This means one of two things must be true. Either A: The law has been changed, or B: There is an error in the proclaimation.
The law has neither been changed recently nor is there any evidence of an error in the proclamation.
Utah DWR laws come from the Utah Administrative Code.
R657-5 has the same wording as the proclamation. It also appears to have been that way for at least 10 years. Here are links for 9 of the last 10 proclamations:
2006,
2005,
2004,
2003,
2002,
2000,
1999,
1998,
1997,
1996.
Unfortunately, that was as far back as I found proclamations online. Since in the back of my mind I had a faint memory of such a restriction, as well as hearing it from others over the years, I did poke around a few other places. I only found two references in newsgroups to magazine capacity restrictions in Utah.
The
first, from 1996, reads:
Utah law provides that "all centerfire rifles are legal for taking big game". Period. However, that didn't stop a few zealous bureaucrats from trying to outlaw guns via wildlife regulations. In 1990, the Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) changed the big-game regulations to the following:
1. Only centerfire rifles of .24 caliber or larger; and
2. Have a magazine capacity of no greater than 8 rounds. Which of course, was aimed at preventing people from hunting with Eeevil AR-15s (as if anyone ever did). The problem was that the DWR didn't really think about their regulations before they issued them (which makes me think that they were inserted by some mid-level manager). They outlawed popular deer and antelope-hunting cartridges such as the 220 Swift and the 22-250. The storm of protest was overwhelming, and the regulations were quickly hanged the next year.
The
second, from 1998, says:
In Utah, the only restriction on rifles used for big-game hunting is that they fire a centerfire cartridge. Fully-automatic weapons are prohibited, but that is because of their rate of fire, not their magazine capacity. A few years ago, during the "assault weapons" hysteria, the Division of Wildlife Resources tried to ban rifles that fired a cartridge less than .24 inches in caliber and had a magazine capacity of greater than ten rounds. They quickly retracted the restriction when hundreds of angry hunters informed them that they could no longer use their .220 Swifts and 22-250 Savages.
So, there we have it.
That said, if the original poster (Nightcrawler) had a smaller magazine available, I'd recommend using that. Not for legal reasons, but simply because it'll weigh a bit less and be less prone to snagging on things.
On a side note, Nightcrawler, did you see
my post about BCI being overwhelmed by the number of applications and actually being behind? That is probably related to your delay. I have a couple of friends who are still waiting for their permits too. I hope they straighten than out by 2010 when I have renew again.
Hang in there. Oh, and the 24th is one of the biggest holidays in Utah. It's got this patriotic/religious angle that the people around here just eat up. You'll get used to it. Maybe.
Now, let's see some more of those sweet rifles.
Got the message that said "today is a holiday". I was like, "WHAT holiday? It's July freaking twenty-fourth!"
