Ten round limit law question

[genxsis]

I've got a question about this too:

If this law is pretty much sure to pass, then would it make sense, both tactically and financially, for us to run to the stores and buy up all the high capacity magazines they have? Then 5 years into the ban, we could sell them for at least half again as much! That's what I wish I would have done before the last AWB. Is anyone else doing it?

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

Then 5 years into the ban, we could sell them for at least half again as much!

You're assuming they will be transferable. There have already been at least a dozen threads on profiteering ideas, you should probably go post your get rich scheme there. But, by all means, go buy up all your can. Your local dealers will love you.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I've always wondered why all .22 pistols have only 10 round magazines.

Because of its rim, the .22 LR is mostly limited to single stack magazines -- it's quite difficult to build a double column, single-feed .22 magazine that feeds reliably.

Hold you hand out flat and start putting .22 shells in it, side by side. By the time you reach 10, and allow a bit of room for the compressed magazine spring, floorplate and follower, your hand will be overflowing. A ten round magazine just fits. A larger magazine would appear oversize and cumbersome.

 

[1911Tuner]

Ten

Amish Bill wrote:
I'm not aware of any any gun where 10 was the natural mag capacity.

**************

Besides the SKS carbines, there was this old curmudgeon.

http://www.answers.com/topic/hakim-rifle

 

[rickomatic]

Realisticly speaking, they don't want you to have fire power equal or greater then most police departments. Thats the truth.

If I'm not mistaken, and if the timeline lines up, I think this 10 round limit thing, along with the "assault rifle" ban thing all was fueled by that California bank robbery where those guys had full auto AK's, and the police only had 9mm's and 12 ga. shotguns, and had to go to the local gunshop to get more firepower.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Oqfrr26yTSY

 

[zinj]

Nope, the North Hollywood shootout occured in '97.

IIRC wasn't it Bill Ruger who said "An honest man only needs ten shots?"

 

[rickomatic]

Thanks, zinj.
I wasn't sure of the timeline. So....the question still stands. Where did the 10 round "rule" come from?

 

[zinj]

Probably from the same line of thought that made a pistol with a shoulder stock NFA, but conventional pistols and rifles were "OK," in other words completely arbitrary.

 

[Mannlicher]

the ten round thing was just to get you used to it. When the dust settles, we will be lucky to have single shots still legal.

 

[Kali Endgame]

Thank you for your participation. I have no problems with people asking their own questions with regard to my original question. Hijack away!

Ten is a nice palatable number to be restricted to. It is a number that most people are comfortable with. Ten? That's not so bad, right? A nice even number. Fifteen is a weird number and twenty is way to many. And fewer than ten is not enough.

The ten round limitation was not set in place by science, logic, data, or any other real reason. It was a number that kept all sides grumbling at a low roar. This also didn't effect the hunters. Because after all the 2A is about hunting, right?

 

[Banshee]

at the moment, the 10 rounds mag limit only applies to imported semi auto firearms.

 

[Kali Endgame]

Banshee,
Until about three weeks ago I was living in California. There is a ten round limit on all things not granfathered in.

 

[Banshee]

yes, but that is STATE law, not Federal.

 

[Kali Endgame]

Yes, right now it is. That could change. I just want to know why the limit is at ten rounds.

 

[rbernie]

I think that 10 shots maximum has something to do with the Ruger 10/22 rifle and terms like "sporting applications",,,,

This was the answer and y'all missed it.

The ten round limit was because that's what Bill Ruger sold the .gov as being acceptable to the industry. He saved his Mini's and his 10/22 and his MKII 22LR pistols, donchyaknow, and that's what counts....

Back in the days after the 1989 Stockton, CA schoolyard shooting, it became apparent that the anti-gun forces were about to unlease a special kind of vengance upon us gunnies. During 1990 things started to gain momentum, and weapons capacity was at the forefront of the debate. SAAMI was pushing a 15rd limit for rifles and pistols. Bill Ruger decided that the CongressCritters wouldn't accept SAAMIs recommendations. His pet firearms all had ten round magazines. He wrote a letter outlining his proposal, and voila! - ten rounds it is...

By the way - Dean Speir has a nice compendium of the MSM blitz on the RKBA movement during that time period, here.

 

[Banshee]

I don't have a clue how they arrive at the magic number of ten. I don't understand why ten is ok, but eleven is evil.

 

[cheygriz]

The Brady Buych originally wanted a 3 round limit, but their political allies let them know that 10 was the best they were going to get, if they even got that.

 

[Kali Endgame]

rbernie,
Thanks for the link. That site is rather informative and I have been gleaning some interesting information. My personal pro 2A stance is only about three years old. It wasn't until after I was discharged and started working with a guy, who was an avid collector, that I realized the 2A is a use it or loose it Right. The guy I worked with was a huge influence on me.

Most of the "ammunition" for the anti's happened before I was legally able to purchase a firearm. So I have to rely upon the word of the generations before me and read historical accounts of what happened and why. That is why I came before this board and asked a question I was unable to find an answer for.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

The ten round limit was because that's what Bill Ruger sold the .gov as being acceptable to the industry. He saved his Mini's and his 10/22 and his MKII 22LR pistols, donchyaknow, and that's what counts....

rbernie nailed it. We have none other than Bill Ruger to thank for the 10-round limit. The truth is that any capacity limitation is arbitrary, but Bill managed to get the legislation tweaked so that HIS firearms were okay, irrespective of what happened to any other company's wares.

After all, "No honest person needs more than 10 rounds."

 

[cheygriz]

And yet, some "gun people" still don't really care about the 2nd Amendment.

If they did, why would they buy Rugers??

 

[rbernie]

In all fairness, who's to say that The Brady Bunch wouldn't have carried the day with a six round cap, had Bill Ruger not stepped in as he did? I can't say, and I don't know anyone who can. Certainly, the rest of the manufacturers weren't stepping up to the pump en masse to defend their market.

Any limit was gonna be a joke; the only question was who's limit were we gonna get stuck with. <sigh> As much as I'd have preferred that the industry and shooting community stood up and pushed the whole mess back down their throats, the reality was such that an effective push-back was not going to happen. The debate was simply OWNED by the mass media, and the RKBA movement could not buy a break or get organized enough to effectively fight back.

Bill is dead. Ruger makes decent products. They'll even sell 20rd Mini-14 magazines to serfs. That footnote in history is over. Let sleeping dogs lay, I say.

 

[another okie]

Ten was a compromise. The Brady bunch wanted a smaller number, the pro-gun people a large one, they compromised. That's how politics works.

Bill Ruger was losing sales to Glock, and he thought it was because the Glock 17 held 17 in the magazine, two more than his gun. He thought by urging a fifteen round limit he would do away with Glock's advantage.

He found out that, as they said in the middle ages, when you dine with the devil you should have a long spoon. The ten round limit hurt him, too. In his defense he never did that again.