OK Stupid question. Anything over .50 with a rifled barrel is a DD under the NFA. A Shotgun is allowed to be over .50 because it is a shotgun and smoothbore. So how is it that there are 12 ga (I think they are .75) specifically for slugs with a rifled bore.


Just curious.

I'm pretty sure slugs don't have the stable velocity as a bullet would. Thus, it wouldn't have the same effectiveness.

I believe, of course i could be wrong, that rifled shotgun barrels were made to take advantage of Sabots.  It is my understanding that they do the best in a rifled barrel, while most slugs, Foster type, were cast with rifling and no sleeve to have optimum preformance in a non-rifled barrel.  Sabots are not over .50 once the plastic sleeve falls off.  I am not sure how well Fosters and Brennekes work in a rifled barrel.  But if the work better and still get you over the .50 limit.  I wouldn't complain and keep using it till the guvment says you can't.  I personally only like the Foster slugs.  Sabots have a tendancy to get one side of the sleeve stuck on the every once in a while that really throws them off.

I had a thought along these lines once.

The purpose of sawing a barrel down is to increase shot dispersion at close range, right? That's why short barreled shotguns are restricted as NFA items.

Would it not be possible to acheive the same result from a longer (18")barrel if it were rifled and using shot? The rifling should impart enough twist on the shot cup to impart a modest spin on the shot itself, and centrifugal force would take over once out of the barrel.  This, in theory, would increase the pattern size for a given tube length at close range. I'd try it, but I don't want to buy another barrel just to test a theory.

Just a thought.  

Adtecharms: The destructive devices law has an exception for sporting firearms, and the ATF classified shotguns as sporting implements.  Thus, they are legal for transfer without the tax.

Kharn

Of course, this did not hold true for the shotguns USAS-12, Streetsweeper and the third one that I forgot.

They were sold as shotguns and then later on forcably turned into DD.  They were considered to NOT be sporting shotguns.  They did not require CLEO and one did not have to pay the $200 excise tax on them if you registered them before the cutoff date.

mark

pancor Jackhammer? is that the third one you couldnt think of?

I stand corrected.  I was just guessing anyway, but now I know.

I know, this has twisted, no pun intended, my brain for some time now.  I just don't want to shell out for a new barrel that I wont use for anything other than this experiment.