So just to recap...I primarily live in upsate NY where I have a full CCW and where I keep most of my fun guns...My ARs, Glocks etc.

I also have an apartment in Manhattan which I use on occasion while working in the area.

A year or so ago I got my NYC rifle/shotgun permit (which they give to non-full time residents, unlike a NYC pistol license)...well I registerd my Remington 870 express (4 round tube) no problem.

The BS mandatory 3 month wait later, I tried to register a little .22 Marlin 70p (a great little break-down rifle) thinking I could join the west side rifle/pistol club and shoot there when I am ever in the city.

The genius clerks at the NYC rifle shotgun section sends me a letter a couple weeks later, stating that this rifle was deemed an illegal "assault weapon" because it had too high a capacity (7 or 10 round mags).,..And what detailed research and evidence did the genius NYPD clerk give to prove this was an illegal rifle, you ask?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlin_Model_70P

None other than a USER GENERATED, easily edited wikipedia article. Wow. Pure genius. If I ever presented research like that to my boss, I would get fired...

Anyway, I actually bought aftermarket 4 round mags for this .22 just so I could register it in NYC. I called up the clerk at the R/S section, and tried to explain that I do NOT own 7 or 10 round magazines for this gun. She could not grasp the fact that MAGAZINES could be different capacities...she just thought that that particular gun was soley 7 or 10 rounds no matter what. (On a side note, how does she know that my 870 doesn't have a 7 round tube? It doesn't, but it could...)

So I asked to speak with someone more knowledgeable about firearms, and someone who didn't do formal firearms research with Wikipedia.

Yes, she took major offense and gave me the "Oh no you di-in't attitude."

Anyway, she was no help, and I just gave up.

Well a business trip back to NYC a few months later, I went in to visit Jon Jovino's gun shop downtown. Looked at some John Daly shotguns (priced at $450 hahaha), and talked with a couple AWESOME NYPD cops for about 45 minutes...VERY pro gun...Very pro-citizen gun ownership. Very rare in NYC.

Anyway, I asked the clerk about how I could register my perfectly legal rifle...and he said...Oh no problem...we do that all the time. Just ship us the rifle from your residence upstate, we will verify that the magazines are the right capacity, we will make sure the NYPD R/S clerks know it is legal, and do a "transfer" for $70. (not sure why they would need to "transfer" it to me, but whatever). If the mags needed to be modified, they would charge $30 per mag.

So that is what is needed to comply with NYC rifle shotgun laws...dealing with genius clerks that have no firearms knowledge and paying lots of money. Now what might I have to look forward to? The NYPD busting down my door looking for evil baby killing .22 cal assault weapons...

/end rant

My understanding is all you need is documentation from a licensed gunsmith (or the factory for a new or factory modified gun) that the magazine has been modified to accept no more than 5 rounds.

Yeah that's what I thought as well...but I think that the 2 gunstores/gunsmiths in NYC that the NYPD will actually trust, want their share of the pie...

Meh, have it modified by a gunsmith who will provide it in writing and register the gun. If they accept it than bring the gun to your residence within NYC.



 

Just edit the wikipedia entry to say that 4 round mags are standard with that gun.  Then call back and ask them to check again.  Problem solved.

What is the max cap for a rifle mag in NYC?  I thought mags up to 15 rounds were ok in NYC. (Assuming they are pre-ban)  Is that only for pistols?

rifle/shotgun - 5




pistol - 17 and Mag cannot extend below the gripframe





 

Yeah...good old NYC...Let's hope some supreme court cases change things in the next few years...long gun registration in NYC (and maybe even handgun registration in the entire state) could be done away with entirely if it is deemed a "defacto" ban or too arbitrary or difficult. fingers crossed.

So what was the selection like in Jon Jovino's gun shop?

I stop in John Jovino's every so often.  There's no fixed inventory - only a handful of things at any time.  But he constantly gets trade ins etc.  I've bought a few .38s and a really nice Colt Python from him, but it's very hit or miss - 9 times out of 10 there's nothing.