how short can a shotgun barrel be ?

[ipopum]

Have tried to find out what fed. law allows but no luck . I am sure some on here will know.

Thanks in advance .

[Shawlerbrook]

18”unless you have some special license

[hwilliam01]

Shtgun barrels need to be 18 inches or greater, rifle barrels must be 16 inches or better AND the overall firearm length must be 26 inches or greater.

[knifemaker]

Be very careful on measuring that shotgun barrel for the proper 18 inches. ATF requires you to close the breech and insert a rod in the barrel and have it touch the breech face. From the breech face to the end of the muzzle is the barrel distance. I would cut off at 18-1/4 inch for added safety of violating any ATF rules.

[Skunk1]

18” but go a bit more for regulation reasons.

[ipopum]

A friend has a break open that was his dads and he was concerned that it was to short. I measured it at 18.20 inches. Whoever cut it must have known you guys .

Thanks for the input.

[Drm50]

I've cut dozens off and always leave the Devils Share, 181/2". No point in getting in a jam over a
fraction of a inch. What gets me is the Shockwave type guns that don't fall under the shotgun laws
You can buy one of them legally but you can't have a 171/2" barrel on a otherwords legal gun. The
most of the guns I cut off were to make slug guns and I found out that 24-26" worked better for
slug purposes.

[wonderwolf]

Its been awhile since I've cut down a shotgun barrel but like others I usually leave about 1/4-1/2" when I do one extra just in case a certain officers tape measure is an import and not to scale :veryconfu Best one I did was a SB1 for rabbits. No action really so that made for a HANDY package.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

All good advice, it pays to play it safe. Remember what a quarter inch cost Randy Weaver?

[Texas by God]

My Remington Express 870 HD has a 18-1/8" barrel from the factory. I cut to 18-1/2" when I cut one. My river rat Toppers are 18-1/2" and no handier shotgun exists as wonderwolf stated.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[msinc]

ATF, or whoever is making their rules, is a strange duck to say the least. A shotgun has to have an 18 inch barrel and rifle 16...a pen gun is absolutely illegal, but a bang stick is not even considered a firearm!! Most scuba divers and gator hunters make their own.

[RED333]

and then you can buy this
http://www.mossberg.com/category/series/590-shockwave/
Legendary Mossberg pump-action reliability in a compact 14” barreled package.
or this
https://www.remington.com/other-products/model-870-tac-14

[wonderwolf]

and then you can buy this
http://www.mossberg.com/category/series/590-shockwave/
Legendary Mossberg pump-action reliability in a compact 14” barreled package.
or this
https://www.remington.com/other-products/model-870-tac-14

The tac-14 to me is a lot more comfortable to wield than the shockwave but that is more subjective than anything else. The Tac-14 can be made to hold 6 rounds and you can dump all 6 in 2 seconds easy and on target with little practice. Thats a lot of power in a VERY small handy package.

[jmort]

The fastest Jerry Miculek can shoot 6 rounds with a pump action is north of 2.5 seconds
Saying you can "dump" 6 rounds out of the Tac-14 "...in 2 seconds easy..." makes no sense to me.

[WILCO]

All good advice, it pays to play it safe. Remember what a quarter inch cost Randy Weaver?

Yep. Randy Weaver popped into my mind as I read the title...........

[GoodOlBoy]

214011

how short CAN it be?
how would you get chokes to work in that I wonder?

*DISCLAIMER* Image was snagged from the internet I have never and will never posses such an item. It is just a picture from the internet posted for laughs.

Seriously keep it legal + at least a couple of inches would be my advice. Personally I don't like short shotguns, but that is mainly because I always hunted with mine and always had better patterns out of long barrels with fixed chokes.

God Bless, and One Love.

GoodOlBoy

[oldred]

214011

*DISCLAIMER* Image was snagged from the internet I have never and will never posses such an item. It is just a picture from the internet posted for laughs.


GoodOlBoy


I doubt you would have to worry even if you did own that thing and got caught with it, if you will look closely you can see it wouldn't even fire anyway. Those barrels (chambers?) are just lying loosly on the frame and aren't even attached, notice the swivel portion of the frame and all the missing parts that latch the barrels down!

[17nut]

It fires just fine and is perfectly legal!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxSjLllBbQ4

[rking22]

Just not very practical! Seriously, required length depends on you country of residence, Canada gets to have less than 18 but the op is in USA so 18+ it is.
A side question for you tac14 owners, did Remington do something to keep that 14 inch barrel from mounting to a normal 870 frame? Seems it could get uncomfortable for those of us with multiple frames and barrels, if someone desired to make someone's life miserable.

[mcdaniel.mac]

Just not very practical! Seriously, required length depends on you country of residence, Canada gets to have less than 18 but the op is in USA so 18+ it is.
A side question for you tac14 owners, did Remington do something to keep that 14 inch barrel from mounting to a normal 870 frame? Seems it could get uncomfortable for those of us with multiple frames and barrels, if someone desired to make someone's life miserable.It's the same receiver and barrel as their NFA/military MCS. Takes the same barrels as current 870s.

Sent from my SM-J727P using Tapatalk

[pietro]

Shtgun barrels need to be 18 inches or greater, rifle barrels must be 16 inches or better AND the overall firearm length must be 26 inches or greater.


Well, yes & no.

Smoothbore firearms originally issued as a full-stocked shotgun must have a barrel that's a minimum of 18" from closed breech face to the muzzle, and if the buttstock is altered, the gun's OAL must be a minimum of 26" with any folding stock in the extended position.

Smoothbore firearms originally issued as a pistol-grip-only (PGO) guns can have a barrel shorter than 18", provided the OAL minimum of 26" is observed.

Rifles must have a minimum 16" barrel length, and an OAL of 26".

.

[rking22]

Thanks Mc, I guess it must not be an issue unless you actually assemble it, kinda like a tc contender. I may have to have me one , just cause :)

[wonderwolf]

The fastest Jerry Miculek can shoot 6 rounds with a pump action is north of 2.5 seconds
Saying you can "dump" 6 rounds out of the Tac-14 "...in 2 seconds easy..." makes no sense to me.

I'll put it to the timer next time I'm out, right now I have a video of me shooting at 7 yards from the hip but no timer on it. Video info says its 2 seconds from first shot to last. Let me know where to send the video :) and the one I'll take on thursday when I go out with a shot timer.

2.5 seconds for Jerry seems sloooow, looked up one of his vids and his rough run was under 2 seconds without reaction time for 6 rounds.

[Gewehr-Guy]

So if a company manufactured a double barrel pistol , with rifling and 12 inch barrels, that would be legal ? I think I want one.

[wonderwolf]

So if a company manufactured a double barrel pistol , with rifling and 12 inch barrels, that would be legal ? I think I want one.

I've always found the double couch guns to be lighter and a harder to hang on to....I can't imagine how a 12" version would be to shoot, that isn't to say I wouldn't try a couple dozen rounds through one :)

[Littleton Shot Maker]

NOT sure how true this is but the story going around at that time , was "ATF" grabbed up a guy for the shotgun being one hack saw blade too short, as in he cut on the line not the other side + that 1/8th or even better that 1/4,
the thickness ( half actually) of a hack saw blade was all it took to got to jail?? that stuck in my mind for ever - never wanted to cut anything ( shot gun barrel wise) after that..

[wonderwolf]

NOT sure how true this is but the story going around at that time , was "ATF" grabbed up a guy for the shotgun being one hack saw blade too short, as in he cut on the line not the other side + that 1/8th or even better that 1/4,
the thickness ( half actually) of a hack saw blade was all it took to got to jail?? that stuck in my mind for ever - never wanted to cut anything ( shot gun barrel wise) after that..

I'm sure a small town could be built on the amount of wood, steel and PVC that was cut in error by somebody not really understanding kerf and how it adds up.

[LAGS]

You can cut your shotgun Barrel off as short as you want it, without a permit.
As long as you dont mind having a wife named Bubba for the next ten years.

[deltaenterprizes]

Local ordinances may be stricter, a parish in Louisiana had a 20” minimum!

[fralic76]

Being in Canada we have strict rules on this stuff. I have purchased a pump shotgun with a 13" barrel factory barrel. This is legal because the overall length is ok. The shotgun is a Dominion Arms Kodiak Tac shotgun with collapsible stock.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180214/1586105600e3137a0e235821b522aeb9.jpg

Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk

[wonderwolf]

jmort, looks like I owe you an apology. Got out to the range today and got 6 rounds off in 2.06 seconds on the first try so it looks like its not THAT easy to do even for an experienced shooter. Would have given it a few more tries but I let a couple burn up some of my ammo through the tac-14 and it started to rain. My tac-14 is still tight even after a couple hundred rounds though, not as slick as a gun that has a few k through it...Curious if I can do better with my riot gun. I think we can both agree though 6 rounds of 12 ga in any time format is gonna hurt whatever is on the rec end no matter how fast you put it down there. Let me know where I can send the video.

[Drm50]

Try one of the early model pumps with no disconnect. Hold the trigger back and pump. Is the new
Shockwave type weapons 26" overall?

[19thdragoons]

Have tried to find out what fed. law allows but no luck . I am sure some on here will know.

Thanks in advance .One area Canada win that hand. As long as overall length is over 26 1/2" the barrel can be 8 inch or whatever but it must be factory barrel (strange quirk)


Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

[Kestrel4k]

FWIW, I have found that a 12.5" bbl only gives up ~10% of its velocity compared to standard-length 26/28" bbls.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r8woo2a6afetd9q/20160318_174542.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/af0r7jbg4f5lf4s/20161127_112207.jpg?dl=0

[M-Tecs]

It fires just fine and is perfectly legal!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxSjLllBbQ4

The guy in the video isn't the brightest bulb. He loads two fires one and walks in front of the loaded barrel several times. He does unload it once.