To Be Or Not To Be ... A Machine Gun?

[ConstitutionCowboy]

Question. A serious question: Would a firearm be considered a machine gun under the law if it's magazine only held one round of ammo and could only fire that one round even though the rest of the gun could fire continuously if there were a magazine constructed that held more than one round? The firearm would only fire one round of ammo for each pull of the trigger with its original magazine.

Another question: Suppose that you had a semi-auto that would fire continuously with a specially designed magazine, but would only fire one round per each pull of the trigger with its original magazine. Would that firearm be considered a machine gun or just the specially designed magazine?

Caveat: The specially designed magazine would not in any way alter the inner workings of the semi-auto to turn it into a machine gun.​

Woody

 

[Roadwild17]

Maby the mags would require a tax stamp then???

 

[Javelin]

So you have a 1 round fully auto AR-15 and your asking that it is possible if you put a mag in it that it can shoot fully auto but you dont so it isnt really a fully auto?

haha.

 

[proud2deviate]

There's probably something about "readily convertible".

ATF says a shoestring is a machine gun. Methinks they'd find a way to stomp on this. (look at the Akins Accelerator example.)

 

[Bezoar]

last time i checked, the BATF and federal law, as well as Websters Dictionary defines a weapon that can fire more then one cartridge per trigger pull an automatic weapon.
Thus your idea would put you into the federal hotel for a while. To make it legal you would need a sear disconnector, just like in a civilian legal semi automatic ar15 as compared to the automatic m16.

 

[RNB65]

IMHO, the answers are yes and yes. Both examples would be machine guns.

26 U.S.C. §5845:

(b) Machinegun

The term “machinegun” means any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger. The term shall also include the frame or receiver of any such weapon, any part designed and intended solely and exclusively, or combination of parts designed and intended, for use in converting a weapon into a machinegun, and any combination of parts from which a machinegun can be assembled if such parts are in the possession or under the control of a person.

 

[SDC]

There are (or were) a number of European .22 rifles that worked like this, but they either aren't made anymore, or cannot be legally imported any longer.