A friend who lives in New York City is interested in taking up target shooting.
He probably cannot get a handgun permit in the City, but a permit for a sporting long gun is a lot easier. Pretty much any law-abiding adult can get one, but you have to wait a year for the paperwork to be approved.
There are several indoor shooting ranges in the City and close by. Most of them only allow pistol caliber carbines. Or rimfires.
Another issue is how to transport the weapon to and from the range-- on the subway, in taxis, walking down the sidewalk.
I'm thinking that a break-down or takedown model rifle with a barrel no longer than 20" (and 16" - 18" preferred) would be ideal.
It should use affordable ammo, so let's omit the .45 acp and .44 mag / .44 special from consideration. Lets look at .22 rimfires, 9mm carbines, and .38 / .357 firearms.
The weapon cannot be an "assault weapon" under NY law, and it can't even have a mean and evil tactical look, or the NYC permit authorities won't approve it. Magazines must only be the 10-round limited capacity style. Semi autos are fine, so long as they don't have a pistol grip type stock, no ventilated heat shield / handguard, no bayonet lug, etc. So all the AR-15 type weapons are out. They all have pistol grip stocks, and even if you found some other kind of stock, NYC authorities won't approve any AR pattern rifle anyway.
P.S. A "threaded barrel" on a semi-auto gun that uses detachable magazines also violates the assault weapon law, but I think a full service gun shop can receive shipment of such a weapon and grind down the threads or weld-on a thread protector to defeat this feature.
SO WHAT TAKE-DOWN RIFLES ARE AVAILABLE (new or used, at a reasonable price) ON THE MARKET THAT FIT THESE CRITERIA?
I came up with 7 off the top of my head:
Ruger's 10/22 takedown model. (Removing barrel threads would require extra cost).
Winchester 62 pump-action .22 rifles (some had too-long barrels, but others came with short-enough barrels).
Marlin 39-- The "Mountie" and the "TDS" (take down special) had shorter barrels.
Marlin model 70PSS (Papoose). https://www.marlinfirearms.com/rimfire/model-795/model-70pss-take-down
Charter Arms AR-7 or Henry's version of same rifle. This is the one where the barrel and receiver easily separate and will fit in the big hollow stock.
Ruger PC 9mm carbine-- It would require finding and using special 10-round pistol magazines. (Removing barrel threads would require extra cost).
Chiappa model 1892 lever-action stainless steel .357 (kind of expensive, but it's an option to consider). https://www.chiappafirearms.com/p/id/107/product/1892-Lever-Action-Alaskan-Takedown-Rifle.php
He probably cannot get a handgun permit in the City, but a permit for a sporting long gun is a lot easier. Pretty much any law-abiding adult can get one, but you have to wait a year for the paperwork to be approved.
There are several indoor shooting ranges in the City and close by. Most of them only allow pistol caliber carbines. Or rimfires.
Another issue is how to transport the weapon to and from the range-- on the subway, in taxis, walking down the sidewalk.
I'm thinking that a break-down or takedown model rifle with a barrel no longer than 20" (and 16" - 18" preferred) would be ideal.
It should use affordable ammo, so let's omit the .45 acp and .44 mag / .44 special from consideration. Lets look at .22 rimfires, 9mm carbines, and .38 / .357 firearms.
The weapon cannot be an "assault weapon" under NY law, and it can't even have a mean and evil tactical look, or the NYC permit authorities won't approve it. Magazines must only be the 10-round limited capacity style. Semi autos are fine, so long as they don't have a pistol grip type stock, no ventilated heat shield / handguard, no bayonet lug, etc. So all the AR-15 type weapons are out. They all have pistol grip stocks, and even if you found some other kind of stock, NYC authorities won't approve any AR pattern rifle anyway.
P.S. A "threaded barrel" on a semi-auto gun that uses detachable magazines also violates the assault weapon law, but I think a full service gun shop can receive shipment of such a weapon and grind down the threads or weld-on a thread protector to defeat this feature.
SO WHAT TAKE-DOWN RIFLES ARE AVAILABLE (new or used, at a reasonable price) ON THE MARKET THAT FIT THESE CRITERIA?
I came up with 7 off the top of my head:
Ruger's 10/22 takedown model. (Removing barrel threads would require extra cost).
Winchester 62 pump-action .22 rifles (some had too-long barrels, but others came with short-enough barrels).
Marlin 39-- The "Mountie" and the "TDS" (take down special) had shorter barrels.
Marlin model 70PSS (Papoose). https://www.marlinfirearms.com/rimfire/model-795/model-70pss-take-down
Charter Arms AR-7 or Henry's version of same rifle. This is the one where the barrel and receiver easily separate and will fit in the big hollow stock.
Ruger PC 9mm carbine-- It would require finding and using special 10-round pistol magazines. (Removing barrel threads would require extra cost).
Chiappa model 1892 lever-action stainless steel .357 (kind of expensive, but it's an option to consider). https://www.chiappafirearms.com/p/id/107/product/1892-Lever-Action-Alaskan-Takedown-Rifle.php
