Oh don’t worry I will get it in writing if they give me the ok to proceed I understand that about the pistol being restricted and staying restricted but this rifle is non restricted and will be still non restricted once barrel is shortened to remove the bulge it will be 27 1/2 inches total length
Jimbo, my opinion is worth just as much as anyone else's in this thread (insofar as none of it is to be construed as legal advice and relied upon in court..), but my understanding of the law is that you may not cut a barrel down below 18" irrespective of why you're doing it - doing so creates a prohibited firearm.
If you install an already-manufactured barrel, one from a gunsmith, or a factory barrel, or a barrel made by some other manufacturer, as long as that barrel was made in that length "new" and not modified from another barrel, you can install it and retain non-restricted status so long as your firearm is greater than 26" OAL including muzzle devices and buttstock spacers and whatever else have you.
Gunsmiths and manufacturers are not exempt from these restrictions - they will not shorten an existing barrel below 18". No one is shortening existing barrels legally, but manufacturing new barrels is a different story.
People are getting hung up on "altering" and taking that term as literally as possible. That is one word in a sentence of other words, all of which must be considered for context when interpreting this law - altering in the context of sawing or cutting an existing barrel.
If this was a Remington 870, you might have bought it with a 30" duck barrel, but you can absolutely install a 14" or 12" factory barrel, or a Dlask manufactured 14" or 12" barrel. You can hack-saw that factory 30" barrel as much as you want, so long as it's overall length is greater than 18" when you're finished. If you cut it down past that, it's prohibited.
Bradley
