Well...
At least one place it is covered is in 50 C.F.R. 20.21:
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/tex...iv8&view=text&node=50:5.0.1.1.3.3.1.2&idno=50
§ 20.21 What hunting methods are illegal?
Migratory birds on which open seasons are prescribed in this part may be taken by any method except those prohibited in this section. No persons shall take migratory game birds:
(a) With a trap, snare, net, rifle, pistol, swivel gun, shotgun larger than 10 gauge, punt gun, battery gun, machinegun, fish hook, poison, drug, explosive, or stupefying substance;
(b) With a shotgun of any description capable of holding more than three shells, unless it is plugged with a one-piece filler, incapable of removal without disassembling the gun, so its total capacity does not exceed three shells. This restriction does not apply during a light-goose-only season (lesser snow and Ross' geese) when all other waterfowl and crane hunting seasons, excluding falconry, are closed while hunting light geese in Central and Mississippi Flyway portions of Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
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The restrictions have less to do with jealousy on the part of twin-tube shooters, and more to do with a different aspect of history. Once upon a time in America the skies literally darkened with game birds. Lots of people liked to shoot game birds. Lots of people liked to eat game birds. There was this thing called 'market hunting.'
http://www.intercom.net/~shoreman/market_hunting.html
(note the punt gun pics, also the picture of the semiauto shotgun with the extended magazine)
http://www.museum.state.il.us/River...arket_hunting.html?Fish=&Click_to_Open_Menu=&
Market hunters shot birds to sell. They shot LOTS of birds. At first they used small low profile watercraft called punts to sneak up on rafts of birds floating on the water. These boats were equipped with something called a 'punt gun'. Essentially it was a shotgun the size of a cannon, designed to kill as many of the birds as possible with a single discharge. Some punts had 'battery guns,' a series of shotgun barrels mounted together and all firing at the same time.
When reliable repeating shotguns became available market hunters were quick to adopt them, and many added long extended magazines to their guns. They could handle as many as 10 shells or more, and a market hunter could quickly kill a number of birds from dense flocks with such a gun.
Thus the reason for federal limitation on magazine capacity of repeaters for migratory game birds- a living legacy of market hunting (not to mention greed).
lpl/nc
