Anyone shortened a barrel?

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dusticles

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I've been thinking about cutting my barrel from 24" to 19". It's a DPMS 308 stainless bull barrel with a rifle length gas system.

Has anyone here cut a barrel and what effect did it have? I'm worried more about the negatives. FTE's or stove pipes maybe



Edit: Thought I'd add the buffer info, I have room to drop weight if it helps. Spike's ST-T3 (5.4oz) and JP tuned carbine spring.
 
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Yar, I thought this debate might come up. The law on semi-auto barrel length:

“restricted firearm”
« arme à feu à autorisation restreinte »
“restricted firearm” means

(a) a handgun that is not a prohibited firearm,
(b) a firearm that
(i) is not a prohibited firearm,
(ii) has a barrel less than 470 mm in length, and
(iii) is capable of discharging centre-fire ammunition in a semi-automatic manner,
(c) a firearm that is designed or adapted to be fired when reduced to a length of less than 660 mm by folding, telescoping or otherwise, or
(d) a firearm of any other kind that is prescribed to be a restricted firearm;
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“prohibited firearm”
« arme à feu prohibée »
“prohibited firearm” means

(a) a handgun that
(i) has a barrel equal to or less than 105 mm in length, or
(ii) is designed or adapted to discharge a 25 or 32 calibre cartridge,
but does not include any such handgun that is prescribed, where the handgun is for use in international sporting competitions governed by the rules of the International Shooting Union,

(b) a firearm that is adapted from a rifle or shotgun, whether by sawing, cutting or any other alteration, and that, as so adapted,
(i) is less than 660 mm in length, or
(ii) is 660 mm or greater in length and has a barrel less than 457 mm in length,
(c) an automatic firearm, whether or not it has been altered to discharge only one projectile with one pressure of the trigger, or
(d) any firearm that is prescribed to be a prohibited firearm;
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RUSTSPOT said:
It's against the law. Barrel has to be manufacture to length.
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How do you define "manufacture" ? ie. is the job done by a licensed gunsmith considered "manufacture", especially wrt. overall lenght. cf.

http:// nfa.ca/resource-items/barrel-and-firearms-lengths
 
x0ra said:
How do you define "manufacture" ? ie. is the job done by a licensed gunsmith considered "manufacture", especially wrt. overall lenght. cf.

http:// nfa.ca/resource-items/barrel-and-firearms-lengths
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they make a new barrel from a blank basicly ie copy the orginal barrel
 
How many rounds have you fired out of this barrel. I ask because if you have some throat errosion happening, then its best to send to a smith and get them to cut it off at the chamber end and ream you a new chamber. This will be like having a new barrel again.
 
Setting back an AR barrel is a bit more complicated than doing the same with a bolt action rifle.

As far as the OP's question is concerned, it would probably be OK, without any functionning problems. Doing this with a .223 AR makes no difference in operation. No personal experience with doing this to a .308.
 
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Had a 223 barrel shortened from 24 to 20.25. Checked with the RCMP first, all legal. Biggest hassle was getting the CFC to accept the actual length was 20.25. They had to put a new entry in their database and create an FRT. I think on the third try I finally got it registered with the correct barrel length.
 
iamzill said:
18" actually.

New length > 18.5" = NR
18" < New length < 18.5" = Restricted
New length < 18.5" = Prohibited

Gotta be careful of the final overall length too.
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The prohib line should have read under 18" right?
It is always better to leave extra half or one inch in case something goes wrong with the 1st cut
 
My understanding is that
-If it is a non restricted manual action (bolt, lever) you can cut it down to whatever you want as long as the overall length is still over 26". There are a few non restricted manual action rifles out there with barrels under 18.5".
-If it is a non restricted semi auto you can cut the barrel down to 18.5 inch and the minimum overall length must still be over 26 inch.
-If it is a restricted semi auto you can change the barrel to a shorter one but if you cut your barrel you create a prohibited firearm. It makes no sense but that's how I understand it.

Simply shortening the barrel on an AR is not always a good idea, you have many factors to consider that will affect reliability. Your gas system length, gas port size and your buffer weight and spring strength are tuned to work together. This is why there are pistol length, carbine length, mid length, and rifle length gas systems, they are all tuned to the available pressure and duration of the gas pulse given after the bullet passes the port.
Modifying one of these without retuning the other factors will sometimes result in a firearm that does not function reliably. Your AR is a balanced system and messing with one thing will throw it out of balance and while sometimes you get away with it other times you don't. Sometimes it will cycle too hard and will beat up your internals and other times it will only function with hot ammo.

I suggest you contact the CFC and RCMP and find out from the people who make and enforce the laws. If you do change it and then get charged saying someone on an internet forum told you it was OK isn't going to be a good defence in front of a judge.

Good luck.
 
My understanding is that
-If it is a non restricted manual action (bolt, lever) you can cut it down to whatever you want as long as the overall length is still over 26". There are a few non restricted manual action rifles out there with barrels under 18.5".

No. If it is a manually operated firearm, or a rimfire semi, the barrel can be shortened to 18", but not less, and yes, the overall length must exceed 26".

If you rebarrel it, only the overall length is an issue.
 
tiriaq said:
My understanding is that
-If it is a non restricted manual action (bolt, lever) you can cut it down to whatever you want as long as the overall length is still over 26". There are a few non restricted manual action rifles out there with barrels under 18.5".

No. If it is a manually operated firearm, or a rimfire semi, the barrel can be shortened to 18", but not less, and yes, the overall length must exceed 26".

If you rebarrel it, only the overall length is an issue.
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Once again we go into the realm of don't try to understand or make sense of it just accept that's the way it is.
Thanks, I'll add that detail to my understanding of the rules.
 
To clarify, if it is a rifle or shotgun, manual or semi-auto, you can not modify the barrel to be less than 18", although you can buy a new barrel.

Edit: You can also ask mac100 about his shotgun that is a handgun...
 
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