I've talked about how the National Firearms Action of 1934 effectively destroyed the market in the US for what is being called the trapper rifle. Prior to the NFA, Winchester and Marlin with other lever action rifle manufacturers offered versions of their rifles and some shotguns with barrel lengths that are well under the original minimum length of 18 inches found in the NFA. The guns were never banned but what did happen is that a tax was required for ownership of such rifles and shotguns. That tax was a flat $200. If you aren't aware, the Progressive inflation of the US dollar now has that value of 1934 money at $4,773 in today's dollar per a specific calculator you can find on the internet. Simply put, $200 back in 1934 was way more valuable than it is today. Thankfully, the tax hasn't changed.
Today, many lever action platforms cost around $1000 which would be around $40 in 1933 money. I chose 1933 specifically because I want you to put yourself in the idea that you just bought a brand new Winchester 1892 in 32-20 Winchester with a 14 inch barrel in the Spring of 1933 to small game hunt as you cruise the woods. Then in 1934, you are being told that you have to pay a tax that is 5 times more expensive than your rifle is worth new because the barrel is 4 inches too short. What would you do?
Pretty stupid if you ask me but I think the objective was to make the cost so prohibitive, that normal everyday folks couldn't pay the tax. Congress claimed it was about fighting organized crime. Numerous people just put these rifles away and didn't say anything and occasionally, one shows up.
Today, the minimum barrel length is 16 inches for rifles. I haven't found when that change happened as the original length was 18 inches. As a result, most rifles have a 16 inch barrel option and that includes most lever action platforms available on the market. This includes the Winchester model 92, Marlin's 1894 and newer stuff like the 336 and all the rifles based off of that design such as the Henry's and the Smith and Wesson 1854.
Marlin and Rossi both refer to their 16 inch rifles as Trappers but as far as I can work out, original Winchester and Marlin short rifles didn't have 16 inches. I have only ever seen 14 and 15 inch models. Some would say that it's close enough.
A more interesting option that's been available for a long while are the lever action pistols. Usually called a Mare's Leg after the Winchester carried by Steve McQueen in the TV show Wanted Dead or Alive, NFA Title 1 pistols have various barrel lengths close to the original short rifles.
A few options such as Henry and Rossi have been available but as people are becoming less afraid of the bureaucratic non-sense that is the NFA paperwork, people have taken to making their own lever action rifles with nice, short barrels. A few companies have even offered conversion services. The process of making your own Short Barrel Rifle involves filing a Form 1 with the ATF then paying the $200 tax. There's a little more that needs to happen but once approved, the conversion process of either converting a pistol or 16+ inch barrel to whatever length can begin.
Now that we've laid out a primer on the topic, at NRAAM 2025, I got to see first hand Rossi's new Triple Black Pistol. These are a 13.25 inch lever action pistol based on their newer R95 which is based, I think, off of the 336. As far as I am concerned, the Henrys, Rossi R95 and S&W are based off of the 336. That's just fine with me as the 336 is a great platform. What makes these interesting is the caliber options of their typical revolver chamberings of .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum and .454 Casull but they are also offering this in .45-70. I wasn't aware of any Mare's Leg type guns in .45-70 so we will see if that's worth anything in terms of performance. With the Rossi, you are getting a picatinny rail section with the gun for optics. There are no provisions for open sights but they are tricked out with an all black finish and a threaded barrel.
Henry's offering is a new pistol based on their X series and will be starting off with both .30-30 and .45-70. They call it the Bear's Leg. I like the pun. These will come with a 12.9 or 13 inch barrel based on statements made at NRAAM. To some degree, I like these a little more as they come with iron sights. They also feature a threaded barrel but have the X series plastic furniture with an MLOK slot on the handguard. The iron sights is a very attractive feature though they have the fiber optic version instead of a more traditional sight. That's fine as those can be replaced as you might want.
If you've read my stuff before, you've probably run into my interest in having an SBR lever action with a silencer. These new pistols offer a person like myself new options for this but you are probably wondering are the rifle cartridges actually worth anything in the short barrels? I know the pistol calibers make for great candidates and I think .30-30 can do good work but could .45-70 make the cut with sub-16 inch barrels?
To be fair, since I don't have anything in .45-70, I currently can't answer that from a personal standpoint but seeing that .454 Casull has a case capacity less than .45-70 and that +P versions of .45 Colt are functional for hunting applications, I think .45-70 can be made to work just fine. Personally, I didn't want to get into .45-70 for cost reasons. The old .45-70 is just expensive and resource intensive. Lots of powder and heavy bullets. It's pretty much a reloader's cartridge if you want to shoot a bunch. I knew that if I did acquire something, then I really should learn how to make my own black powder. I did however, just recently learn about gallery loads for the .45-70. Basically, by putting a round lead ball way down inside a .45-70 case over top a very tiny charge of powder, you have a very soft shooting and relatively inexpensive option. The video I saw from Everything Black Powder used actual black powder and both round and conical .454 bullets but I wonder if I can get away with other options. Do these gallery loads work with black powder substitutes like 777 or Pyrodex? They used a Trapdoor type rifle but I think we can make this work in a lever action.
For a while now, I have been working an article going over the efficacy of 16 and sub-16 inch barrels in the older calibers like these guns are found in. Again, the topic of the revolver cartridges isn't really in the discussion because you effectively only need around a 10 inch barrel to make .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum reach out to the 100 yard mark. 100 yards being around the typical hunting distance. I've gone over the revolver cartridge topic a bunch. But what about .30-30?
The generic answer is yes it works from shorter barrels. We can see this with the old Thompson Center single shot pistols such as the Super 14. Those Contender options included .30-30 but there are .45-70 Contenders out there. While you wouldn't be taking nearly full advantage of the cartridge's potential with a 13 inch barrel, the velocities achieved is still sufficient for regular folk's needs. For example, in testing done by American Handgunner using the 14 inch T/C Contender, the 160 grain LeverEvolution .30-30 load still achieved a velocity of 2100 fps. At 150 yards, that velocity drops to 1761 fps or so. That should be plenty for expansion and penetration in whitetail. You aren't going to lose that much by dropping to the 13 inch barrels. As it were, that is still faster than what a .357 Magnum 158 grain bullet is doing from even a 16 inch barrel and they do just fine. Ultimately, the performance aspect is something that the end user will need to understand to make these shorter barrels work for them. Know your ammunition.
In thinking through how I would build out one of these pistols into an SBR and it occurs to me that Henry and Rossi missed an opportunity. Both of these use nearly 13 inch barrels. Had they gone with the traditional length of 14 to 15 inch like Winchester had back in the day, we could have gone the pin-and-weld route. Simply put, a person could have screwed on an appropriately sized muzzle device and had a gunsmith permanently attach that muzzle device. Once completed, the firearm now has a 16 inch barrel. This allows you attach a stock without need for the $200 tax stamp while having a rifle that can host a silencer and still be shorter than the current trapper rifles on the market. Just an idea.
The Bottom Line Up Front is that these lever action pistols should not be discounted on performance. They might seem like novelties or range toys but they will still deliver a useful payload in typical hunting distances and will function for large game defense as needed. If you convert your lever action pistol into a Title 2 NFA weapon, it is not going to turn you into a bank robber, moonshiner and racketeering criminal like proponents of the NFA 1934 say. They have legitimate and viable uses in the average Joe's hands.
I've talked about the National Firearms Act of 1934 a lot. More like I've yammered about how I don't like it. The NFA did a lot to stifle development and general sales of rifles that were readily available before it's enactment. While I'm biased against the NFA, there are definitely firearms that were impacted that simply didn't fit within the idea of regulating gangster guns. While I don't believe in limiting people to guns that someone may define as "sporting" for the sake of this article, I'll talk about several guns that work within the confines of "sporting." They are "sporting" rifles used by people for legitimate reasons that still make sense today but were regulated into oblivion. Let's take a look at the categories then go over what I want.
Pocket Rifles
Pocket rifles are what we would call a survival rifle today. Similar guns exist today but not with the shorter barrel lengths. Basically, they were a single shot, breach loading rifle that appeared after the Civil War. The idea is simple. You have a short rifle that can be carried easily for the taking of small game animals while on a trail. If you're heading into the wilderness for some time, this stows nicely on a pack or elsewhere that can help keep you fed. I have seen in auction, versions of these rifles with barrels as short as 8 inches. That had surprised me as I had only ever seen 10, 12, 15 and 18 inch versions before.
Apparently, they were fairly popular though I don't know to what extent. Given that a very large number of these guns would have been made prior to 1899, the examples surviving by 1934 would have been antiques and not regulated. Any gun made after 1899 would have been regulated. What would have been an inexpensive hunting rifle would have required an incredibly expensive tax to be paid. For example, an advertisement from 1894 has a 10 inch Stevens Pocket Rifle at $12.25. In 2023 money, that's about $438. That inflation is painful. That said, in 1934, the Pocket Rifle cost, if adjusted for inflation is $19.07. Imagine that you are a regular person with a modest income. You have purchased a 10 inch Steven's Pocket rifle in 1933 for $19. Then in 1934, some Democrats tell you that your new rabbit hunting rifle is actually gangster gun and requires a $200 dollar tax stamp. You're not going to pay that. That's 10 times the cost of the rifle. Let's adjust for inflation. Say you bought that rifle in 2022 for $416. Then Congress says you have to pay a tax of $4600 dollars to keep that rifle. Will you be keeping that gun? No you won't. All you wanted was a .22 rimfire rifle to hunt rabbits but now you can't keep your new 10 inch barrel rifle.
It wasn't just rifles as well. The Marble's Game Getter combination gun ran into the same fate. The Game Getter had similar barrel lengths but had a second barrel under the .22 rimfire barrel for special 44-40 cartridges. The 1908 version of the small game hunting gun would handle the .22 Short, Long and Long Rifle cartridges with the .44 barrel underneath using .44-40 shotshells (like the CCI shot shells we have today). Some of those shells had .44 caliber round ball loads that could have likely taken larger game as needed. Maybe not deer though I could see someone trying.
Today, the rolls these guns play have been filled with rifles like the AR-7 or the Henry Survival Rifle or the Chiappa Little Badger. They are easily packed rifles with barrels that meet the current 16 inch minimum for Title 1 under the NFA. Alternatively, take-down guns like the Ruger 10/22 can be setup to do a similar roll. The Ruger rifle does have a pistol version called the Charger in a take-down that could be fitted with a stock but that would require a $200 stamp. Congress did fess up to having made the mistake of regulating the Game Getter in 1938, which is why we have the AOW $5 stamp. Actually, Congress setup a $1 stamp for the Game Getter specifically but the rest would be $5. A $1 stamp is much more palatable on a $19.00 rifle than $200 for a stamp. It took them 4 years to do it though.
Trapper Rifles
Trapper rifles, as we call them today, are shorter rifles carried by woodsman, who didn't need the rifle specifically to take Big Game but were more for defense. Winchester sold factory rifles such as the Model 1873, 1892 and 1894 with 14 and 15 inch barrels. Today, Trapper rifles will usually have 16 inch barrels to comply with the current iteration of the NFA. Again, pre-1899 rifles would be covered as antiques but if you had a post 1900 one, there is a $200 tax stamp.
The shorter barrels help with maneuverability in the woods. The longer barrels may get caught up in the brush and branches of the trees common to areas where fur-bearers (think beaver) live. The rifles still retain their ability to take larger game but at reduced distances. With a 20 inch 1894 in .30 WCF you might be able to take a deer at 200 yards but with the 14 inch barrel, that would likely be reduced to around 100 yards. That's not a huge loss as much hunting is done in that range anyway. The pistol calibers like .44 WCF or .38 WCF would not have faired well at range but a 1873 or 1892 with a 14 or 15 inch barrel is still a viable short range hunting rifle, especially with the express rifle loads available by the time the NFA was enacted.
Boy's Rifles
As it turns out, historically kids had been able to purchase inexpensive, single shot rifles in .22 rimfire with short barrels. For example, the Hamilton Models 27 and 28 could be had with a 15 inch barrel. This was just one of a number of rifles commonly referred to as Boy's Rifles. These are different from the Pocket Rifle in that that cost was much lower. These were inexpensive single shot rifles in a rimfire cartridge for teaching marksmanship and small game hunting. They could be had with longer barrels but I am seeing them with shorter barrels. Today, you would have to pay the $200 tax to purchase a new rifle just like that. It used to be that these rifles didn't even need to have serial numbers and yet now their "gangster guns."
My Uses
Simply put, .22 LR makes up a very large part of my ammunition consumption. Understanding the loads I use helps me as a shooter. The weapons I use in .22LR vary from revolvers and semi auto pistols to bolt action, lever action and semi auto rifles. Let's look at the velocity performance of .22 LR.
I have used Remington's 36 grain Golden Bullet before and I still have a little left from my old stockpile. The above image is from testing done by Ballistics By The Inch. From 2 inches of barrel to basically 11 inches of barrel, the velocity is increasing pretty steadily. After 11 inches the velocity is pretty much the same. That chart demonstrates that there is fundamentally no reason from a cartridge performance perspective to use a barrel beyond 11 inches with this factory load. Other loads are similar with them having varying barrel lengths being the practical cut off point. Some are 10 inch and some are 13 inch. Each one varies a bit. Some actually do better with the 18 inch barrel but all the testing BBTI did shows around 12 inches is the shortest barrel length to achieve near maximum velocity for many .22 LR factory loads.
One of my favorite .22 LR rifles is my Henry H001. It has the 18 barrel. I knew they had a 16 inch but years ago I had chosen the 18 inch. I think it was just the cheapest option. While having 15 rounds in the longer magazine is nice the shorter 16 inch still has 12 rounds of 22 LR for the Youth model. Looking further still, the 12 inch barrel version of the H001, the Mare's Leg, holds 10 rounds or .22LR. As a short range, small game hunting rifle or barn yard rifle, that's pretty good. Though if I had a rat problem, the 18 inch barrel with 21 rounds of .22 Shorts it pretty hard to beat. For a woods small game rifle, I'm happy with the 12 inch barrel. The NFA requires me to pay a $200 stamp for me to take the 12 inch barrel model and put a stock on it. If you want the shortest possible rifle for in the woods while still making full use of your .22 LR loads, you need to pay the taxes. Otherwise, anything longer is merely compliance.
.357 Magnum
The old .357 Magnum works similarly to the .22 LR. Per BBTI's findings, the 158 gr loads they tested showed that one favored the 16 inch barrel while the other load favored the 14 inch barrel.
In their chart above, the maximum velocity recorded came from a 16 inch barrel at 1739 while the 14 inch showed 1732 fps. That's the difference between one cartridge to the next. That means 14 inches is the shortest barrel needed to achieve near maximum velocity. What this chart doesn't show is that the velocity from even just a 6 inch barrel is still useable. In their real world testing with a Korth 5.8 inch barrel, they got 1259 fps. That should be good enough to take a deer around 50 yards. You can extend that range with a better bullet design expanding at lower velocities.
If you had a modern version of the Winchester 1892 chambered in .357 Magnum and used the traditional 14 inch barrel similar to how the 1800's versions of the guns were, you'd have a greatly improved rifle by simply using the new cartridge. That isn't to say the .38-40 version of the gun wasn't useful but by having the faster moving magnum, we can get even more distance than before. I have successfully taken deer with a 16 inch barrel version of the Marlin 1894 and have no reason to believe the same cartridges wouldn't work in anything shorter. In fact, I chose the Remington 158 gr SJHP because of it's performance from both a rifle and a revolver. It works in my 16 inch 1894 and it works in my 4 inch revolver. It doesn't matter if it has a stock or not.
I like my Marlin 1894 a lot. Having 8 rounds in the magazine is very handy but I would very much like to see how the 14 inch version would do as my truck rifle and hunting rifle for on the Little Farm. My understanding is that Marlin did make 14 or 15 inch versions in the early 1900's.
Summary
While shortening the barrels on my two lever action rifles by just a few inches seems trivial, I argue the same. Why regulate a rifle by just a few inches? Why not optimize your situation? The two examples above are for older cartridges and older rifle designs, what if we fully modernized? What can we achieve? How about a 10 inch .300 Blackout AR-15 or bolt-action instead of the .357 Magnum? I know .300 Blackout works on deer since I've done that successfully. The NFA and your imagination are the only limiting factors on putting together a viable multipurpose rifle or short hunting rifle. Given those limitations, I think it's time to repeal the NFA so your imagination is the limiting factor.
Update June 2025: I learned that the category of Boy's Rifles such as the Hamilton Models 27 and 28 had 15 inch barrel options. These are inexpensive single-shot .22 rifles intended for young lads to learn to shoot and hunt small game with. I also learned that these rifles are why in 1936, Congress amended the Short Barrel requirements to 16 inches for rimfire rifles. In addition, I learned that the 1968 Gun Control Act changed the SBR requirements to 16 inches for centerfire rifles because of surplus M1 Carbine rifles having 16 inch barrels. I didn't know those had 16 inch barrels as I had thought they were 17 or 18 inch. The things I learn. I have added a Boy's Rifle section to the .22 LR to incorporate this new knowledge. With the SHORT Act being added back to the reconciliation bill in 2025, if this makes it to the President, we should be able to buy all of these types of rifles again.
I own both the Dead Air Primal and Wolfman. Both silencers are multirole and can handle a variety of tasks. While the Primal is a 45 caliber, full rifle cartridge rated, fully welded can, it's not segmented. The 9mm bore Wolfman is segmented and can handle some of the most popular smaller calibers though it but can't handle anything over 350 Legend. Both are great cans and they look related. So let's compare.
At first glance, both silencers have the same outer diameter, length and construction. Even the finish is similar.
The baffle stacks look very similar until you look closer. Firstly, the blast chamber on the Primal is substantially longer. The baffles themselves on the Primal are shorter compared to the Wolfman. Both have 12 baffles or cups.
The bores are different given the calibers. The Primal is able to handle .458 caliber cartridges with the Wolfman being a 9mm or .36 caliber bore.
This is the front of the silencer without the included caps. The Primal is on the left.
The Primal and its 45 caliber end cap are on the left.
Mounting patterns are different between the two. The Wolfman is at heart a pistol caliber silencer. It's meant as advertised for submachine guns and pistol caliber carbines. Dead Air setup the system to use the mounts that the Ghost M uses such at the booster assemblies and tri-lug adapters. Because the Wolfman is more stout than the Ghost M, Dead Air came up with the KeyMicro system which shares the matting surfaces with the KeyMo system found on their rifle silencers but small enough for the P type mounts found in the Ghost M. This allows someone like myself to setup several rifles like an AR-15, Remington 700 (.300 Blackout in my case), Henry Homesteader and Marlin 1894 with muzzle devices that are all KeyMicro compatible. This allows me to switch either the Wolfman or Primal around as needed as long as either is configured with a KeyMo or KeyMicro mount.
The Primal, however, uses the industry standard HUB or 1.375x24 thread pitch. This lets you use the same mounts the Nomad and Sandman series silencers use. Alternatively, a 3rd party mount can also be used since the thread pitch can be found elsewhere. If you had invested in SilencerCo mounts but want a Dead Air can, you can buy the Primal and use a SilencerCo mount under certain circumstances. The inverse is true as Dead Air offers a version of the KeyMo adapter for Saker/SilencerCo cans. You'd have to test to see what options you have if you want to mix brands. Otherwise, because of this, I am able to use mounting options from other manufacturers should I choose to do so.
The Primal has an additional trick of using an included ring adapter that allows the use of the Ghost/Wolf/Wolfman P accessories such as the booster. In my case, I didn't have the regular KeyMo mount yet so I used the ring adapter for the KeyMicro mount for testing the Primal. For me, the Primal is the only silencer I have that lets me shoot 45 ACP. By combining the ring adapter and booster assembly, I am able to plink away with a first generation M&P 45 Full Size with a SilencerCo barrel.
Until I own a rifle in a full rifle caliber I want to suppress, the Primal will primarily exist with the pistol booster on it. The Wolfman was the center of my suppressed shooting world and all my rifles were setup for that. Having a silencer with the booster on it helps make life a little simpler as moving mounts around can be a huge pain. On a side note, I'd like to just have the booster permanently on a Ghost M for pistols only and put either a Xeno mount or KeyMo mount for rifles which is really what the Primal is for.
The Primal is a long suppressor. When you add a mount, it gets longer. While the Wolfman can be about the same length, I usually run it in the short configuration.
Because of the designs that Dead Air likes, the cans are able to share mounts, end caps and other accessories. That also includes other silencer's baffle segments. I'm not sure you should use that but I may give it a try after checking alignment.
You can put the Wolfman's extension stack onto the Primal in place of the end cap. You now are limited to 9mm bore. I've never shot this configuration. I think the Ghost M could also be added.
All in all, I think the Primal was a good choice given how I think my financial situation and life focus will likely change in the next few years. I would like to round out my stamp collection with a Ghost M and maybe a Nomad Ti both for dedicated reasons.
Since March of 2018, I have learned much about silencers. What I thought I wanted back then has definitely changed. Thankfully, my choices turned out to have been pretty good ones. I pray my more recent choices turn out the same.
Many of the things I've learned are as follows. Having a silencer for my more common pistol calibers has been good and I've enjoyed shooting pistols suppressed but I've gotten to a point where my silencers are seeing FAR more use on my rifles than on my pistols. I've learned that a suppressed 22LR rifle or pistol is basically pure shooting bliss. I've learned and re-enforced a distain for the regulating legislation that is the National Firearms Act of 1934, that it's garbage and needs to die. I've learned that I have ZERO interest in rifles or pistols that I cannot immediately or make changes to, to use one of my silencers. An un-suppressible firearm has limited utility in my life and will most likely be ignored. 22LR tube-feed rifles and shotguns are the exception to this rule. And finally, having dedicated silencers for each weapon a smarter choice and that your choice in silencer should be specific to the build that you're working on. Having a heavy multi-roll silencer is great but when your can is 21 ounces on the end of a 24 inch barrel, you start to notice the weight. By choosing a more focused silencer, you are able to build a better packaged product. A Gemtech Tracker makes more sense on a dedicated, light-weight, mountain hunting rifle compared to having something like the Dead Air Primal, Hybrid 46 or Bushwhacker 46 as all of these suppressors get pretty heavy where the Tracker is 11 oz. However, the Tracker isn't multi-roll. In the end, while it's more expensive to buy one silencer be gun, the effect is that you can tailor the full package without dealing with bulky universal mounts and extra weight or multi-roll cans. My Wolfman as setup currently as it's used on my AR-15s is 13 oz and can get pretty heavy after a while. The lighter, the better.
One of the biggest factors for me in purchasing my first silencer was that SilencerShop had been able to make the process easier and the changes to the application were more streamlined. Sadly, the Form 4 Trust wait times were massive and just plain awful. Recently, the ATF e-File system changed, allowing persons with Trusts and Form 4s to submit via the ATF portal instead of mailing in the forms. The rumor is that the new process has massively reduced the bureaucratically induced wait times down to somewhere around 90 days. My first suppressor took 260 days from start to end. With this new change and the fact that I have committed to buying a new silencer, I'll update this post on the changes.
That said, as of March 2022, I have taken the plunge to buy the last silencer I will buy for a long while (unless things change). Dead Air released their Primal back in 2021. This is a welded body, tubeless silencer design that is VERY similar to the Wolfman but has many differences. The major differences are that the Primal is a 45 caliber bore instead of 36 caliber, that the Primal handles most every rifle cartridge out there compared to the Wolfman's small rifle and pistol caliber ratings and finally, the Primal is NOT segmented meaning you can't reduce the long-boy length by removing a part of the stack. I like the K-config version of my Wolfman. It's a heavy beast at 16 oz with no mount. While not as svelte as something like the 9.8 oz Nomad Ti, the Primal is full-auto rated and makes more sense in the DMR and hunting rifles roll which is where it will serve most of it's life. The Tracker would have made more sense for the hunting rifles in general but my 357 magnum lever action will do better with the Primal and my 308 Winchester DMR project will need something that can handle the abuse the Tracker can't.
Interestingly, Dead Air setup the Primal in such as way as to offer accessories that you can use most of, if not all of, the Wolfman, Wolf-9SD and Ghost-M accessories like the boosters but also use the stuff from the Sandman and Nomad lines. This means you can build out the Primal to meet whatever configuration you need as long as that isn't a short configuration. The ONLY exception is that Dead Air has not yet released a Primal specific e-Brake . The Sandman E-Brake is too narrow diameter to match the 1.6 inch body of the Wolfman and Primal but the Nomad E-Brake is too large. They need that Goldilocks zone E-Brake. From what I have seen, both of those E-Brake actually would mount up but they would look funny.
I'm looking forward to trying the Primal out on my current inventory but I'll also see about rectifying the oversight of I've never shot a suppressed 45 ACP pistol!
If you're on the fence about getting a silencer for your guns, just jump right on in. There are plenty of services offered by companies such as SilencerShop and SilencerCentral that make it easier for people like me who are intimated by government paperwork. I work with several people and about three of them so far have come to the quiet side. You'll never go back.
Update: The Primal is currently on backorder and pending Dead Air to deliver to Silencer Shop.
Update 2: Silencer Shop now has the can and the forms have been signed to be filed with the ATF.
Update 3: I am waiting on the LGS to setup a time we can certify the application. It looks like the timer will start when that actually is completed. So far we're about 55 days since the backorder was filed.
Update 4: I FINALLY got to certify my Form 4 with the LGS. It took about 3 months before they could get to me. After talking with the person, they noted that in many cases, the certification process can take several hours due to issues with the ATF website. As it were, mine took about 15 minutes to complete. He was very surprised. Official submit time starts on 23 Sept. We'll see if these claims of 90 days approvals are true. That said, I did get to try the can on a M&P45 with a threaded barrel and it was fun to shoot. I also found the Wolfman and Primal are VERY similar in appearance but that's about it. I'm looking forward to having this process finished.
Dead Air Primal Form 4 Trust e-File Times:
Order Date: 04 MAR 2022 (Item on Backorder)
Backorder Fulfilled: 06 MAY, 2022
Tax stamp Applied for: 06 MAY, 2022
eForm Certification: 23 SEPT, 2022 (Number of days since the backorder was fulfilled is 140)
Stamp received: After 263 days, the ATF notified me that my stamp was approved. So much for faster times. Oddly enough, that seems about normal for me.
I looked back to see when my Q El Camino was approved and it took about 280 days back in 2019. The Wolfman was 260.
A while back I wrote a short bit about making a lever action 22 that I can put a can on. You can read that post here Dream Plinker
Apparently there is a European company I had never heard of called Derya out of Turkey. One of the products they featured at IWA 2023 is a lever action 22 that's feed from a box magazine but also has a threaded barrel. The rifle is called the TM22 LA. If you're wondering what IWA is, IWA is a Deutschland hosted gun show like SHOT Show. Derya appears to specialize in shotguns for the Turkish market but they do have a small selection of 22 LR semi auto rifles and a 9mm subgun that uses Glock magazines. Their lever action .410 looks like it's based on a Winchester design and could be fun. A cursory glance at my favorite gun price crawler Gun.deals shows Rock Island Armory is importing some of their products.
The rifle looks like a traditional lever action 22 but it uses the same magazines their semi-auto 22 uses. The rifles do seem to have a tube under the barrel to give the rifle that old design look but I doubt it has any function. The spokesperson did say the threads on the barrel are 1/2x28 but looking at how they did the threads, I have concern a can will clear the faux magazine tube.
My only down side for the rifle would be that it doesn't have the traditional looking wood stocks and blued steel aesthetic. They seemed to be making good use of newer materials and coatings to produce a modernized looking rifle and looking a little deeper, they do appear to have black on black models that could be fixed up with nice wood. I'd be very interested to see how this rifle plays out and if we'll even be able to get one here in these United States.
I still think Browning needs to just make a lever action version of the SA-22 and give it 1/2x28 threads. The booty tube is perfect for using a silencer.
SHOT Show is always interesting to me and 2023's edition is turning out pretty cool. I'm not an industry or media guy so I'll never be invited, not like I could afford to if I wanted. So I read what others put out on social media and their blogs etc.
Henry
Henry dropped two cool things this year. The first I won't jump on since I don't need a new cartridge (especially after 350 Legend) and the other I would buy. The first is a collab with Remington called .360 Buckmaster. It's a new straight-wall cartridge based on 30-30 intended for those few states that limit gun season to straight-wall cartridges. It's rimmed unlike 350 Legend and is designed for lever action rifles. It's also more powerful. I think this will be a great option for folks like me who love lever action rifles but are living in those states.
The second thing is the Homesteader rifle. It's a traditionally laid out semi-auto rifle with wood stocks, chambered in 9mm. Apparently, the magazine well can be swapped from the proprietary magazines over to the more popular pistol magazines such as Glock, SIG and Smith and Wesson. The versions shown at SHOT have a threaded barrel. Congratulations, Henry. You've packaged out a semi-auto 9mm rifle I'm actually interested in. Wood stocks and threaded barrels for the win. This is the most surprising thing for this year. I'm very excited about it. I want a WOOX stock for it though.
Beretta
Beretta brought back their old .380 pistol, the Cheetah but modernized it. They call it the 80X. It has an accessory rail and provisions for red dots. I want one with a threaded barrel. I would love to see how .380 suppresses from a larger pistol than these usual pocket guns.
They also, released a shotgun based on the A300 platform for home defense. It's packaged similar to the 1301 that's very well liked but it's not as expensive. I want a 1301 but I won't spend the money just yet. This one could fit that bill. I have an A300 Outlander I use for duck hunting and I like the platform.
Marlin
No official word yet on the 336 but there are rumors of one at Range Day. A new 336 is my most anticipated release for this 2023.
Update: I checked the Marlin website and they have the 336 as early 2023 and interestingly, the 1894 will be re-released in Spring 2023. Good thing I've saving my money now.
Update 2: Apparently, Ruger does have a new 336 and 1894 on the show floor! Apparently, neither of those guns have a threaded barrel but are the traditional wood and blued steel. Looks like I need to wait to see if they do a version of the 336 with a threaded barrel. It would be genuinely funny if I got all hyped up for a specific version of the 336 and it never comes out!
Update 3: After talking with YouTuber, Target Suite, he says Ruger does have an SKU with a threaded barrel for the 336 but didn't get into the specifics of how the rifle is styled. We'll just have to wait and see.
It's also got me thinking that since I've changed the configuration of my 1894 CST to use Leupold's 2.5x scope instead of the red dot setup, maybe I'll wait for Ruger to release a new 1894 in 357 and set it up like I did ProjectVaquero but this time I'll execute exactly on how I wanted it with blued steel and wood furniture. I liked the CST's stainless which makes sense as an outdoors gun in the weather and all but I still love that blued steel and brown walnut look. I can't wait to see what
Harrington & Richardson
This is an old name in firearms that got caught up in the Remington bankruptcy. They've made a huge selection of guns over the years including guns for the war effort during the 40's but was most recently known for inexpensive single shot rifles and shotguns. Palmetto State Armory bought the brand from Remington. Apparently they are starting up production of retro rifles starting with the Colt 723. That will make the Cloners happy as it will given them an option to build Black Hawk Down clones. RIP MSGT Gordon.
I'm not a cloner but the return of the H&R brand is good news. Some folks are hoping for new make M1 Garands since they had tooling to make the rifle back in the day. Count me in for that.
Looks like that's it folks. I've learned from SHOT Show 2023 that I wanted to know and plus some. Marlin will indeed have a threaded barrel SKU for the 336 but we'll see how it looks and incredibly, Henry has blown me away with the Homesteader. I can't wait to see how the Homesteader turns out when it's officially released. I think I'll make it my 2024 or 2025 project.
Bond Arms
Bond Arms is known mostly for 2 shot derringer pistols but they jumped into the lever action rifle market. They have a lever action lower receiver for AR-15 pattern uppers and uses Remington 870 pattern stocks. I'm toying with the idea of a .300 Blackout upper for that gun but apparently Bond Arms is planning a 9mm build. I might jump on that. I love lever action too much.
Amendment: After speaking with a representative from the Cody Firearms Museum, I learned a few things. They have gone over what Winchester factory records they have and found that around 18,000 rifles in just the 1892 model would have qualified as Title II under the National Firearms Act as originally passed in 1934. I learned that the original bill as passed had barrel lengths for both rifles and shotguns at 18 inches minimum but was later changed to 16 inches for just rifles. That said, I found a document that had rifle and shotgun barrel lengths down to 16 inches initially when the bill was proposed. Clearly some changes where made during the discourse of the Act passing. Also, the museum contact noted that Winchester offered threading services from the factory as options for Maxim silencers. Very cool.
Back in the 1930's, during a time of high profile crimes and the legends that perpetuated those crimes, the idea of "gangster-guns" was envisioned by politicians and lobbyists as something that needed to be regulated. These guns were taxed into oblivion by the 73rd Congress in 1934 through a piece of legislation called the National Firearms Act of 1934. That Congress appears to have never bothered to consider what were or were not "gangster-guns." They did not appear to contemplate that many of the firearms regulated had an intended use as what some people today call "sporting purposes." These guns were popular but were regulated without regard anyway. Today, these regulated, Title II, guns and devices are becoming more and more popular with firearms enthusiasts, collectors and sportsman and women in the US. The People have had to learn to navigate the complex paperwork and arbitrary rules associated with these devices. As these weapons become more popular, the public is gaining experience that points to the notion that Congress was wrong about short barrel rifles, short barrel shotguns, AOWs, DD's, silencers and machine guns. Congress was wrong and its time to repeal all of, if not parts of, the NFA 1934. With the Bruen case, the National Firearms Act of 1934 may find an end. Below this article is the House of Representatives committee discussion at the beginning of the National Firearms Act of 1934's life.
Background
The notorious timeframe of the 1920's and 1930's saw significant organized crime activity from groups such the North Side Gang or Al Capone's Chicago Outfit. The violence generated by the various gangs and an apparent assassination attempt on Present Roosevelt lead to the push to find ways for authorities to arrest these gangsters. The rumor is that the DOJ thought by taxing the guns favored by said criminals, the IRS (who was handling the tax stamps used for the NFA) or which ever enforcement agency, could arrest the gangsters for not paying the tax on the various weapons. Handguns being one of the most preferred weapons carried by these gangsters was originally included but there was too much push back on this according the House records and the House committee removed handguns from the taxable items list. If you look over the time frame that Wikipedia shows where in May 1934 the bill was introduced in the House, to it's passage in the Senate and signing by the President by July 1934, it's clear that little discussion of this law occurred by a party majority rule. Democrats held all three back then. I am unaware of anything regarding the People's fundamental rights that was passed so quickly, not that I'm an expert on law.
It appears that little thought was given to the legality, constitutionality or efficacy of the NFA 1934 during its review by either Chambers of Congress. I see where no real discussion of how currently existing firearms with short barrels were useful or how many of these guns existed in private hands. Though at one point, either a Congressman or Senator from Tennessee appears to have noted that they would prefer people have sawn-off shotguns instead of handguns. Congress simply just said "okay" and gave little thought on how the People would be impacted. That said, there was SOME discussion about the law's constitutionality but it was dismissed and the Committee in charge opted to move forward anyway.
From what I can tell, there appears to have been a somewhat large number of rifles made by popular manufactures such as Marlin, Winchester and Kennedy from the late 1800's to the early 1900's that produced versions of their popular rifles with barrel lengths less than 16 inch with the 14 and 15 inch lengths being the most popular in that category. I do not know how many of these sub-16 inch rifles were made. I base this statement on the files that the ATF has produced where every few years, a number of rifles and other firearms requested exemption from the NFA under the Curio and Relics. Sadly, we have no way of knowing how many of these rifles and other firearms that were destroyed because the owner could not afford the massive tax in the 1930's or was intimated by the paperwork.
Those same list updates show that other firearms such as factory made Colt revolvers with a smoothbore (I think that would be considered an AOW) that were exempt under C&R at some point but removed. It's likely that given the .44-40 caliber, this was intended to fire similar shotshells like the Marble's Game Getter used. As to what purpose is beyond me but that's what the purchaser wanted. I can only speculate.
See the ATF's PDF on C&R's added from 2008 to 2014
That file alone has listings for over 140 different rifles that have barrels of 14 and 15 inches and it's not an exhaustive list. It's also not the only list the ATF has put out.
My questions are, how many of these SBR's are unlisted and still out there in private collections? How many were destroyed because the owner couldn't afford the cost of a $200 registration?
Mechanics of the NFA
The short and sour of the NFA is you have Title I and Title II items. For a person to purchase a Title 1 device, you do the ATF form 4473 and complete the instant background ground that runs your name against the NICS system. The Title II items require you to file a Form 1 (you make it at home) or Form 4 (purchase from a gun shop or other person) to register the gun and send it to the ATF with a $200 or $5 check depending on the firearm's category. Once the ATF has your form and money, they are supposed to have a background check run against you. I am unable at this time to find out what sort of background check is completed but I figured it was similar to a Secret level clearance but I have no proof of that. It's possible that it's little different to the current NICS check but just manual and therefore, slow.
If your paperwork is completed successfully, a tax stamp is issued and mailed to the holder of the Title II item in question. If it's a Form 1, then the stamp should go to you. If the item is a Form 4, then the stamp is mailed, typically to the licensed firearms dealer you put on the Form 4. They usually call you to let you know the stamp is in. In my experience, the firearms dealer will then have you fill out a 4473 to complete the transfer of the firearm or silencer.
Once you have the device, there are storage requirements there to prevent "unauthorized access" of the now regulated device. You can't just have the short barrel shotgun next to the bed like you can with a Title 1 shotgun.
Short Barrel Firearms
Factory Winchester 1873 14 inch barrel rifles from a book
Under the NFA, firearms with barrel lengths under specific, specified lengths are subject to Title II regulations and taxation. For rifles, the barrel length is 16 inches while for shotguns, the minimum length is 18. I am unsure as to where those barrel lengths came from and appear to be arbitrary but may have something to do with concealability. Please note that for a firearm to be legally considered a short-barrel item, it first must meet the requirements to be either a shotgun or rifle under the legal definition under the NFA. Those definitions require a shoulder stock having been attached at make or manufacture to a virgin receiver. This technical standard is why certain firearms are able to be sold on the market since no shoulder stock was ever attached initially.
Few guns are available for purchase as short barrel rifles or short barrel shotguns. Most of the time, the guns that are available are modern firearms such as commercial versions of the AR-15 based MK18 or some AK based platform. Some bolt actions and lever actions exist and appear to be whatever's most popular.
People looking to own a short barrel firearm usually have to resort to filing a Form 1 and making their own or having a qualified gunsmith complete the process. In some cases, the basis for the gun exists to be an SBR or SBS and is sold in a Title 1 configuration. Once the owner has filed the paperwork, modern designs allow them to replace the needed parts by replacing a grip with a correct stock or replacing the barrel with a shorter barrel. For example, limited runs of 14 inch barrels for the Remington 870 have been produced and sold. A owner wishing to make an SBS 870 could file the needed paperwork and, with stamp in hand, swap the barrel by disassembling the gun. Please note that there are marking requirements involved for the receiver. More bureaucracy.
In other more difficult cases, such as lever action rifles, a gunsmith will cut down and re-crown the barrel and modify other parts as needed such as the magazine tube. One notable example of a factory SBR lever action (really the only one) is the Chiappa Alaskan Takedown with 12 inch barrel in .44 Remington Magnum, though I don't believe the 12 inch version specifically is available in the US. The 16 inch model is, however. Companies such as Winchester, Marlin and Kennedy all offered factory made rifles with 14 and 15 inch barrels as factory options if not standard options. In some cases, those lengths are odd, uneven lengths but it appears that Trapper rifles were normal fare for pre-NFA days. Today, many manufacturers of lever action rifles have 16 inch barrel models and are labeled as trapper models in some cases. This would be inaccurate as trapper rifles where usually sub-16 inch barrels but the NFA limits the correct configuration for a traditionally configured trapper rifle.
Rifles are not the only options, though for short barrel configurations. Some shotshell based firearms are sold as Title II guns such as the Serbu Super Shorty though technically do not qualify as a Shotgun but are smoothbore pistols and are registered as an AOW or Any Other Weapon. It appears that Benelli may also sell various versions of their tactical models in SBS form. I have seen Mossberg 590A1 shotguns for sale but those specific ones may have been police trade ins. Mossberg, though, does have them listed on their website.
I imagine that some people would argue against short barrel firearms but if we apply logic to what we are talking about here, short barrel rifles and shotguns absolutely make sense in our current-year world.
The Utility of Short Barrel Rifles and Shotguns
Let's consider, for a moment, the guns being used for hunting. Many persons may conjure up the mental image of a long-barrel, bolt-action rifle with a big scope when someone says "hunting rifle." For anyone lacking experience in hunting may find that TV and movie media may bolster this idea without consideration of the realities. Why the long barrel? Why the big scope? Why have a big cartridge that can kill an elk at 500 yards? Why have those things when I don't need them? Longer barrels are great for maximizing the velocity of larger cartridges like 30-06 or 7mm Remington Magnum. If I have a rifle with an 8 inch barrel and that's all that's need to drive the bullet from a .300 Blackout cartridge to the velocity needed to kill a deer at 150 yards and that's I'm hunting, then why not have a rifle with an 8 inch barrel? You choose the weapon for what you are hunting and where you are hunting it.
Let's look at this from another angle. If you spend enough time in the world of firearms and hunting, you will learn that many hunters have found favor in using a handgun for hunting of big game. Douglas Wesson of the Smith and Wesson brand, went on a hunting tour in the US with the newly created .357 S&W Magnum cartridge and a revolver with an 8+ inch barrel back in the 1930's to promote the new cartridge and guns. He was successful in both harvesting large game and the marketing campaign as well. The cartridge also found favor with law enforcement as a duty cartridge for defensive pistols carried by officers.
I bring up the .357 Magnum's pedigree since we can find modern iterations of firearms chambered for the cartridge today in both rifles and pistols. Hunters using a pistol such as a Ruger Blackhawk or Colt Python or various Smith & Wesson models can be found to have successfully taken deer with those guns chambered in .357 Magnum. None of these guns generally sell with barrel lengths that would be similar to a Title 1 rifle barrel. They are usually well under 16 inches. Many of these guns have 6 inch barrels.
The question then arises. If a pistol with a barrel length of 6 inches can be used ethically for hunting, then why can't I put a stock on that pistol for better accuracy? Would it not make sense that a firearm with a shoulder stock and a 6 inch barrel be just as ballistically effective as a firearm with a 6 inch barrel and no shoulder stock? Given that a shoulder stock makes no change to the barrel in anyway, the two firearms will have similar ballistic characteristics when chambered for the same cartridge.
Simply put, a single shot pistol such as a Thompson Center Contender with a 10 inch barrel that is chambered for .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum or 10mm Auto will have the same performance as a Thompson Center Contender rifle with the same 10 inch barrel chambered for the same cartridges. Sadly, the rifle would have to be registered and is considered a "gangster gun." It's noteworthy that the mentioned platform is capable of being easily converted from pistol to rifle with the simple change of the rear attachment. Removing the pistol grip and replace with a stock to instantly become a felon if the firearm in not registered.
In summary, this logic applies the same to numerous firearms in various calibers. While firearms using pistol and small rifle calibers generally seem to be better suited to short barrel configurations, many firearms using larger rifle calibers with short barrels can be found. The ubiquitous cartridge that is .30-30 or 30 Winchester Centerfire from 1895 and still made today, single shot pistols such as the Thompson Center pistols can be found on the market with shorter barrels chambered in the .30-30 cartridge.
If we go back to the hypothetical situation of a person imagining a bolt-action rifle when one says hunting rifle, then we can apply this same logic. While few commercial offerings exist, at least three companies are offering bolt-action based short barrel rifles from the factory. This would be JTAC Industries and their Elf Owl chambered in .300 Blackout with a 7 inch barrel. Q has their cutting edge, rifle the Fix in a 12 inch, 8.6 Backout variant. Black Collar Arms with their Pork Sword Stalker chambered for the new 8.6 Blackout and 375 Raptor also with a 12 inch barrel. It's worth noting that the new 8.6 Blackout has been used to kill large game animals in Africa and the US. I purchased long ago, an early release of the Black Collar Arms Pork Sword chassis before it was used in the Stalker. That chassis was used to build a 10 inch 300 Blackout pistol using a new Remington 700 action and a KAK barrel. The pistol was re-barreled with a 16 inch barrel from a Remington Model 7 rifle and is currently making use of a JTAC Customs folding stock to keep the firearm a Title 1 weapon. That firearm has successfully taken deer at shorter ranges. With the heavy weight bullets in .300 Blackout, the 16 inch barrel is a formality as the ballistic difference between the original 10 inch barrel and 16 inch barrel is negligible. Both barrels push the Hornady Sub-X bullets to subsonic velocities indicating that the requirement of an extra 6 inches of barrel is only there to keep the gun in the Title 1 category.
Shotguns also can be demonstrated as not needing a longer barrel for use in sporting activities. While not as common, at least one person has demonstrated that a 14 inch barrel firearm can successfully take a deer. Below is a YouTube video of this.
There is no reason to expect that the person in the video would not have been successful in taking a deer if that firearm had used a shoulder stock. I believe this proves that a short barrel shotgun has short range hunting merits even if it was just for deer. That said, I'd be very interested to see how this would work for bird hunting with something like #8 shot or similar due to the likely reduced velocities. I would also like to note, that in Canada, shotguns with 14 inch barrels are normal fare and are non-restricted. Are they suddenly not gangster guns once they cross into Canada?
Sadly, as long as the National Firearms Act of 1934 continues to burden the average American's right to keep and bear arms with short barrels, the hunters of America will struggle to accurately demonstrate, en-masse the efficacy of these alleged "gangster guns" as ethical tools for hunting. It's difficult to break myths and a general lack of understanding when something just is not commonly available.
Sporting Arms Banned Under the NFA
I have been attempting to find and compile a list of factory produced firearms that would likely qualify as for "sporting purposes," that had barrel lengths under 16 or 18 inches. I've also come across firearms that were specifically intended for defensive applications which some would not consider "sporting" though I consider it, at the vary least, legitimate use.
We'll start with Winchester. Those guns seem to occupy the bulk of older firearms made in the short barrel configurations prior to 1934. Trapper style rifles with factory 14 and 15 inch barrels had existed since at least the Model 1873 rifles. This continued with the models of 1876, 1886, 1892 and 1894 rifles in various calibers. Others may have existed but I haven't found them yet. Additionally, Winchester shotguns also came with shorter barrels. Many may have been labeled as riot shotguns but it's unclear at this time how common those guns were made. The earliest SBR configuration rifle from Winchester I can find on the Internet is a Model 1873 with a 14 inch barrel made in 1883. I found another '73 made in 1894 with a 15 inch barrel and a Model 1894 rifle with papers saying it was made in 1895. The inverse of this is that I have found on auction sites, an Model 1894 rifle made in 1926 indicating these SBRs continued to be produced.
The Marlin Firearms company has been competing with Winchester in the rifle market for sometime. Notable Marlin lever action rifles such as the 1893 and the 1894 appear to have been offered in trapper configurations with 14 and 15 inch barrels. Some of these guns have been confirmed by the ATF. At this point, we have antique firearms that were made for over 50 years before Congress regulated them into near oblivion.
Kennedy or correctly known as Whitney, as in Eli Whitney, manufactured guns at the Whitney Armory. These lever action rifles also came in 14 and 15 inch varieties as confirmed by the ATF's letters.
Colt sold the Burgess designed lever action rifles from the 1880's and again some of these are confirmed by the ATF letter, as having sub-16 inch length barrels.
The Marble Game Getter is the firearm that started this search I have been on. It was a combination firearm that used a pair of either 12 inch or 15 inch barrels with one barrel being a rifle barrel and the other a shotgun barrel. The firearm had a folding stock and appears to have been fairly popular. The firearm is clearly intended as a small game rifle for use around a ranch, in the backwoods or hunting cabin. The early versions had a .22 rimfire barrel with the shotgun barrel using special .44-40 shotshells though it seems you could have used ball ammunition. Later versions replaced the .44-40 barrel with a .410 bore barrel. It's funny to note the existence of a small game rifle with a 12 inch .22 LR barrel as I have said before that I feel a lever action rifle like the Henry Mare's Leg with a shoulder stock would make for a stellar small game rifle. It appears that Webster Marble (the designer of the Game Getter) knew more about what I've been thinking of doing well over 110 years ago. I will also note, that other calibers such as .38-40 were available in place of the .44-40 if desired. Between the .44-40 and .38-40 options, a soft lead bullet from those cartridges from either the 12 inch or 15 inch barrels could take a deer at short ranges. This firearm alone proves the existence of short barrel "sporting guns" and the efficacy of short barrel firearms in the hands of Americans for sporting purposes. I believe the Game Getter is also directly responsible for the category of Any Other Weapon and the $5 tax stamp associated.
Harrington & Richardson also made a firearm known as the Handy Gun that was a small caliber, small game, single-shot firearm that was talked about by Congress, that was known to be a sporting gun but was regulated by the NFA because some versions had stocks and rifled 12 inch barrels and others were pistols with smooth bores. There was also concern with the Thompson Contender in 1969 as an AOW.
The Stevens models Pocket Rifle and Bicycle Rifle were yet another set of firearms intended for the gathering of small game similar to the Game Getter starting in 1872. It came in calibers such as .22, .25 and .32 rimfire. More calibers may have been available but these apparently are the most common. The rifles were also advertised as being able to use the shotshell versions of those chamberings. The barrel lengths of this rifle could be found in 10, 12, 15 and 18 inch varieties according to a vintage Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co catalog from 1895. The 10 inch barrel model could be had for $12.25.
Simply put, a large number of rifles and shotguns were sold with barrel lengths under 16 and 18 inches well before the National Firearms Action of 1934. It's very difficult to know exactly how many of these rifles existed since someone would need to comb through literally millions of the serial numbers to confirm their configurations as they came from the factory. Winchester alone would be responsible for well over 3 million rifles in just the 1873, 1892 and 1894 models that would have to be sorted through. I spoke with a representative from Winchester and they confirmed they do not have access to these records. I've also attempted to contact the Cody Firearms Records Office at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West for help with no luck. While not every one of those model rifles would be an SBR or every shotgun be an SBS or AOW, it would be nearly impossible to know exactly how many of these sporting rifles and shotguns where in a factory SBR, SBS or AOW configuration. Many of these above mentioned companies records have been lost over the years for a variety of reasons.
Notable Mentions
Below I'm including items that are regulated but are not short barrel firearms or were specifically intended for hunting. For example, the Polhemus Manufacturing Model 23 Hunting Knife is a .22 rimfire pistol with a folding knife under the barrel which turns out to be smooth bore. This would be an AOW but appears to be intended as gun for dispatching game animals that were downed but not dead. This doesn't sound like a "gangster gun" to me.
The Ithaca Auto and Burglar was intended as a personal defense firearm for use in your "motor vehicle" from carjackers or at home from burglars. It was basically a 20 gauge side by side, double-barrel shotgun that was "sawn-off" at the factory that had a wood pistol grip.
Colt had apparently made revolvers with a smoothbore barrel in 44-40. At least one was registered with the ATF at some point. I assume that the user was intended to shoot the 44 shotshells similar to the Marble's Game Getter combination firearm. If I inject what I consider this would be for, I believe it would have been for small game shooting in a garden or barn but that's speculation or an educated guess. It could have been used for something else such as mounted shooting competition or demonstration. I'm thinking something along the lines of Wild Bill's Wild West Show or an old version of Cowboy Mounted Shooting. Again, I can only speculate.
Various Cane guns had been for sale having been intended as a more "gentlemanly" method of self defense. These would also be great since you could have a gun on you without the appearance of a gun. Because these guns don't look like guns, they are regulated as an AOW.
Pen guns follow the same route as the cane guns as a sort of hideaway gun and are regulated as AOWs.
All the above are examples of firearms that were regulated by the NFA 1934 that require a tax stamp. The Hunting Knife pistol may have been able to stay if the barrels had been rifled since the gun looks more gun than knife. It appears that not many were made.
Silencers
An advertisement for Silencers
Silencers had been added to the NFA 1934 but so far, I have not found any concrete reason for this. I have heard rumors this was due to poaching but have not found any truth in that statement at this time. Interestingly, I have personally hunted deer with a silenced rifle with both subsonic and supersonic ammunition. The previously mentioned bolt-action rifle chambered in .300 Backout and a custom built AR-15 in .350 Legend along with a lever action rifle in .357 Magnum have found their way into my hands as a companion while hunting whitetail deer on our farm in Georgia. Every time one of those rifles goes out, it has a silencer on it. A Dead Air Wolfman is fixed to the muzzle regularly. I dare any person who thinks a silencer makes any of those guns silent to prove it as I have first hand, real-world experience to show that these guns, even with subsonic ammunition are still loud. I invite those naysayers to the range for a real-world demonstration. That said, I imagine that my neighbors would prefer I use the silencer than hunt without to keep the noise pollution to a minimum. Or at least the startle factor.
Purchasing silencers can be a pain due to the wait times associated with Title II items. My first silencer took over 250 days for the silencer to go from sitting at a gun store to being in possession. The .22 rimfire silencer took a significant amount of time and I'm still waiting for my Dead Air Primal. Ironically, the Primal was purchased after the ATF had implemented processes to streamline the forms process. Sadly, there does not appear to be a way for a purchaser or maker of any Title II device to determine the status of the application that I am aware of. You simply wait for something to happen.
Many people consider silencers to be tools of assassins. While there are documented cases where assassins did use silenced weapons, there a plenty of cases showing they did not use them as well. Sadly, the lack of first hand experience with silencers by the general public in the US makes it difficult. For many people, a silencer is almost mythical and becomes fascinating. I almost always take a silencer and host gun to the range at this point and regularly demonstrate the device to shooters. It will likely take decades before silencers loose their mysticism.
If I could only chose one thing to come off the Title II list, it's silencers. They are extremely misunderstood.
AOW's and Destructive Devices
Any Other Weapons and Destructive Devices are regulated categories that seemingly came about as an after thought. A notable example of an actual "gangster gun" that actually used by a real-life ganger is regulated as a machine gun. John Dillinger had a Colt 1911 chambered in .38 Super that had been outfitted with an extended magazine and what appears to be the front grip from a Thompson. If the pistol had not been fully-automatic, the weapon would have been considered an AOW due to the front grip.
AOW's are easy to make at home. If someone didn't know better, if they just happened to have a vertical foregrip for a rifle they owned and noted that their pistol has a picatinny rail integrated into the dust cover part of the frame, they might be inclined to attach that foregrip to the accessory rail inadvertently making their pistol an AOW and them a felon.
As mentioned previously, pistols with smoothbores are also considered AOWs. If a person wanted to have a revolver that used shotshells to handle pests in their garden would have to make sure that the pistol has rifling in the barrel or face regulation. Rifling will distort negatively the shot pattern of the shotshell when fired. Colt appears to have made a few if not just one smoothbore revolver.
I believe the most notable example of an AOW is the Marble Game Getter as the hunting firearm appears to have been responsible for the $5 version of NFA stamps.
Destructive Devices appear to be another catch-all category for items such as certain explosive ammunition, missiles, grenades etc but also include firearms that have bore diameters that exceed half an inch or .50 caliber. Most shotguns use ammunition in excess of .5 inch but are exempt due to "sporting purposes." There are some other examples of firearms that are exempt from the regulation because of the sport purposes clause such as .700 Nitro Express and .950 JDJ chambered guns. Firearms that are generally considered grenade launchers such as the M203 are effectively giant shotguns (see the China Lake pump action launcher) but are not considered sporting and require a $200 stamp. There did used to exist buckshot shotshells for the M203 as the M576 grenade. Interestingly, I believe each 40mm explosive grenade round must also be registered and also requires a $200 stamp. Five rounds of HE would be $1000 in taxes assuming you somehow could buy them. The only available ammunition for commercial 40mm devices are chalk/marking rounds that you have to make yourself. The RPG-7 from the Soviet Union could also be registered as a DD if you can find one. Or make it which people have.
The Streetsweeper shotgun is an example of a DD that uses common ammunition as it's a 12 gauge but the firearm itself is regulated and requires the $200 tax stamp. While it's not exactly semi-auto but instead uses a wound cylinder similar to a revolver and the firearm was regulated not all that long ago anyway.
Machine Guns
From my seat on the porch, machine guns appear to be the catalyst for the National Firearms Action of 1934 outside of handguns and maybe other concealable firearms since that was used in the St. Valentine's Day Massecare. Interestingly, machine guns could be purchased by anyone who could afford to pay the tax. Back in the 1930's that $200 tax would have hurt but by the 1980's. inflation would mitigate $200 to around $520 in 2022 money.
New machine guns could be bought and sold all the way up until 1986. If you wanted a fully-automatic M16, you could buy one. A wild variety of machine guns were available but in 1986, Congress passed a law that closed the Registry for new machine guns for civilian ownership. The law grandfathered in existing machine guns creating a small window where later generations can posses what are called transferable machine guns. Thankfully, some really cool options like various MP5's and similar roller-delayed guns, old heavy machine guns, AR-15 and AK's are still available with the MAC submachine guns being the most "affordable" options. That said, while you can purchase a machine gun, the number of transferable guns is limited. There is a finite number and you can't get new ones. Because of the limited numbers, these registered, transferable machine guns can go for outrageous prices.
If you do a Google search, one can find where advertisements for surplus machine guns and military rifles from World War 1 were available and inexpensive. Sounds like the good old days to me.
I can already hear people harping on the idea that you don't need a machine gun to go hunting. Just because your AR-15 hunting rifle's lower receiver has a full-auto selector, doesn't mean you're actually going to use it on deer. In that same sense, just because you have a 30 round magazine doesn't mean you put 30 rounds in it. My AR-15 for hunting has a 20 round magazine. I only ever put 3 rounds in at at time. You can have the rifle setup for deer hunting then make changes for home defense. Maybe just by swapping uppers. The lower receiver is what handles the fire control group in the AR-15's case.
Would I own a machine gun if I could? Yes. Why? Because as far as I'm concerned, the B&T MP9 with all the accessories is the best choice I could conceivably buy for home defense. A light for illumination, a silencer to protect my ears, a red dot for aiming and the folding stock for control and accuracy and finally, full auto to make quick follow up shots. You may disagree but when you think things through, that makes for a great option. The gun was originally designed for VIP details and defensive application and in my life, my family are my VIP. I want the best tools I can get, not what some politician thinks I should have. Incidentally, those people are protected by guns similar to what I just noted above.
In an oddity, at some point the Thompson submachine gun was advertised as a home defense tool in the fully-automatic configuration.
Summary
As laid out above, all kinds of firearms in the United States had a long history of being sold including machine guns. It was until the National Firearms Act of 1934 made it expensive to own a large number of these types. The passers of this law believed it to be constitutional under the auspices that it wasn't a ban, just merely a tax. A tax of course that few people could afford. A tax that while may have been a 100% tax on some guns, proved to be much more on the cheaper sporting guns of the day. I found an advertisement from the 1950's for Winchester 1894 rifles could be had for $69. I expect that the same Winchester 1894 would have been somewhere around $40 in the 1930's. A $200 tax on a $40 rifle is outrageous. That would have been new. Now imagine telling someone they need to pay that same tax on a rifle that was sold in 1910? The notion is ridiculous.
The number of arms prohibited and regulated into oblivion is accurately incalculable. Literaly thousands to tens of thousands of guns and potential a million or close to, would have been regulated and those wouldn't have been machine guns. See this list for a good example of the tens of thousands of guns regulated.
I want to point out that this law only applies to law abiding citizens. Felons can't be compelled to register Title II guns because it's self-incrimination. This law then serves no place other than to burden the law abiding citizen. See the Supreme Court case Haynes vs US with this link. See page 52.
It's time to repeal the National Firearms Act of 1934 or give it a day in court that isn't the Miller case.
From the Records of that House debate
(Please note that the text is copied directly from the PDF (GPO-CRECB-1934-pt10-v78-10-2) from the Bound record from the Congress.gov website but was modified to correct spelling and easier to read. If that concerns you, you are welcome to read the file for yourself.)
The SPEAKER. Is a second demanded?
Mr. McFADDEN. Mr. Speaker, I demand a second.
The SPEAKER. Is the gentleman opposed to the bill?
Mr. McFADDEN. I am.
Mr. DOUGHTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that a second be considered as ordered.
The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. DOUGHTON]?
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER. The gentleman from North Carolina is recognized for 20 minutes and the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. McFADDEN] is recognized for 20 minutes.
Mr. DOUGHTON. Mr. Speaker, this bill is sponsored by the Department of Justice and has a unanimous report from the Committee on Ways and Means. For some time this country has been at the mercy of the gangsters, racketeers, and professional criminals. The rapidity with which they can go across State lines has become a real menace to the law-abiding people of this country. When the bill was first proposed by the Department of Justice it affected pistols and revolvers, but that provision was eliminated from the bill, and it now only relates to machine guns and sawed-off shotguns and rifles, or guns with barrels less than 18 inches in length, and to mufflers, and to silencers.
Mr. TREADWAY. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DOUGHTON. I yield.
Mr. TREADWAY. Is it not a fact that originally there was considerable opposition felt to this bill owing to the fact that pistols and revolvers were rated in exactly the same way as machine guns or mufflers? Later on the Ways and Means Committee made the change whereby revolvers and pistols are distinctly exempted from the provisions of the act.
Mr. DOUGHTON. That is true.
Mr. TREADWAY. So that the type of opposition which came up in the first consideration of the bill was entirely removed and the opponents are in favor of the bill at the present time.
Mr. DOUGHTON. Those who opposed the bill as originally submitted to the Committee on Ways and Means by the Department of Justice, have withdrawn their opposition to the bill in its present farm.
Mr. SNELL. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DOUGHTON. I yield.
Mr. SNELL. Mr. Speaker. will the gentleman instead of telling us what is excepted from the bill tell us what is covered by the bill?
Mr. DOUGHTON. Machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, rifles, silencers, and muffiers.
Mr. SNELL. Is the ordinary sporting rifle included in the bill?
Mr. DOUGHTON. It is not included at all.
Mr. SNELL. Just shotguns and machine guns?
Mr. DOUGHTON. Machineguns, sawed-off shotgun rifles, silencers, and mufflers.
Mr. MAPES. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DOUGHTON. I yield.
Mr. MAPES. Objections have been raised on the part of prominent women and women's organizations in my district to the action of the Committee on Ways and Means in taking from under the provisions of the bill pistols and revolvers. Will the gentleman tell the House why this was done?
Mr. DOUGHTON. Protests came to the committee from some ladies' organizations throughout the country objecting to the elimination of pistols and revolvers. The majority of the committee were of the opinion, however, that the ordinary, law-abiding citizen who feels that a pistol or a revolver is essential in his home for the protection of himself an his family should not be classed with criminals, racketeers, and gangsters; should not be compelled to register his firearms and have his fingerprints taken and be placed in the same class with gangsters, racketeers, and those who are known as criminals.
Mr. CHRISTIANSON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DOUGHTON. I yield.
Mr. CHRISTIANSON. Have we the gentleman's assurance that sportsmen's organizations have withdrawn the opposition they formerly expressed to the measure?
Mr. DOUGHTON. They have; and they heartily support the pending bill. The Department of Justice has agreed to an amendment which makes the bill acceptable to sportsmen and sportsmen's organizations. As the bill now stands, so far as I know there is no objection to it.
Mr. TERRELL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DOUGHTON. I yield.
Mr. TERRELL of Texas. Does this bill in any way affect the rights of States to tax dealers in :firearms?
Mr. DOUGHTON. It puts a tax of $1,000 on the importer and manufacturer of machine guns; a tax of $200 on the dealer, and a tax of $300 on the pawnbroker; and it provides that 60 days after the enactment of the law all those having possession of firearms of the character referred to in this bill, must register the same with the Commissioner· of Internal Revenue.
Mr. TERRELL of Texas. Does the bill affect the right of States to deal with this subject.
Mr. DOUGHTON. It does not in any way interfere with the rights of the States.
Mr. TREADWAY. I should like to call the chairman's attention to an evident misprint on page 4, line 5. I think he would like to offer an amendment changing the word " acts " to " tax ", which is apparently what it should be.
Mr. DOUGHTON. I understand that mistake was corrected in the la.st print of the bill.
Mr. MOT!'. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DOUGHTON. I yield.
Mr. MOT!'. Is there anything in the bill which would affect collectors of firearms; is there any provision which would prevent a collector from possessing weapons of a certain type? I have in mind a man in my district who has several hundred guns in his collection.
Mr. DOUGHTON. I think not; I do not think it would affect them at all.
Mr. CONNERY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DOUGHTON. I yield.
Mr. CONNERY. As I understand, the primary purpose of the bill is to stop gangsters from getting hold of machine guns.
Mr. DOUGHTON. That is correct.
The SPEAKER. The question is on the motion of the gentleman from North Carolina to suspend the rules and pass the bill. The question was taken; and two-thirds having voted in favor thereof, the rules were suspended, and the bill was passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
A lever action 22 LR rifle with a short barrel and threads for a silencer. Sounds pretty simple, right? Not exactly. There's a reason the only commercially sold lever action 22 with a threaded barrel has a 24 inch barrel.
Henry has been making their lever action 22, the H001, since 1996 according to their website. They have had several versions of the basic design but none had threaded barrels until the Frontier Threaded came out. There's actually a good reason for that. The magazine tube on the Henry classic lever action design, is removed from the muzzle end of the gun. Most silencers are wider than the barrel of most guns preventing clearance of removable magazine tubes that sit immediately below the barrel. Guns with larger rimfire and centerfire cartridges can use a side gate for loading negating the need for a removable tube but the smaller .22 rimfire seem to make that difficult. I think I've only ever seen one side gate 22 rifle design ever meaning most designs make use of the removable tube design where cartridges are loaded from the front of the gun. The system works great but if you want to use a silencer, you need to make some changes. The Henry Frontier Threaded uses a long, 24 inch barrel and a short 10 round magazine tube to guarantee the mag tube will clear the silencer. I've seen where folks will use a narrower silencer and push the magazine tube down further to clear but this looks bad.
Here's a YT video of a 12 inch Henry 22 lever action. Perfect size!
Why Though?
Because .22 LR is about as cheap as ammo gets, because putting silencers on guns makes them more enjoyable to shoot and because lever action is pure Americana fun, this idea gives you a cheap-to-shoot, lightweight rifle for small game hunting and recreational pleasure that's quiet and does that in an aesthetic that's American and with a manual of arms that I believe is just fun. Suppressed, lever action rifle in .22 LR. But how can I have my cake and eat it too?
The Booty Tube
That's a terrible name. What I mean is, use a magazine tube that's housed inside the stock instead of under the barrel. This is not a new idea as the system has been found in numerous guns with a few notable examples such as the Winchester-Hotchkiss rifles, the Spencer repeating rifle and Browning's SA-22. The booty tube, in my idea, would allow you to have any silencer you'd like whether it be integral to the barrel or muzzle-mounted since the magazine tube is no longer under the barrel. This system allows you to make use of a lever action system which for me is chosen purely for fun and enjoyment reasons. There are no realistic reasons to chose lever action over bolt or pump or semi but I love me some Americana and the lever action system is just pure fun.
While it would be possible to use a detachable box magazine such as in the Ruger 10/22, the width of the rifle's footprint would likely be wider than the svelte lever action 22's we currently have. A longer box magazine of similar capacity runs into the issue of length where, like on the Henry Long Ranger, the lever will run into the magazine. That's why you can't have a 10 round magazine on the Long Ranger by the way. You could probably have a shorter lever stroke but in the end, the longer magazine protruding from the body kills the classic rifle aesthetic. Simply put, I would like to have a lever action version of the Browning SA-22 or a Spencer carbine in .22 LR with a shorter, threaded barrel. I'm thinking 12 inches.
There is another
Well, sort of. A long time ago, in a galaxy probably up in Connecticut, Ruger made a rifle that can do most of what I want. They called it the Model 96. The Model 96 is suspiciously similar to a 10/22 but instead of being semi-auto, it was lever action. Everything else is pretty much 10/22. Even the magazines and barrel were from the 10/22. While in my idea, I was hoping for something more classic like the traditional Henry or maybe even more traditional like a Spencer carbine, a lever action 10/22 might could fit the bill. Sadly, Ruger stopped making them long ago.
If I really want to scratch this itch, I'm limited to either a long barrel Henry H001TSPR or find a used Ruger 96 and modify the barrel. Given the barrel options, a used 96 that's been customized meets the mechanical idea what I want but just doesn't have that same visual look as a classic lever action and the Henry is just so long. If Henry, Browning or Chiappa were to combine any number of existing systems into existing lever action foot prints, I wager you'd have a very clever, lever action .22 perfect for hosting a silencer. Henry would likely have to completely redesign the action to use any rear feed system based on what I've seen of my H001. Browning already has a rear feed system in the SA-22 but also has a lever action 22. The patents and ideas are there in-house already, they just needed combined. Chiappa, interestingly, makes Spencer rifles in centerfire calibers and does make a lever action 22 but not the Spencer rifle. If Chiappa opted to make a 22 LR version of the Spencer, we might have a close winner even if it doesn't exactly look like a traditional lever action. But then I found something. Winchester made a rifle called the 63. It's a semi-auto .22 with a receiver that looks the part of the traditional lever action. I want a SBR Winchester 63 with a lever action system instead of a semi-auto.
Update 31 JAN: While hunting around on the internet, I learned about a sub-variant of what I think is one of the worst abominations ever, the Mossberg 464 SPX. The SPX is a "tacti-cool" version of the lever action 464. The SPX does have a threaded barrel. I found out that Mossberg made a .22 LR version with at 16 inch barrel. It has 1/2x28 threads but they don't making them any more. I'm thinking about hunting down a used .22 LR version and replacing the plastic parts with wood for this build.
