Legality of a .410 pistol

[musher]

Well, there ya go. I'd suggest the Enfield musket rifling twist, an excellent choice for round ball at 1:78. You've got a historical standard AND I'm guessing an inch or two of that wouldn't impart much spread to the pattern.

I'd be interested to hear the results of your experiment when you complete it.

 

[PAC 762]

Suhler- No. I chose to do a 9x19mm rifled (pre-fab barrel), instead. I found someone with a .45/.410 derringer kit and did a partial trade. Still haven't gotten around to building the derringer, but it's factory made and atf approved.

I'm very paranoid about following atf regs as close as possible and became concerned that I did not have objective guidelines as to how much/deep/aggressive the rifling needed to be to "impart a spin" on the projectile. Without starting a flame, let's just say I was concerned about that branch's prior action against people that thought they were obeying the law and ended up dead or in jail. I like building guns, but not enough to risk something that may be deemed questionable by big brother. I'm not trying to scare others away; it's just that I try to err very far on the side of caution.

PM me your email address and I'll try to find the letter, scan it, and send it to you.

 

[LawBot5000]

Er, no. A .45LC chamber will definitely not accept a .410 shell. This is why it's a gray area: A .410 chamber will, however, accept a .45LC, and with a little rifling you have a pistol. Sort of. I'd submit the design to avoid any potential hassles.

Uh, being in a "shotgun caliber" only really matters above 50 caliber. Basically anything that is handheld, short barreled and rifled below 50 caliber is a title 1 handgun, even if that chambering can accept a shotgun shell. There is no legal requirement about the length of 45LC chambers- they can be 4 inches long if you want. If you really wanted to be prissy about it, you could always make a new handgun cartriedge that used 410 sized brass and then you wouldnt be making changes to accomodate the 410 shells.

If you make pistols in the larger shotgun calibers (all of which are over 50 caliber) you get into the tricky problem of them being either:
a) a large bore destructive device, especially if it is rifled and you can't claim it is a sort of shotgun). 200 dollar tax to make
b) a short barrelled shotgun 200 dollar tax to make
c) a smoothbore pistol AOW 200 dollar tax to make, 5 to transfer

410 pistols are below 50 caliber (ergo not a DD), not shotguns per-se (not SBSes) and are not smoothbores (not AOW) so they are not in any of the above NFA categories. They are just 45LC pistols with really long cylinders.

 

[Suhler]

Quote: "410 pistols are below 50 caliber (ergo not a DD), not shotguns per-se (not SBSes) and are not smoothbores (not AOW) so they are not in any of the above NFA categories. They are just 45LC pistols with really long cylinders."


While the above seems to be accepted by the ATF, they also seem to be very concerned about HOW the "410 pistol" was made. If it's a commercially available pistol like the TC Contender, then no problem. If one were to build a copy of the TC Contender "from scratch", then presumably, no problem. BUT, if one were to start with a rifled "long gun" 410 shotgun, shorten the barrel to say 6", and replace the shoulder stock with a pistol grip, then BIG PROBLEM (i.e. a NFA AOW). Even though one ends up with a "410 pistol", the ATF considers it a (rifled) short barrelled shotgun. Same situation if one cuts down a rifle to make a pistol.

Am I understanding the above correctly, if anyone can completely understand all of these regulations??!!

Regards

 

[LAR-15]

There used to be a number of SMOOTHBORE 410 pistols made for hunting before the NFA.

The H&R Handi-Gun was one such model.

Make sure your 410 pistol is rifled and your good to go.