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Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Big Frank on January 30, 2024, 05:50:43 PM

Title: Do you know why shotgun barrels have to be 18" & rifles only have to be 16"?
Post by: Big Frank on January 30, 2024, 05:50:43 PM

Most everyone knows that according to the National Firearms Act of 1934, rifles and shotguns both need to be at least 26" long. And shotgun barrels have to be 18" long, but rifle barrels only have to be 16" long. Do you know why? I do. The answer is a few posts down.

Title: Re: Do you know why shotgun barrels have to be 18" & rifles only have to be 16"?
Post by: Big Frank on January 30, 2024, 05:50:54 PM

Not here.

Title: Re: Do you know why shotgun barrels have to be 18" & rifles only have to be 16"?
Post by: Big Frank on January 30, 2024, 05:51:05 PM

Or here.

Title: Re: Do you know why shotgun barrels have to be 18" & rifles only have to be 16"?
Post by: Big Frank on January 30, 2024, 05:51:16 PM

Wait for it.

Title: Re: Do you know why shotgun barrels have to be 18" & rifles only have to be 16"?
Post by: Big Frank on January 30, 2024, 05:54:40 PM

Rifles and shotguns both had to have 18" barrels at first. Then The Office of the Director of Civilian Marksmanship (DCM) received surplus M1 Carbines in the late 1960s and began selling the first arsenal refurbished examples to the public. The M1 Carbine barrel is only 17.75 inches long. After they realized they sold a bunch of unregistered SBRs, the law was changed so rifle barrels only needed to be 16" long.

Title: Re: Do you know why shotgun barrels have to be 18" & rifles only have to be 16"?
Post by: Big Frank on February 02, 2024, 09:08:01 AM

I guess everyone else already knew that, huh?

Title: Re: Do you know why shotgun barrels have to be 18" & rifles only have to be 16"?
Post by: alfsauve on February 02, 2024, 10:23:41 AM

Quote from: Big Frank on February 02, 2024, 09:08:01 AM

I guess everyone else already knew that, huh?

Nope but we were all just letting yo u have your moment. ;)

Title: Re: Do you know why shotgun barrels have to be 18" & rifles only have to be 16"?
Post by: Big Frank on February 02, 2024, 02:16:50 PM

Well, I didn't know it, until I did. ;)  I heard it someplace within the last month or two. Maybe from Ian McCollum on Forgotten Weapons. So it looks like a few of us didn't know it. Until I I heard about it, I thought M1 carbines had 18.5" barrels. just like a Ruger 10/22 Carbine. I don't know why I thought that, I just did. So did a lot of other people.

Title: Re: Do you know why shotgun barrels have to be 18" & rifles only have to be 16"?
Post by: alfsauve on February 03, 2024, 10:26:16 AM

Frank, I didn't know why the difference.  Thank you.  Now I'm just a tad bit wiser

Title: Re: Do you know why shotgun barrels have to be 18" & rifles only have to be 16"?
Post by: kmitch200 on February 03, 2024, 07:45:29 PM

Now that Bit ‘O Tid is in my head and I’m wondering what flew out to make room! 

Title: Re: Do you know why shotgun barrels have to be 18" & rifles only have to be 16"?
Post by: alfsauve on February 04, 2024, 11:12:44 AM

Probably something trivial, like that the bore and groove of 9mm and .357mag are the same SAAMI spec.

Title: Re: Do you know why shotgun barrels have to be 18" & rifles only have to be 16"?
Post by: Big Frank on February 04, 2024, 12:20:48 PM

Any day you learn something new isn't completely wasted.

@kmitch - I finally remembered my cellphone number, but now I can't remember my Social Security number.  ;)