Cutting shottie barrel

[gbran]

1. Can a person legally cut a shotgun barrel? (in CA)
2. In keeping the barrel longer than 18 inches, where does this measurement take place legally? Tip of bbl to reciever/action?, To front or or rear of chamber? Are pumps/autos measured differently than break-opens?

 

[Zundfolge]

To measure the barrel, stick an 18 1/2" dowel down the barrel to where it rests on the breechface. (use an 18 1/2" just to be extra safe)

If ANY of the dowel sticks out past the muzzle, remove the barrel and throw it away.

 

[gbran]

THX for the simple answer.

 

[Zundfolge]

Also, if you want to be able to use chokes with the cut down barrel, have a pro do the cut and re-tap (or buy an 18" barrel from the manufacturer).

What kind of shotgun you cuttin on here?

 

[gbran]

What kind of shotgun you cuttin on here?

My boy has an older Mossberg pump as well as several other shotties, but none are short bbls, so he thought he'd whack off the old Mossberg for home defense. Cheaper than buying a new bbl. No need for chokes, etc.

My concern was that he didn't turn himself into a criminal so I told him to hold off and I'd get him an answer.

 

[rcmodel]

Shottie:
1. - A type of home-made bong.

2. - A technique in smoking pot where one person puts the side of the blunt with the ashes in his or her mouth and blows out, while the other person sucks in all of the smoke.

3. Claiming something, such as the passenger seat in the car.

rc

 

[BhmBill]

Closed bolt, measured from breechface to farthest fixed point on the barrel. I cut the barrel on my Westernfield 550AB (Mossberg 500AB sold by Montgomery Wards) down to 18.125" (checked with 3 different tape measures, dowels, and caliper that was accurate to ten thousandths of an inch). I recommend cutting to 18.5" if it's your first time. Be careful. If you cut it too short, you pretty much have to get rid of it according to Cali law. No law I can find says you can't cut your own barrel, nothing about only using manufacturers barrels or anything.

Seems like you're in the clear.

Good Luck

 

[mnrivrat]

By law the shotgun barrel has to be at least 18 inches long, and the gun has to have an overall length of 26 inches.

The barrel is measured from the rear of the chamber to the muzzle. The easiest way to measure this is by closing the breech bolt while the barrel is on the gun, and measuring the inside of the barrel from the muzzle rearward to the breech bolt face.

As stated, leaving a little extra for the g-man is a good idea. Otherwise it is indeed legal to cut it yourself .

 

[RyanM]

Hm. Everyone's giving answers w/r/t federal law, but does anyone know for sure that it's legal to do in CA? It'd really suck if this guy's son got busted on state law, and I notice none of the people responding so far are in CA.

 

[Cannonball888]

Shottie:
1. - A type of home-made bong.

2. - A technique in smoking pot where one person puts the side of the blunt with the ashes in his or her mouth and blows out, while the other person sucks in all of the smoke.

3. - Claiming something, such as the passenger seat in the car.

4. - A cross between a Sheltie and a Scottie

5. - An adjective used to describe something that is both shoddy and **itty.

 

[kanook]

just a thought. before you cut that barrel down check around to see if somebody might want to trade with you.

 

[gbran]

RyanM

Thank you.

 

[Jon_Snow]

According to my understanding of Ca law, and my copy of "How to own a gun and stay out of jail" California-2009 edition, cutting the barrel down is fine so long as you keep it over 18".

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Like they say, use an 18.25" dowel just to be on the safe side, without a license to "manufacture an SBS" approved.

 

[Zundfolge]

If the barrel doesn't have a vent rib, get you one of these:

Makes cutting a pipe cleanly and squarely very easy.

 

[rcmodel]

That right there happens to be a Copper Tubing cutter.
It won't cut a steel shotgun barrel.

Anyway, a pipe-cutter will make a mess of a shotgun barrel for two reasons.
It will leave a big nasty bur on the inside.
And it will try to follow the barrel taper and cut threads.

Don't even try to use a pipe cutter on a shotgun barrel unless you want a mess when you get done!

rc

 

[BhmBill]

Grinder with 4.5" cutting wheels for me. File and various sandpapers to finish. Woulda used a hacksaw, but used what I had on hand to keep the cost around $0.00.

 

[Cannonball888]

Grinder or chop saw would work but I'd go slow as possible to protect the metal from overheating. If you don't have variable rpm, I would just bump the saw trigger repeatedly to prevent it from reaching top speed.

 

[jmr40]

No fancy tools needed. A hacksaw will cut soft barrel steel like butter. Use a file and square to true up the ends. Then touchup with cold blue if you want. A 5 min. job.

If you have a vent rib, cut through the rib closest to the length you want. I was trying for 20" and had to settle for either 19" or 21" I went 21" so if I messed up I would have something to work with for a 2nd try. It turned out so well I just left mine at 21"

 

[Quiet]

Hm. Everyone's giving answers w/r/t federal law, but does anyone know for sure that it's legal to do in CA? It'd really suck if this guy's son got busted on state law, and I notice none of the people responding so far are in CA.

CA has the sme rules as the Feds.
18" minimum barrel length.
26" minimum overall length.

Only thing that different between the Feds and CA, is on how they measure the overall length in regards to the firearm having a folding/extending stock.
Feds measure OAL with stock open/extended.
CA measures OAL with stock closed/collapsed.

 

[Zach S]

Feds measure OAL with stock open/extended.
CA measures OAL with stock closed/collapsed.

First time I've heard that.

IMO, if its under 26" long, and its capable of firing, you're flirting with disaster.