Permanent barrel extensions

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Jonnyofalltrades

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Almost 20 years ago I was bugging a nationally renown gunsmith/gunmaker(if I named him you would all know who it was) about barrel questions. He told me that if I had a permanently attached extension on the barrel to make up to the legal minimum, that was ok. I took that at face value, but now that I am older(wiser?) I'm faced with needing to know for sure. I have a 28" Lilja rimfire blank that would be good for 2 rifles if I could half it. I've read several places on this forum that it must have continuous rifling to count as part of the barrel, but much time on the RCMP website has come up empty for a hard and fast. Did this change? Or was the old guy mistaken back then?
 
It's rimfire. Just cut it in half and make 2 14" barrels

you can use any length barrel you want on a rimfire as long as the rifles over all length is more then 26"
 
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Evanguy said:
It's rimfire. Just cut it in half and make 2 14" barrels

you can use any length barrel you want on a rimfire as long as the rifles over all length is more then 27"
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Not quite. You can manufacture a new rimfire barrel shorter than 475mm (18.7"), but you can't modify one to make it shorter than that. Our laws are dumb.


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; (arme à feu prohibée)
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For a long time, the RCMP accepted the use of a welded on extension to make up barrel length. Policy, not Law, changed, and they decided that in order to 'count', you could not do that any more.

Agree with Evanguy, it's a barrel blank, as long as your Over All Length is long enough, you can make any length barrel you wish, as long as it is not shorter than what? 102mm? If you make it that short, babies die, angels cry, and God kills a kitten. Y'know, bad things...

:)
 
So it would seem since it is a "newly manufactured" barrel, and I'm not chopping an original unit down, the limiting factor is overall length of the firearm. Our laws are amazing.
I might want to get a hold of a Firearms Officer, or whatever they're called. Grey areas are a great way to get in trouble.
 
Jonnyofalltrades said:
So it would seem since it is a "newly manufactured" barrel, and I'm not chopping an original unit down, the limiting factor is overall length of the firearm. Our laws are amazing.
I might want to get a hold of a Firearms Officer, or whatever they're called. Grey areas are a great way to get in trouble.
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good luck getting someone who knows the rules and is willing to give the correct answer. firearms laws have built-in grey.
 
Jonnyofalltrades said:
I still think I would put on an extension even if it was not legally required. I can't stand a gun that's balanced too far back.
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You would be far better off to add some weight to the inside of the stock fore end, especially if the rifle shoot well alreadey

Adding weight to the muzzle is going to make definite changes to harmonics and point of impact and could very likely open groups.
 
trevj said:
For a long time, the RCMP accepted the use of a welded on extension to make up barrel length. Policy, not Law, changed, and they decided that in order to 'count', you could not do that any more.

Agree with Evanguy, it's a barrel blank, as long as your Over All Length is long enough, you can make any length barrel you wish, as long as it is not shorter than what? 102mm? If you make it that short, babies die, angels cry, and God kills a kitten. Y'know, bad things...

:)
Click to expand...
There is no lower bounds on the limit for the length of long gun barrels.
 
Jonnyofalltrades said:
Almost 20 years ago I was bugging a nationally renown gunsmith/gunmaker(if I named him you would all know who it was) about barrel questions. He told me that if I had a permanently attached extension on the barrel to make up to the legal minimum, that was ok. I took that at face value, but now that I am older(wiser?) I'm faced with needing to know for sure. I have a 28" Lilja rimfire blank that would be good for 2 rifles if I could half it. I've read several places on this forum that it must have continuous rifling to count as part of the barrel, but much time on the RCMP website has come up empty for a hard and fast. Did this change? Or was the old guy mistaken back then?
Click to expand...

At one time a screw on break was counted as barrel length, then to be legal (RCMP policy) they had to be welded on, than a few yrs ? later , that was not counted as the barrel length, so the welded barrel was restricted with welds on it. That is why we now have 19 in barrels on M1 carbines
So yes he was correct .
I never tried it, but if you had nothing better to do, match up the rifling on a stub of barrel, weld it on, lathe smooth , reblue , Legal NR? maybe if you could not see a joint.
M1 carbines where the main reasoning for this , as they where just a tad short as issued.
Shot gun barrel on a manual operated (ss, pump) can be short ie 8 in ( silly), semi auto must be over 18 1/2 inch
But you can't take your 30 in 870 and chop it to 10 or 12 in, you can chop it to 18"+
The cut off for short is 105mm , not 102mm, or about 4 1/4"
 
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Ex3dy said:
There is no lower bounds on the limit for the length of long gun barrels.
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My mistake then.

Not that a 4 1/2 inch barrel is a very attractive option anyways...

Still, I'll stand by that it was policy and interpretation, rather than Law, that was changed.
 
For years I silver soldered extensions on M1 carbine barrels; I put the joint under the front sight band and made the extension from 8mm Mauser barrel pieces. The RCMP told me it didn't count as part of the barrel because it didn't touch the bullet. I disagreed and told them I would be driving one hour a day with one in my car for the next month, and if it was illegal, they should charge me. Never happened. Only the courts can interpret the law. The RCMP said their lawyer thought they would win, I said mine thought they wouldn't. We never found out.
 
Leeper said:
For years I silver soldered extensions on M1 carbine barrels; I put the joint under the front sight band and made the extension from 8mm Mauser barrel pieces. The RCMP told me it didn't count as part of the barrel because it didn't touch the bullet. I disagreed and told them I would be driving one hour a day with one in my car for the next month, and if it was illegal, they should charge me. Never happened. Only the courts can interpret the law. The RCMP said their lawyer thought they would win, I said mine thought they wouldn't. We never found out.
Click to expand...

I remember back at that time ... it seems the RCMP wanted to make anything to do with the 30 M1 Carbine as difficult and costly as possible.
 
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