.38 spl antique?

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Trapperjose

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Hello, I recently stumbled across an interesting bird. It was a pre 1898 gun that had been converted to 38 special. The fellow that had it said it was a legal antique, whilst another fellow disagreed and claimed that the conversion made it restricted. I took a looksi at the rule book and it seems to me this gun is in fact an antique.

I'm wondering if someone could settle this debate. I. Sure there's some experts in here. I'm new, go easy on me
 
It's still an antique unless it can fire one of the no-no cartridges:

https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-98-464/FullText.html


A handgun manufactured before 1898 that is capable of discharging centre-fire cartridges, other than a handgun designed or adapted to discharge 32 Short Colt, 32 Long Colt, 32 Smith and Wesson, 32 Smith and Wesson Long, 32-20 Winchester, 38 Smith and Wesson, 38 Short Colt, 38 Long Colt, 38-40 Winchester, 44-40 Winchester, or 45 Colt cartridges.
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Trapperjose said:
Hello, I recently stumbled across an interesting bird. It was a pre 1898 gun that had been converted to 38 special. The fellow that had it said it was a legal antique, whilst another fellow disagreed and claimed that the conversion made it restricted. I took a looksi at the rule book and it seems to me this gun is in fact an antique.

I'm wondering if someone could settle this debate. I. Sure there's some experts in here. I'm new, go easy on me
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If it was a pre 1898 and was already restricted RCMP would give it antique status if converted to a caliber (38 special e.g.) that was not on the no go list. They no longer will issue antique status for this scenario. If the gun is already a pre 1898 in an antique status caliber and you converted it to 38 special it will remain an antique status gun.
 
The cops won't deregister it anymore if it used to be in one of the no go cals ,but if it isn't registered it's still an antique.
 
Conversion to .38Special would not make it restricted.
Conversion to .38Long Colt would.
If it is indeed pre-1898 (have to be able to prove this), and not registered as restricted, it probably qualifies as antique.
 
antiqueguy said:
to be a legal antique it can't be in one of those cartridges before it was into the modern .38 special. but anyway :feedTroll:
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Please don't buy into the SFSS BS. They used to accept the conversion scenario and now they don't. More arbitrary crap. If the gun is in an acceptable caliber now and it's not registered who is to say?
 
the real slippery slope are guns which are designed to shoot multiple calibers. One could argue that some of the small S & W revolvers were designed to shoot 32 S & W only and therefore the frame is prohibited. The wrinkle comes with guns like the Colt SAA which came in many calibers including 32-20 which makes a gun in that caliber prohibited. By extension could that allow the police in the future to prohibit all Colt SAA as prohibited regardless of what caliber they were manufactured in ? A gun designed to shoot 45 long colt was also designed to shoot 32-20.

cheers mooncoon
 
Interesting. Thank you for your wisdom guys.

The gun started out in .44 Russian. It's like a short .44spl/mag. I don't see it listed on the list of no go calibers.
 
snurge said:
What kind of gun are we talking about?
I don't know why anyone would change from 44 Russian
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Smith and Wesson. Number 3, I think. I'm no expert in these guns though and it's not mine.

It looked like the conversion was old. It was done by sleeving the barrel and cylinder. It seemed to be well done . If I had to guess why someone would do that I'd say it probably had to do with ammo availability sometime in the middle of the last century. I found it interesting, I'm sure I've made some collector's cringe. Ha
 
That sounds like a fun gun if it’s done properly!
Shouldn’t be any issue with the antique status unless it’s a Spanish copy made after 1898.
If it’s a real no3 you are good to go since all the frames were made before 1898.
Even a bunch of the no3 DA guns were assembled and sold by SW well into the ‘30s, but are still pre 1898 due to the manufacture of the frames.
 
I've been thinking about this. What if a fellow was to sleeve an antique status pre 1898 revolver down to .25acp or .32 acp? Would the gun then become prohibited or would it retain antique status?
 
Trapperjose said:
I've been thinking about this. What if a fellow was to sleeve an antique status pre 1898 revolver down to .25acp or .32 acp? Would the gun then become prohibited or would it retain antique status?
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I have a pocket .25 with antique status. Legally if you converted it would be okay not sure if you could get a letter for it though.
 
Trapperjose said:
I've been thinking about this. What if a fellow was to sleeve an antique status pre 1898 revolver down to .25acp or .32 acp? Would the gun then become prohibited or would it retain antique status?
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I think it's prohib then. I'm a big fan of the 32-20 cartridge...seems like I always have one around, rifle of course. I pondered it; sleeving one down, but I think research said it's a no-go.
 
All calibers that can't be antique are listed,everything else is ok (for now).
25 and 32 acp are prohibs,as are barrels less than 105mm,unless they are antique.
 
tokguy said:
I think it's prohib then. I'm a big fan of the 32-20 cartridge...seems like I always have one around, rifle of course. I pondered it; sleeving one down, but I think research said it's a no-go.
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I'm pretty sure 32-20 is on the list of no go cartridges. It is a neat cartridge.
snurge said:
All calibers that can't be antique are listed,everything else is ok (for now).
25 and 32 acp are prohibs,as are barrels less than 105mm,unless they are antique.
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I seem to recall something in the firearms act about handguns in .25 and .32 all being prohibited. I looked today but didn't find it.
Just so I'm clear you're saying the antique thing superceded the prohibited thing? I'm sorry if I seem dense here
 
Oh, I know 32-20 is a no go. It is one of the bad ass calibers out there IMO.
But it is forbidden for sure.
In the CFC's wisdom to is OK to have an 8mm...just 32 calibers are dangerous LOL
 
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