UPDATE: I have now done it. It's fairly easy.
I bought one six months ago, registered as a 12(6) prohib. Some time in February, I decided to have it reclassified as Restricted. (Yes, I do have a 12(6) placeholder revolver.) It was a fairly simple process, but a couple of insights may be of use to future applicants. Here's what I did:
- Found a verifier. We have one at my club. He agreed to measure the barrel and sign the paperwork, if I brought the pistol in and did the rest.
- Went to the CFC website and downloaded form CAFC 804.
- Filled out the form; left everything but the class and barrel length blank. In the DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS section, I wrote something like "FIREARM IS PRESENTLY REGISTERED AS PROHIBITED. VERIFIER HAS MEASURED THE BARREL AND FOUND IT TO BE CONFORMANT TO MINIMUM LENGTH FOR RESTRICTED CLASS. PLEASE RE-REGISTER THE FIREARM AS RESTRICTED."
- Took pistol and form to the club. Handed the verifier my 6" caliper, entered the freshly-measured, 106mm+ barrel length, and had the verifier read and sign it.
- Mailed the form to my CFO.
About three weeks later, phoned the CFC to ask if they'd logged my form in. They had, and said it showed up in their system as a registration data change.
Maybe a month after that, I got a call from the CFC. After stating that the call was being recorded, they had two questions for me:
- "Is this a new barrel? What has happened to the old, prohibited barrel?" I replied, truthfully, that my application was concerning the original barrel which had been re-measured. Which brought the follow-up question:
- "So, you're asking for re-classification (not re-registration, they were adamant about that) due to a measuring error? Because, I am bound to inform you, if there's been a barrel switch, that old barrel is considered a prohibited item, and you must account for it." Thought about it for a second, and replied something like, "I'm applying for re-classification because the original barrel length had been incorrectly recorded. The original barrel has not been replaced and is still on the pistol. My verifier asserts that it's 106-point-something millimeters long."
That seemed to satisfy them.
So, if you decide to go through with a prohib-to-restricted reclassification, and presuming this applies in your case, be sure to specify on the form that
the original barrel has been re-measured and there has been no barrel change. Might save your application a month in the slush pile.
Should add that this was the first time my verifier had ever signed a form for that specific purpose, so he hadn't seen it coming.
Last thing: Make sure you keep at least one 12(6) registered
as a 12(6) prohib if you decide to go mad with your caliper. The CFC actually mentioned potential loss of 12(6) status due to reclassification during that phone call. There are always plenty of cheap, interesting placeholder prohibs on the EE.
Hope this helps someone deal with the bureaucracy.
