sawed off shotgun question.

Live2Crawl

Live2Crawl

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I have a friend who has an old side by side and was going to cut it down a bit keeping it over the legal overall length. He insisted that would make it non restricted if it was over the minimum length. I told him i thought that would make it prohib if he cut it down. Just wanted to check am i giving him bad advise and keeping him from making a cool little coach gun? Its an old side by side with 32 in barrels.
 
You can cut it down yourself without it becoming prohibited, provided the barrels remain over the minimum length. I believe that minimum length is either 18" or 18.5" but someone on here should be able to clarify that. The OAL will also have to remain over 26" to be non-restricted.

Remember, too, that the POI will probably change once the barrels are shortened, which may or may not be of concern for your friend depending on what he plans on using it for.
 
He basically uses it for shooting skunks and pests around his farm and wanted something a little shorter understandably for carrying in his tractor and such.
 
"...would make it prohib if..." Only if he cuts the thing below legal minimums.
"rifles and shotguns that have been altered so that their barrel length is less than 457 mm (about 18 inches) or their overall length is less than 660 mm (about 26 inches)."
However, cutting SxS barrels is not like cutting a single barrel. Really requires a smithy who knows about SxS's. The barrels may or may not be joined over their whole length.
If he reaches for a hacksaw, hit him with something heavy. snicker.
 
can be cut down legally, provided they are over 18.5 inches I would suggest going to something like 19 to be safe.


The barrel has be altered to be shorter than it originally left the factory. Legally you must retain at least 18.5 inches when cutting a barrel. be careful, as the laws are pretty much open to personal opinions and interpretations .

Do NOT let him cut it down to 14.


thread on chopping, lots of legal discussion. I'd read it first.
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=360405
 
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If he is cutting 18.5" is the minimum, if he is replacing it with a manufactured barrel than the barrel can be shorter as long as the overall length stays above 26"
 
The cutting minimum for a manually operated firearm is 18", not 18 1/2". Overall length must exceed 26".
Rebarrel an old double gun? Isn't going to happen.
Point of impact shift? With a sawed off shotgun, and the effective range of a cylinder bore barrel, how would anyone ever know if there was a shift?
Personally, I don't like the idea of chopping an elderly double.
Get a new made shortgun, sell the old one.
Cowboy action bubbas have already butchered a large number of classsic doubles.
 
tiriaq said:
The cutting minimum for a manually operated firearm is 18", not 18 1/2". Overall length must exceed 26".
Rebarrel an old double gun? Isn't going to happen.
Point of impact shift? With a sawed off shotgun, and the effective range of a cylinder bore barrel, how would anyone ever know if there was a shift?
Personally, I don't like the idea of chopping an elderly double.
Get a new made shortgun, sell the old one.
Cowboy action bubbas have already butchered a large number of classsic doubles.
Click to expand...

all of these +1
I always mention 18.5, who knows what crazy measuring someone could come up with to find its less that 18.
 
It is a really bad idea to go for the absolute minimum.
In the event of an error, the gun becomes prohibited.
 
He may not want to go this more expensive route, but I strongly suggest he install screw in chokes as part of his chop job with final advice/paid work from a good gunsmith.
I'm afraid he's going to be very disappointed with the loss of effective range without any choke constriction. Without any choke, he may just turn a good 25 yard gun into a fairly useless noisemaker.
I'm not trying to discourage him, just something to seriously think about.
 
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