Long barrel pistol ?

[22popnsplat]

Is there a limit to how long a pistol can be ? I shoot the contenders alot and the barrels are interchangable . I have a 18 1/8 inch barrel in 30 herrett I would like to try with a pistol grip on it before I buy a rifle butstock for it . Is there a point were it becomes a shortstock rifle or some crap like that ?
All of my frames left the factory as a pistol I know i can convert them to a rifle and back to a pistol and its illegal to have the rifle butstock on it and a short barrel but dont know about a long barrel pistol.

[dfletcher]

You can put whatever length barrel you want on a handgun - 10", 18", 26" - it makes no difference. A T/C Contender with a handgun stock and a 18" bbl is just a handgun with a really, really long barrel. I have a few handgun barrels (405 Winchester, 350 Rem Mag, 45/70) that are just over 16" and I use them on a handgun frame and also on a separate rifle frame.

Keep in mind that if you have a +16" bbl on a T/C handgun frame with a handgun stock (legal) and attach a rifle stock (legal) that you can not switch back to handgun configuration of any barrel length because ATF has the position that once a firearm is configured as a rifle it can not be reconfigured as a handgun, even if it started life as a handgun.

I understand that approach when dealing with bolt action & lever action rifles that can not be reconfigured without a bit of work, but it seems to me that with the T/C and ARs and some other guns - guns so easily reconfigured and by hand - that there ought to be a way to have this changed.

[CSACANNONEER]

Keep in mind that if you have a +16" bbl on a T/C handgun frame with a handgun stock (legal) and attach a rifle stock (legal) that you can not switch back to handgun configuration of any barrel length because ATF has the position that once a firearm is configured as a rifle it can not be reconfigured as a handgun, even if it started life as a handgun.

I was under the impression that the ATF&E had made an exception fot TCs. Am I wrong?

[22popnsplat]

My understanding was that if it left the factory as a pistol you could convert to a rifle and back to a pistol .
If it left the factory as a rifle you could not make a pistol .
If you changed a pistol to a rifle and then back how would they know ?
I guess i should go back and find the laws on it a reread them .

[Quiet]

Keep in mind that if you have a +16" bbl on a T/C handgun frame with a handgun stock (legal) and attach a rifle stock (legal) that you can not switch back to handgun configuration of any barrel length because ATF has the position that once a firearm is configured as a rifle it can not be reconfigured as a handgun, even if it started life as a handgun.

The Thompson Center Contender is exempt from this via SCOTUS ruling.

My understanding was that if it left the factory as a pistol you could convert to a rifle and back to a pistol .
If it left the factory as a rifle you could not make a pistol .
If you changed a pistol to a rifle and then back how would they know ?
I guess i should go back and find the laws on it a reread them .

Read letter...

[dfletcher]

The Thompson Center Contender is exempt from this via SCOTUS ruling.


Read letter...

That was my initial opinion also - but if you read the letter critically the only T/C firearms ATF allows that legal reconfiguration ability to are the specific firearms contained in the kit manufactured by T/C in about 1992.The kit was a bit different than your average T/C rifle or handgun offered for sale, I believe it contained both a handgun stock and a rifle stock and a barrel of fewer than 16".

Note the letter states ATF's position that the SCOTUS decision "applies to this kit only". Other T/C Contender and Encore handgun frames, though otherwise identical and using the same procedure for reconfiguration, are not afforded the same status.

I think ATF are being difficult construing this decision narrowly, but that's their position. That's why I have a handgun frame and a rifle frame for the Contender and the Encore.