Looking for someone to rifle a barrel for me

[MajorFireball]

Thanks for the article! The gun in question looks very similar to the gun I know of that has been offered to me. It was also handed down to a 60+ year old by his grandfather. I have advised him to keep the gun in separate pieces, which is why I only have a barrel. It's good to hear the ATF working with folks though, I figured it would end up going to the ATF and ending up in someone elses collection versus mine!

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Check out this ATF letter to a citizen in 1992, where he apparently asked for all antique (pre-NFA) single-shot pistols that used standard shotshell ammo to be removed from the NFA.

http://www.nfaoa.org/documents/HandyGunFOIA.pdf


ATF replied that since such guns were functionally identical to sawed-off shotguns often used in crime, they won't take them out of the NFA, but they will only be considered "AOW" (transfer tax of $5) if the receivers were never made for use with a shoulder stock.

Now, you can't "make" an AOW that was already made and illegally possessed. That's contraband, and it can never be legally registered to any private citizen or his private trust.
But, if the receiver alone is legal because it doesn't have a barrel on it (and nobody can prove it had an unlawful barrel on it at any time since 1934), and it was factory-made as a pistol (called a "shot pistol" in this ATF letter) receiver, then it seems that ATF (as of 1992) would want TWO modfications done to make this legal:
1-- rifle the bore.
2-- Bore-out the original chamber and sleeve or line it to accept ONLY pistol-caliber cartridges, not also shotgun shells.

However, in 1992 ATF's policy was that no shotgun could have a rifled barrel.
Finally they agreed that deer hunters could have rifled-barrel shotguns, and such guns were not AOW's because they didn't meet the definition of "shotgun." ATF changed the definition of shotgun (they broke the technical letter of the law passed by Congress, but for the benefit of gun owners and hunters. This was a good use of agency rule-making power to amend statutes).

So then, what would ATF say TODAY about a rifled-barrel "shot pistol" that shoots only .410 shells and doesn't also use .45 Colt rounds or any other traditional pistol caliber cartridges?

I think ATF would say that you'd be making an AOW. Any Other Weapon.
Not a pistol. Not a shotgun. Not a short-barreled anything. Just another type of firearm. If it's CONCEALABLE, meaning the OAL is below 26", then ATF would say it's an AOW that you would be "manufacturing" when you put barrel and frame together.

But... that is something you're allowed to do, in most states, and per federal law, IF you pay the NFA $200 tax and get a Form 1 approved to make an NFA weapon.

And I can say with great confidence that you'll never, ever, get any gunsmith to put any kind of rifling in your .410 gun barrel for less than that. Going with the NFA registration for $200 + $20 for pics + $30 for fingerprints is going to be cheap compared to your gunsmithing bill to get the bore rifled.

So what if you didn't get the bore rifled?

You'd STILL be making an AOW, right? Just like the Ithaca Auto & Burglar gun, the H&R Handy-Gun, and a few other odd models that were factory-made in the early 1900s thru the 1920s.

https://www.atf.gov/file/nfa-any-other-weapon

So, maybe the best thing to do is forget about rifling, submit a Form 1 to build an AOW, pay the $200 tax now, get approved, bring the receiver and barrel together, make the gun functional. When you are tired of it and want to sell it, you can announce that it transfers on a $5 tax. You have to pay $200 to make it, but any subsequent owner after you only pays $5 to the feds.

 

[MajorFireball]

Man oh man, what a wealth of information! I will do some reading and decide what to do. I would LOVE to legally own this gun and have the opportunity to do so. thank you so much for the effort and info! You are a valuable member and source of info!