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Is there a minimum legal twist rate or rifling depth for a rifled 12ga barrel?

6K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  nightwolf1974 
#1 ·
I just had an idea. I have not seen anybody else do it so idk if is illegal or impossible or just nobody thought of it. My idea is a 12ga "pistol" with a 12" rifled barrel which has very shallow rifling and a rediculously low twist rate like 1/5000 so it will fire buckshot without spinning it. If such a weapon were manufactured from scratch without an interchangeable barrel would it be considered a class III firearm or just a regular pistol?

I would appreciate if you cite your source.
 
#3 ·
I am very into personal liberty, I don't like anybody taxing and recording everything I do and I just like to get around every unjust law I can. I have seen bumpfire stocks (which preform like machineguns) and pistol braces (SBRs) but I have yet to see an exception to the SBS rule except in the Taurus Judge type pistols and they are wildly inaccurate with shotgun shells. So far I have not found any requirements other than that the barrel be rifled and it can't have a stock. So would a barrel with a twist rate of 1/5000 (for example) be considered rifled?

P.S. I am not actually hiding. I just got my name off a camo hoodie I own.
 
#6 ·
you cant just put rifling in a barrel at whatever twist you want. there are strict formulas designed for this. whether its 1/5000 or 1/7 rifling, any rifling would make it a rifled barrel. 1/36 is about right for 12 gauge sabots.
which are you wanting as you have said both, a shotgun pistol or a short barreled shotgun ?
 
#9 ·
which are you wanting as you have said both, a shotgun pistol or a short barreled shotgun ?
When I say 12ga pistol I mean a "pistol" which fires 12ga buckshot. I only call it a pistol because that is what it would be legally called but what I really want is a gun which preforms as close to a smooth bore SBS as a rifled barrel can be made to preform. The rifled barrel is not for slugs, it is to keep the firearm from being called an SBS by the ATF. So I basically want ineffective rifling that does almost nothing to spin projectiles and I can't find anything in the law that says that is illegal.

I am going to take this idea to a gunsmith.
 
#8 ·
Ya I know that's what gave me the idea to try to make a pump action 12ga pistol. The problem I have with the judge and the governor is that it has a 5ft spread at 5-10 feet from the target with shotshells because it is rifled. I wanna do the same thing but with rifling that doesn't twist enough to effect the spread of buckshot.
 
#11 ·
The restriction is for pistols over .50" bore size. S&W did their .500 mag with a .500 groove size instead of the standard .512" groove because they were concerned that the ATF would "reinterpret" things. The Judge is way under .50 bore, and is really just a poor 45 Colt that just happens to fire .410 shotgun shells.

Once you get over .500" bore size in a pistol, it doesn't matter if it has rifling or not. It's still going to be an NFA item, probably as a "destructive device". if it were a long arm and chambered in a "sporting" cartridge like the .577 Nitro Express, no registration is required. A rifle chambered for the 14mm Russian Heavy Machine gun cartridge, however gets treated as a destructive device.

Of course, none of it makes any sense in a country whose chartering document states that the government is specifically prohibited from making such "laws" and regulations.
 
#12 ·
Once you get over .500" bore size in a pistol, it doesn't matter if it has rifling or not. It's still going to be an NFA item, probably as a "destructive device".

Of course, none of it makes any sense in a country whose chartering document states that the government is specifically prohibited from making such "laws" and regulations.
Thanks. That was the kinda info I was looking for.

"A government is a body of people, usually, notably, ungoverned." ~ Capt. Malcolm Reynolds - Firefly (the TV series)

Apparently the phrase "shall not be infringed" isn't specific enough for some people.
 
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