Eric M. Larson P.O. Box 5497 Takoma Park, Maryland 20913 (301) 270-3450 larsone@erols.com February 5, 2000 Edward M. Owen, Jr. Chief, Firearms Technology Branch Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms 650 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20226 Dear Mr. Owen: I am writing to you regarding certain technical specifications to remove a .410 bore H&R Handy-Gun from purview of the National Firearms Act (NFA). Specifically and as background, this letter is in response to your letter to me dated November 30, 1999, bearing symbols 903050:CHB, 3311, regarding procedures for removing firearms from the National Firearms Act (NFA) and in particular a smooth bore H&R Handy-Gun. You wrote: "An acceptable method of modifying an H&R Handy Gun to remove it from the purview of the NFA would include reaming of the chamber and installation of a rifled sleeve in the barrel so that a conventional pistol cartridge can be used. The sleeve must be silver soldered or welded to the barrel." I am writing to ask for written guidance from ATF regarding an alternative method for removing a lawfully registered smooth bore H&R Handy-Gun from purview of the NFA, based on Firearms Enforcement Program, ATF Order 3310.45 (1989), which contains a section entitled "Removal of a Weapon from the Firearms' NFA Category," which states that a removal may be accomplished in the following manner, and I quote: "Alteration by removing the feature or features that cause the weapon to be classified as an NFA weapon." In the case of the smooth bore H&R Handy-Gun, it appears that rifling the barrel would "remove the feature" (i.e., a smooth bore) that causes the weapon to be classified as an NFA firearm. I believe it would be cheaper to rifle the barrel rather than ream the chamber and install a rifled sleeve by silver soldering or welding, and more practical because I don't want to change the caliber of the weapon. In this regard, it appears that ATF's practice of defining "a conventional pistol cartridge" occurs when a firearm that is designed to fire a particular cartridge is commercially manufactured. In fact, ATF routinely reclassifies a cartridges that were originally developed for rifles as "pistol" ammunition, once a manufacturer designs and manufactures a pistol that will fire it (for example, the various calibers of the Thompson Contender handgun). As you know, there are a number of rifled-barrel handguns that are specifically designed to fire the 2" and/or 3" .410 bore shotgun shell. page 2 Thus, both 2" and 3" .410 bore shotguns shells appear to meet the criteria that ATF has established in defining "a conventional pistol cartridge." Regarding rifling, you wrote that ". . . we are not aware of any ["rifled-barrel"] handguns using what you refer to as straight (i.e. parallel) rifling' which qualify for the exclusion from the "any other weapon" definition." As you know, the barrel length (e.g. 2") of some rifled-barrel .410 handguns currently being sold as ordinary pistols not subject to the NFA, renders the twist of the rifling very nearly parallel. For example, if the twist is 1 in 8" or 1 in 12" in a barrel that is just 2" in length, the rifling might as well be parallel for all of the physical difference it makes in affecting the shot pattern. To partially overcome the effects of rifling which may "swirl" the shot, the Thompson Contender .45/.410 pistol utilizes a screw-in choke attachment which has very deep parallel rifling that acts to "straighten" the shot as well as to concentrate it. With the foregoing as background, I have one simple question: Namely, what depth, width, and twist of rifling does ATF recognize as legally sufficient to modify an 8" or 12" smooth bore H&R Handy-Gun barrel in .410 bore, to remove it from purview of the NFA? As previously noted, cutting such rifling into the smooth bore would be "alteration by removing the feature or features that cause the weapon to be classified as an NFA firearm." It would be fairly easy for me to have a qualified gunsmith cut rifling into the smooth bore barrel of one of my .410 bore H&R Handy-Guns, to be identical to the depth, width and twist of rifling in any number of rifled-barrel .410 handguns that are currently being manufactured and sold in the United States as ordinary handguns (i.e., excluded from the NFA). But before I undertake the expense of such a project, I would like to obtain written guidance from ATF regarding technical specifications for the rifling. As previously noted in correspondence with ATF, a smooth bore H&R Handy-Gun barrel, by itself, is not a firearm subject to the NFA (or the Gun Control Act of 1968 as a Title I firearm), so no special procedures would have to be followed in dropping only such a barrel off to a gunsmith who could then cut the rifling. Thank you for your assistance in this matter. Sincerely, (signed---Eric M. Larson)