a Contender type action, how would it be substantially different from using a Savage or Remington pistol action?

Thanks in advance to anyone with the answers and thanks for the original question.

Regards,
Dwayne

The only difference is Thompson Center won their court case against the BATF.

The transcripts of the hearing are quite entertaining.

If you're the BATF the rules don't have to make sense.

I think the basic rule of thumb is that you can make a pistol into a rifle but can't make a rifle into a pistol.

Lot of XP 100s have been made into target rifles but not the other way around.
Po' mans 40X

KG and 284 are correct.

If you start with a Striker action, you can start off with a barrel a mile long, and cut it to the COAL for all it matters.

With a rifle barrel, you can start as long as you like as well, but can only cut to 16" in barrel length, and the whole thing has to meet a certain overall length as well.

Which is why with Contenders and Encores if you want to have both the handgun and long gun option, you have to get a handgun first, as the frame is registered then as a handgun. If you get a long gun first, then that is technically, legally, what it has to remain.

Then once you assemble it as a rifle it's a rifle forever, correct? that's ATF's stance. However, T/C went to court and won their case. Which allows them to sell carbine "kits."

You also don't have to stop at 16" with a rifle, as long as you have the proper paper on it you can go as short as you want.

A 10" T/C rifle is a mighty handy package.

As I understand the matter:

On a Contender, a long barrel is legal with any grip, but a short barrel with a butt stock is illegal.

The chambering is irrelevant � can be a .32 Auto with a 32-inch barrel with the pistol grip but can not be a .308 Winchester with a 12-inch barrel with the butt stock.

Also, the action is irrelevant to the question of which barrel length is legal with grip or stock.

The butt stock requires a barrel 16 inches or longer with a rim-fire cartridge, 18 inches or longer with a center-fire cartridge.

The BATF confiscated an entire shipment of imported military Mauser actions (used) with barrels cut-off with just enough of a stub left to accommodate a barrel wrench. The importer thought that they were just actions � the BATF considered 'em illegal firearms.

A Contender carbine is an excellent study "instrument" "for the purposes of science." I have one with seven twenty-inch Bullberry barrels for those very purposes. (I'd have an Encore instead if that larger receiver had been available when I bought my Contender.)

I could � if I'd kept it � have used the pistol grip with any of my seven barrels. But I don't � and won't � have any shorter barrels, which'd be illegal with my butt stock.

I believe the rifled part of the barrel isn't the only part to be considered to be the barrel. A barrel could be shortened in increments as long as a "flash hider" is welded on, not screwed on, that would make the length legal.

I had a legal AR15 that had a section of .30 cal machine gun barrel welded on the too short length of barrel. Surprisingly, it shot fairly good and it was certainly unique.

Interesting thread! Now here is a hypothetical: What if you had a non-rifled .22LR, intended for shooting rat shot. Then you decided to shorten the barrel to 16", just for the novelty of it. Do you then have a sawed-off shotgun? Remember, a shotgun must have a minimum barrel length of 18".

This is bad advice. Once cut below 16", it is no longer a legal rifle, and you have committed a felony. Just ask Randy Weaver (if he was still alive).

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Uh Red you do know Randy Weaver is still allive right? It was his wife and son they killed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Weaver

Not trying to nitpick