Legal Question

[Busyhands94]

I have an old 12 guage shotgun that wouldn't be safe to shoot with modern ammo. It's an old Farwell Arms missing the forestock and the stuff the holds the forestock in place.

I was thinking about making a .50 caliber inline pistol with the action, that would be freakin' sweet. Or maybe a 12 guage Howdah. Of course it would have a breech plug permanently fixed in place so it couldn't ever fire shotgun shells. However I'm wondering about the legality of turning it into a .50 caliber inline muzzleloading pistol. I think that would look cool with the action of an old shotgun.

So my question is, would turning a cartridge long gun into a BP handgun be legal?

Thanks in advance!
~Levi

 

[Shadow 7D]

Um, it would require a tax letter letter unless you destroy the action, as I believe it would be much like a Mossy 500 or a 870 with a BP barrel.

Remember the 'GUN' is the legal 'receiver' or 'frame' and that is ALL that matters when it's determined, much like a AR lower can't be sold to someone under the age of 21 as it could be used to build a pistol....

And as always the correct answer is to make the drawings and a letter of explanation and send them to technical branch

 

[arcticap]

However I'm wondering about the legality of turning it into a .50 caliber inline muzzleloading pistol.

It could only be done with that receiver & smoothbore barrel if it were registered as a "short barreled shotgun/firearm made from a shotgun" (just like a sawed off), with the maker's name, city & state engraved on the barrel or receiver, and by paying the $200 tax stamp.
Converting it using a short .50 rifled barrel could be considered to be an SBR within a different category, but the tax rate would still be the same.

If the converted gun were built to have at least an 18 inch barrel and at least a 26 inch overall length, then you wouldn't need to do anything additional for it to be legal (if configured to be much like a Snake Charmer shotgun or rifle).

 

[Busyhands94]

Well that sounds pricey. Dealing with the ATF doesn't sound too enjoyable either. I guess I'll make a nice .22 caliber muzzleloading rifle with it instead, that would be awesome. I just need to get a barrel and someone who can weld.

Of course that would be great because you could use 209 shotgun primers and no powder like a really noisy pellet gun. That would be really fun to build!

~Levi

 

[Countryboy7]

I'd use it to make the 12 gauge Howdah haha