[Pax Jordana]

Hi shotgun forum, I never post here, because i never have shotgun problems and I've already picked the best sporting and HD scatterguns possible :rolleyes:

My brother calls me up this afternoon, wants to go pheasant hunting. I have a Rem 870 express magnum (2.75 or 3 inch shells) that I just put back together after an ill-fated attempt to convert it to some tactical monstrosity on the cheap. In the course of that conversion and subsequent unconversion, I lost my magazine plug.

PA law says you can have 1 in the pipe and 2 in the magazine. My Rem holds 4 shells in the mag. If I'm using three inch shells, I would then need a six-inch length of dowel to make my gun PA-hunting-legal.

riiiiight?

[hoghunting]

You're close, but just a little off. The 2 3/4" and 3" sizes also include the length of the case that is crimped or folded over. If you measure a fired shell, you'll get the 2 3/4" or 3" measurement.

[Cougfan2]

The dowel would only have to be long enough so that you could not fully insert a third round into the magazine. 5-5 1/2" would probably work fine.

[scout26]

If you don't have a dowel rod, a pencil cut to length works also.

PJ, E-mail or PM me an address, I've got one of them there real Remington Green plastic magazine plugs that I'll send you gratis. (I currently own no Remington shotguns, nor do I plan on getting any that would require a magazine plug, so it's not doing me any good.)

[Pax Jordana]

awesome. Thanks a bunch guys. Yeah, I've my dowel rod here. But I'll definitely take the rem plug.

scout - PM sent :D

[another okie]

A tip: game rangers in some states and some federal rangers will use the shortest shells they can find to see if your mag will hold three. In other words, the test is not whether three of your 3" mag shells will fit, but whether three of any shell will fit.

I recommend using a plug long enough to limit you to one in the magazine. It's a pain, but it's a good way to be safe. Violating this law can cost you a fine, the gun, and the car you drove to the field in. How likely are you to need to make three shots in a row anyway, especially on pheasant?

[okiewita40]

I was looking at a magazine plug tonight at wally world. It can be cut to length. it is approx 6" long and should fit. if it is too long you can just cut it down in a matter of seconds.

[ArchAngelCD]

PA law says you can have 1 in the pipe and 2 in the magazine. My Rem holds 4 shells in the mag. If I'm using three inch shells, I would then need a six-inch length of dowel to make my gun PA-hunting-legal.
Pax Jordana,
Is that really the law in PA? Can you please tell me where you got that information? It's not that I don't believe you but I would like to see it in writing. I didn't know this and I don't want to do anything wrong.

Is that 1+2 law for everything or just hunting?

[Regolith]

Arch: The Federal Migratory Bird Act requires that if you hunt migratory birds that move Between the Canada, the US, and/or Mexico, you have to use a shotgun limited to three rounds. This includes ducks, geese, swan, and some upland game birds.

States sometimes also impose a species-by-species limit on how many rounds you are allowed to hunt with. Some states only allow five rounds for deer hunting, for example.

All of these magazine limits are just hunting. Some states do have laws pertaining to magazine capacity outside of hunting regulations (like CA's ban on hi-cap magazines), but most don't.

[ArchAngelCD]

Thank you...

[foghornl]

Every state has its own laws about magazine capacity, but FEDERAL law applies to Migratory Game Birds and Waterfowl i.e. Dove, maybe some others, and ALL species of Ducks/Geese.

Also, some states have limits on magazine capacity for other hunting, too. F'rinstance, Ohio 'Game-n-Fish' law is slug only during modern shotgun season for deer, and 3-shot total ammo capacity.

If you have any doubts, check with your local "Game-N-Fish" guys BEFORE venturing out.

[Pax Jordana]

Arch:

http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/lib/pgc/digestpdfs/2007/small_game.pdf

When in doubt, go to the source :)

EDIT: I lied, we're going dove hunting. Pheasants, bah.

[scout26]

Plug is on it's way, mailed today. Sorry, it's a day late. I forget it, and several other items when I was out running errands yesterday. So I got to go out a run errands again today.

<----- Suffers from Chronic CRS (Can't Remember Sh....errr.....Stuff)

[Whitman31]

I had an uncle use a pencil cut to length, the "probe" that the warden pushed into the mag snapped it...Those were some spendy geese...

[ArchAngelCD]

Pax Jordana,
Thanks for the link. For some reason I couldn't find that info... I'm getting old for sure! :o