Does any Law prevent "the altering of magazine capacity ?

[BigFatKen]

In 1992 I bought a semi AK clone with two mags in Wisconsin. One was 30 rounds. One was a 20 with long follower legs to only hold five. No limit on mag size.

I loaned my Nephew John rifle for deer hunting in 1995. He said he was a winner in his little church .22LR club. It did not occur to me that it was all loaners with optical sights. So we go to range and he does not even know how the iron sights work. After enough practice, he does Okay. Deer hunting he loads the "All States legal" 4 or 5 shot mag and only hits deer on last shot, wounding it.

So I "altered the mag" by taking the very long follower legs out and swapping it with the follower from 30 round mag. Thirty round mag now held maybe 23 and 20 modified to hold 4 rounder held a dozen or so.

Over 21 years ago and gun is gone but was that a crime?

 

[Twiki357]

Not unless your state has magazine capacity limits like CA & NY, in which case your 30 rounder would have been illegal to start with. And as far as I now Alabama does not have those idiotic restrictions.

 

[bearcreek]

Deer hunting he loads the "All States legal" 4 or 5 shot mag and only hits deer on last shot, wounding it.

So I "altered the mag" by taking the very long follower legs out and swapping it with the follower from 30 round mag. Thirty round mag now held maybe 23 and 20 modified to hold 4 rounder held a dozen or so.

It's legal in most states. However, doing it because somebody wants to spray and pray at deer is not ethical IMO.

 

[entropy]

I actually cut down a damaged 30 rounder (Don't know how one can damage a steel AK mag, but it looked like some of the rounds were put in backwards, then it was fired, as there are bullet-tip shaped dents and ruptures in the back of the mag) I got in a bulk purchase to 6 rounds for deer hunting. My younger son fired 5 at a deer, missed, then blamed the 'creaky stand' (well, he is 375 pounds!) and the Transitions lenses (they do get darker the colder it is) on his lack of venison. He's not the crack shot his older brother is. I keep telling my wife the older one is mine, the younger one is his......

 

[hdwhit]

BigFatKen wrote:
Does any Law prevent "the altering of magazine capacity ?

Given the plethora of state and local laws governing guns, I can't say. And even where it may be legal to own a particular kind of magazine, the act of turning one type of magazine into another kind of magazine could be illegal.

 

[boom boom]

I recall that there was something about the requirement to notify the atf regarding alteration of SKS magazine capacity in the day but cannot find where it went (this was a separate issue apart from the 922 issue I believe).

 

[BigFatKen]

It's legal in most states. However, doing it because somebody wants to spray and pray at deer is not ethical IMO.

At his church range protocol was load mag, then work bolt to chamber round. He only had 4 in rifle. He shot at too long a range so he did connect until last bullet. My bad, I guess; I never thought the winner of church 22LR competition did not know how to use iron sights.

 

[Frank Ettin]

....I never thought the winner of church 22LR competition did not know how to use iron sights.

Which means that it's time he did. Bad that's not a legal issue.