What is the minimum legal length for a shotgun barrel in Canada for a non-restricted firearm?

Thanks,

Dave

Presently I have seen as short as 8.5" manufactured barrel unrestricted shotgun. You cannot modify it to less than about 18" yourself, but if it is factory made, you can go down pretty short!

I doubt much less than 8.5" would be practical.

There may be loopholes allowing a gun like Gatehouse described, but I wouldn't chance it. The way the regs are worded you can't posess a firearm with a barrel less than 18.5 inches, and overall length of the firearm must be at least 26 inches. The regs are in those stupid metric measurements, the numbers I gave are very close equivalents. Guns not meeting these requirements are classified as either restricted or prohibited.

bushman,
Explain then, the non-resticted status of the Winchester M94 Trapper.
Gatehouse is correct, a manually operated firearm which is manufactured with a barrel length of less than 18 inches is unrestricted providing the overall length is still over 26".
I cannot shorten a standard model 94 barrel to 16" and call it a Trapper. However, I can rebarrel a trapper Model with a 16 inch barrel. Are regulations not just great?! Regards, Bill.

I'm just going strictly by what it says in a brochure I got from the CFC. Our ass-backwards Canadian gun laws are full of loopholes and idiotic exceptions and special clauses.

Isn't an m-1 carbine restricted because of barrel length??


the chef

Yes the M-1 carbine is restricted because of its length, but they were selling some M-1 with 19 inch barrels which were not.
I own a remington 870 with a 12.5 inch barrel and its prefectly legal.
Like bushman says Canadian gun laws are full of loophopes and idiot.

Thanks for the responses. Am I safe in assuming that a Winchester Model 12, with the barrel cut back to 22 inches is legal?

Dave

Yup, that's legal. You can chop one yourself back to about 18"

These shotguns are both non restricted in Canada. They were manufactured like this. There is a dispute wiht the CFC about the status of the pistol grip one, but presently it's still unrestricted.

I sifted through what info I had at home and on the computer, and found this link http://www.nfa.ca/content/view/148/199/
I hope is helpful, as this is a murky part of our miserable Firearms Act and Regulations.I personally would not go out of the house with one like this, without having knowledge and a photocopy of the relevant info from the Act/Regulations. That could save you some grief, if a Conservation or Police officer happens to get a look at your firearm and doesn't like it.. They may not be aware of what is and is not a non-restricted firearm, and you may have to educate them....politely... to save yourself some grief.
The author of the info on the link passed away in Sept/07, so I don't know who at the NFA would be attempting to fill his role in these matters

Thanks, that pretty well answers my question.

And I though that our gun laws were nutty!

Dave