Carl N. Brown
Member
Locally a guy bought a Winchester Model 12 at an auction of prison surplus. When he got the gun home, he thought it looked shorter than the usual trench or riot gun and measured the barrel and found it was a hair short of 18". He contacted the local ATF office. They advised him to immediately remove the barrel from the gun, take the barrel to a gunsmith, and have an extension permanently attached to the muzzle to bring it over 18". I believe he opted for a Cutts Compensator. I have also heard of too-short 20 gauges made legal by welding either a section of 12ga barrel or just a section of pipe over the end of the 12ga barrel (such an oversized extension apparently has no effect on the pattern)..
If you contact ATF it seems they are willing to help you comply with the law. But you Shirley do not want to get caught by police with an illegally short shotgun.
As a lot of folks have pointed out, ATF method of barrel length measure is to close the breech on an empty chamber, drop a metal rod down the barrel, put a piece of tape even with the muzzle, then measure the rod. ATF barrel length is breechface to muzzle.
With single barrel and double barrel guns, what you see is what you've got, breech to muzzle, but on a repeater, the barrel extends into the front of the receiver for about half an inch or more.
It's a cold and nasty Saturday worning. The water pump on the truck can wait for a nice sunshiny day.
My Mossberg M1000 measures 28" with 27.3" showing outside the receiver.
The HD shotgun measures 19" with 18.5" showing outside the receiver.
The "snake gun" measures 18.25" with 17.5" showing outside the receiver.
Garcia Bronco .22 rifle barrel length measures 16.5"
M6 Scout .22/.410 is precisely 18" muzzle to breechface.
ArmaLite AR-7 Explorer .22 rifle measures 16" with 14.6" showing past the barrel nut.
The M6 Scout and AR-7 have factory barrels that skirt the limit but they have been approved by ATF; when I have shortened barrels for survival or brush gun use, I go long for wiggle room in case I need to clean up the muzzle or crown, no shorter than 17" on rifles, 18.5" on shotguns.
If you contact ATF it seems they are willing to help you comply with the law. But you Shirley do not want to get caught by police with an illegally short shotgun.
As a lot of folks have pointed out, ATF method of barrel length measure is to close the breech on an empty chamber, drop a metal rod down the barrel, put a piece of tape even with the muzzle, then measure the rod. ATF barrel length is breechface to muzzle.
With single barrel and double barrel guns, what you see is what you've got, breech to muzzle, but on a repeater, the barrel extends into the front of the receiver for about half an inch or more.
It's a cold and nasty Saturday worning. The water pump on the truck can wait for a nice sunshiny day.
My Mossberg M1000 measures 28" with 27.3" showing outside the receiver.
The HD shotgun measures 19" with 18.5" showing outside the receiver.
The "snake gun" measures 18.25" with 17.5" showing outside the receiver.
Garcia Bronco .22 rifle barrel length measures 16.5"
M6 Scout .22/.410 is precisely 18" muzzle to breechface.
ArmaLite AR-7 Explorer .22 rifle measures 16" with 14.6" showing past the barrel nut.
The M6 Scout and AR-7 have factory barrels that skirt the limit but they have been approved by ATF; when I have shortened barrels for survival or brush gun use, I go long for wiggle room in case I need to clean up the muzzle or crown, no shorter than 17" on rifles, 18.5" on shotguns.
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