Pepperbox ideas, barrel legality

[Hobbja]

I thought to myself, why weld 4 barrels together when there are tons of revolver cylinders on the market. As I got further along in my thought process I got to the legality. Basically I would be technically making an SBS, which is crap, but the law is the law.
Has anyone ever rifled a revolver cylinder to meet federal regulations, is it even plausible? I would like to build my wife a little .38 special pepperbox with a manually rotated cylinder, single action only. The mechanism is simple enough. Just don't know how much of the chamber I can safely rifle while still meeting federal regulations.

 

[stoky]

howdy, welcome to the forum
I think if you use black powder for a propellant, most of the silliest laws don't apply. Most pepper boxes are black powder
If you want to use smokeless, most DIY folks use barrel inserts for rifling. Hopefully Michel Tinker Pierce will chime in here.
I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV. You might want to touch base with one versed in local ordinances, especially if you're intent on using modern cartridges.

 

[Hobbja]

I am very intent on using modern ammo. .38 special or even 22 magnum, as these cylinders are readily available for reasonable prices. I just can't see spending anything over $200 on my home build because I can get a hipoint for less.
Cap and ball would be easier and cheaper, however my wife dislikes bp guns and this would be her nightstand piece.
I have a .44 Remington new model brasser

 

[entropy]

Read Mark Twain's assessment of the pepperbox.....

 

[Browning]

Has anyone ever rifled a revolver cylinder to meet federal regulations, is it even plausible? I would like to build my wife a little .38 special pepperbox with a manually rotated cylinder, single action only. The mechanism is simple enough. Just don't know how much of the chamber I can safely rifle while still meeting federal regulations.

Plausible and possible. While I haven't done it I can point you in the general direction.

http://weaponsman.com/?p=19960

 

[Hobbja]

Read Mark Twain's assessment of the pepperbox.....

Double action would definitely kill the accuracy. I'm doing single action with manual revolving cylinder. This gun needs to be accurate at 15-20 feet at most, as I live in an apartment. Hopefully it will shoot point of aim at that distance with practice.
Thanks for directing me to that quote.

 

[Hobbja]

Plausible and possible. While I haven't done it I can point you in the general direction.

http://weaponsman.com/?p=19960

Hmm, that's another thing. I can't rifle the entire chamber. Maybe only a 1/2" or so, probably pretty easy to put something together myself to button rifle 5-6 chambers at that depth. It doesn't have to be perfect, just has to be there from what I can gather thus far

 

[Jim Watson]

Sounds like a fun DIY.
But I would try to provide my wife something better than a hand rotated pepperbox for home defense.

 

[BBBBill]

I would try to provide my wife something better than a hand rotated pepperbox for home defense.

Ditto!

 

[Hobbja]

Sounds like a fun DIY.
But I would try to provide my wife something better than a hand rotated pepperbox for home defense.

You're very correct. But I feel that between the pepperbox and the pitbull, she should be able to make it to the shotgun and the kids. Nightstand gun. And a fun diy.

 

[Hobbja]

It's not for ww3. It's not meant for combat. Its meant to shoot 4yards, hallway to the door. Not fighting terrorists, just maybe a local tweeker decides to walk into the wrong house when I'm not here

 

[Hobbja]

Back on topic. Button rifling seems to be the way to go. Anybody ever make their own rifling button?
To clarify I need to rifle 1/2-5/8" into each chamber of either a .38 special or .22 mag revolver cylinder.

 

[Sunray]

You'd probably be best to buy her a little .38 revolver. Assuming she wants the thing in the first place. Trying to determine what firearm somebody else is going to use can be hazardous to one's health.
Button rifling or rifling anything requires a special machine. Similar to but not the same as a lathe. Any rifling button has to be harder than the steel it's pushing in too. Chambers don't get rifled at all.

 

[Hobbja]

You'd probably be best to buy her a little .38 revolver. Assuming she wants the thing in the first place. Trying to determine what firearm somebody else is going to use can be hazardous to one's health.
Button rifling or rifling anything requires a special machine. Similar to but not the same as a lathe. Any rifling button has to be harder than the steel it's pushing in too. Chambers don't get rifled at all.

They need rifling of some sort because I want to build a pepperbox that fires modern ammo. The barrel, which is the chamber needs to have some form of rifling to be legal.
This is a want, not a need. I want to build a gun for my wife, she wants it legal, we like to do things differently.
Probably just use a good file to get some grooves cut in there to appease the feds.

 

[Hobbja]

Can anyone tell me how to close this thread? I got pretty much what I needed. Thank you