Why won't my gunsmith cut back the barrel??

No restrictions in NZ regarding 18" barrels, I could go down to 16" if I wanted. We have an overall firearm minimum length of 762mm, but no specific barrel length regs. Maximum mag capacity is 7 rounds (before you need a special licence and 6mm thick walls on gunsafe). So my next mission is to cut the follower back on my five shot mags so they can hold seven rounds. Ah yes, the magic number of "7"!!
 
bazza said:
No restrictions in NZ regarding 18" barrels, I could go down to 16" if I wanted. We have an overall firearm minimum length of 762mm, but no specific barrel length regs. Maximum mag capacity is 7 rounds (before you need a special licence and 6mm thick walls on gunsafe). So my next mission is to cut the follower back on my five shot mags so they can hold seven rounds. Ah yes, the magic number of "7"!!
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Of course, different rules. Didn't want anyone here making a mistake with a hacksaw.
 
Here is another cool NZ rule- I can now legally own one of those crazy cheap Chinese ar-15's on my standard license! All I need to do is: only have five shot mags, and have a closed pistol grip. Yeehaw! Those Chinese ARs' look fantastic and they are only $2000 bucks for a 16" barrel version with ambi safety, ambi mag release, flat top with removable carry handle, threaded for suppressor.... Now I'm REALLY going off topic....:)
 
bazza said:
Here is another cool NZ rule- I can now legally own one of those crazy cheap Chinese ar-15's on my standard license! All I need to do is: only have five shot mags, and have a closed pistol grip. Yeehaw! Those Chinese ARs' look fantastic and they are only $2000 bucks for a 16" barrel version with ambi safety, ambi mag release, flat top with removable carry handle, threaded for suppressor.... Now I'm REALLY going off topic....:)
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Two grand?? Holy shiite!!

Somebody's making a LOT of money there, 'cause they go for $699 +tax CDN. The NZ dollar is worth 0.85 of a Canadian dollar.

The only difference with the ones WE get is the barrel, max length on the Norc AR's is 14.5". I'm not sure if that includes the flash suppressor.

Is it difficult to import firearms into New Zealand? I know a bit about the storage regs...
 
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And I thought 2k was a good price...:( I could get an import license, but the big issue would be warranty. If I had any issues then whatever savings (probably around $800NZ) would get sucked up pretty quickly in shipping. Check out the nz gun store "GUN CITY", they have a decent website and you can see the Chinese AR's there- they are called "Gun City AR-15's" but are the Chinese AR's.
 
Couldn't find them on the site bazza. Even used their search function. Oh well.

You Kiwis can get a lot of stuff we Canucks can't (unless you have the Prohibited class on your RPAL) but holy farking hell, do you pay for it!!!!!

Most of the prices I saw on that site are at least DOUBLE what we pay for the same rifles (such as the Bushmasters and the S&W's).:eek: I can't see shipping eating up ALL that cost.

Almost gotta be a multi-millionaire to have firearms as a hobby in New Zealand.
 
Yep, saw those ones. I didn't go for the details, so I didn't know they were the Norc AR's.

Still bloody farking ridiculous pricing, though.

It can't cost THAT much to ship a seacan of rifles to NZ from China.

Get an import permit on your end and I'm sure there's plenty of dealers who'd sell, and ship, a Norc AR to you from Canada.
 
burnt_servo said:
the gunsmith doesn't want to do that job . probably afraid the chrome will peel off and he will be stuck with fixing / replacing the barrel .

it is also possible he doesn't have any tooling hard enough to properly cut through the chrome .

calling the guy names is just silly , he probably just saved himself a great deal of money and grief by turning down the job .
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Bingo. I've turned down lots of jobs because the reward just wasn't for me worth the effort. Sounds the same for him.

Most gunsmiths work with plain unlined barrels exclusively, and throwing chrome plating into the mix just puts it out of the work they do. Smart guy to say no thanks to anything he's not comfortable with. Chrome is hard stuff, and he has a point with his tooling if he's running the usual HSS like most small time smiths.
 
The gunsmith telling him "it's impossible" as in the OP's post , is the issue, not him declining because it wasn't worth his time.

A good gunsmith would have explained "it IS possible, but not with my tools"... And perhaps steer the customer to someone so equiped.
Saying it's impossible is why said gunsmith has been flamed a little here.
 
It's pretty darn good here. I work with a lot I your fellow countrymen, Canada and NZ seem to turn out more helicopter drivers per capita than anywhere else. All those guys like it here, but like home better, so be content you live in another of the world's paradises! Wish it was possible to temporarily trade our eligibility to work in each other's countries, I'd swap you for a couple years in a hearbeat- Sambar, Chamois, the fishing, hiking and climbing; it's like a new Canada but you guys have a warm island!
 
A month chasin NZ trout on the fly is high on my to do list :D
The big kicker to living there and being a firearms owner is your ability to own and use a suppressor without going to jail for 10 years like here at home.
 
Yes, my savage weather warrior (7mm08) was great before I fitted it with a suppressor, now it is awesome. There would be very few hunters without suppressors over here. Still, I would not mind spending a winter in Canada....!
 
I have decided to cut back on my beer intake and use the extra funds to cut back the barrel, now what length?? Do I go 20" or 18.5"? Seeing as my Norc is a short-medium range firearm I'm not too worried about losing the odd 100fps. I may add a muzzle break but I know it's going to get real loud if I do that..hmmm. Decisions...
 
Ardent said:
Chrome is hard stuff, and he has a point with his tooling if he's running the usual HSS like most small time smiths.
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Havent seen any professional using HSS to cut on a barrel, or almost any steel for that matter. We generally use HSS for turning Ali or polymers. TC bits are not expensive nor hard to come by. Any gunsmith or engineer worth their salt will use them over HSS.
You are right in that it was good of him to turn down the job because he couldnt do it. But its unacceptable to tell the customer that it cant be done. Ive dealt with guys like these... NZ shooters and Smiths are very different to Canadians believe it or not. The guy should be out of business IMHO.. i can already picture him in my head. Have PM'd Bazza for more info and offered him some help in his situation.
 
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