Threaded Barrel: Legal?

[kjack]

At a local gun range, I saw an older gentleman shooting a S&W M41 with a strange attachment, which he was kind enough to show me. He was using a very classic slow fire target shooting stance and seemed to be keeping his shots in the black at 25 yds.

He had a ~7 inch barrel that was threaded. He said that a gunsmith had removed the front sight, machine the barrel to what looked like a pretty coarse thread with about 3/4" sticking out, and reinstalled the front sight. What I saw was a round muzzle weight which looks like it may have been a piece of an old heavy rifle barrel. It easily spun (spinned?) off. The machining had removed the hole that would have been used to attach the muzzle brake.

Questions: Is the barrel subject to any kind of legal restriction (because of the potential for a silencer/moderator attachment, even if he doesn't own one)? [Would the gunsmith have known if there was?]

Besides dead silence if I see him again, is there any advice I could pass along?

 

[Dravur]

Short answer

No. Threaded barrels are not illegal. Sound Suppressors are not illegal <exceptions and subject to NFA rules> If you live in someplace like Kalifornistan, you might check local laws, but for the most part, I know of no laws against a threaded barrel.

 

[Chipperman]

Correct. There are no federal laws against a threaded barrel on a pistol. There may be state or local restrictions (CA for one).

Now you do have to be careful what you are attaching to the barrel. A compensator is ok, but a 2 liter soda bottle is not (unless it is NFA registered).

 

[ABBOBERG]

I just happened to check Minnesota statutes yesterday, and the only thing I found was that it was illegal to own anything that would silence or muzzle the blast of a gun. No mention of a threaded barrel.