Here's an interesting one for you. I'd love to have a howdah pistol, but I'm not really interested in paying 600+ for what really amounts to a range toy. I'd love to build one, but black powder doubles tend to be either too ancient for me to want to comfortably fire, too collectible for me to comfortably want to cut down, or too expensive (like the pedersolis) to justify not going straight to the cabellas howdah.
Now, I've seen the cobray FMJ double barrel black powder derringers, that run off a 209 primer. I've entertained picking one of these up and cutting the rifling out, probably only in one barrel, but that still leaves me with basically a black powder .410... and that just ain't gonna cut it for me.
But the cobray got me thinking. It's basically a small double barrel shotgun, it just has a plug in the back of the barrel to hold a 209 primer instead of a chamber for a shell. I'm well aware I can't cut down a shell-firing double without the NFA stamp, but that's another $200, a lot of papertrail, and a range toy I won't get to have until next summer.
So would anyone have any idea as to the legality, safety, or any insight whatever as to using the cobray as a design concept and permanently plugging a standard production double or single barrel shotgun with some kind of 209 primer-holding plug. What I'm thinking is that it would turn a modern cartridge shotgun into a black powder gun, rendering it a "not a firearm," allowing me to cut it down to howdah size.
But that can't be right... so can anyone tell me why it's wrong?
Now, I've seen the cobray FMJ double barrel black powder derringers, that run off a 209 primer. I've entertained picking one of these up and cutting the rifling out, probably only in one barrel, but that still leaves me with basically a black powder .410... and that just ain't gonna cut it for me.
But the cobray got me thinking. It's basically a small double barrel shotgun, it just has a plug in the back of the barrel to hold a 209 primer instead of a chamber for a shell. I'm well aware I can't cut down a shell-firing double without the NFA stamp, but that's another $200, a lot of papertrail, and a range toy I won't get to have until next summer.
So would anyone have any idea as to the legality, safety, or any insight whatever as to using the cobray as a design concept and permanently plugging a standard production double or single barrel shotgun with some kind of 209 primer-holding plug. What I'm thinking is that it would turn a modern cartridge shotgun into a black powder gun, rendering it a "not a firearm," allowing me to cut it down to howdah size.
But that can't be right... so can anyone tell me why it's wrong?
