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TC encore---rifle to a pistol?

chippychippy Member Posts: 2 ✭✭
edited October 2007 in Ask the Experts
I have a TC encore rifle. Can I put a pistol barrel and the grips on it and use it as a pistol? Thanks Ken
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    sandwarriorsandwarrior Member Posts: 5,453 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Ken,

    If I'm reading your post right, NO! I don't know for sure how to convert it paperwork-wise either. But, if you went to an FFL and re-registered it as a pistol you may be okay...depending on what your state laws say regarding that. The big no-no is if you get caught with a short barreled rifle, i.e. changing the barrel and not the butt-stock.

    So with that in mind ask your local FFL what to do in this case and they may be able to find out a reasonable answer for you. Like being able to do it if you re-register it. And, how much that may cost. But don't just change it.

    Ken,

    This is the place to start looking:

    http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/faq2.htm

    Pay particular attention to A6. I was always under the understanding that you could not change over from rifle to pistol and vice-versa. Anyhow it never hurts to check with someone more familiar with that to see if what you have may be a violation or not.
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    OregunnerOregunner Member Posts: 129 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Read the first post, it should answer your question-

    http://specialtypistols.infopop.cc/groupee/forums/a/frm/f/4766056864
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    Mk 19Mk 19 Member Posts: 8,170
    edited November -1
    In the state of california you would have to purchase the gun as a handgun and the dros would have had to have been done as a handgun for you to make the change. If the gun was not dros'd as a handgun you would be creating a short barrled rifle.
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    tsr1965tsr1965 Member Posts: 8,682 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I believe that once the reciever is registered as a rifle, it must stay a rifle, or regardless of what grips or stock is on it it becomes an NFA SBR. If it were originally registered as a handgun, any length barrel could be put on it, and if the barrel were over 16 inches, then a buttstock could then be added.

    To answer your question, legally I do not think you can do this, without the frame/reciever being registered as a handgun.
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    dfletcherdfletcher Member Posts: 8,162 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Chippy - the Specialty Pistol post contains documentation from ATF on the subject. It's a good link and the site is great for T/C info. Sign up & you'll read much about these guns.

    Bottom line is once manufactured as a rifle the device must always be configured as a rifle. TSR is right on that point. You can not convert the gun from a rifle to a handgun simply by later offering it for sale as a handgun, any more than you could configure an AR rifle as a pistol and offer it for sale as a handgun.

    I'd bet serious $$$ that folks have bought Encores as rifles then thought nothing of offering them for sale later as pistols. I doubt any gun store owner would call T/C to verify what the gun was manufactured as before they offered it for sale as a handgun. If you subsequently bought the "handgun" I'd expect - should you somehow have the worst luck in the world and be caught & charged by LE - the intervening sale would provide you some legal defense, as in "mens rea" - not having a criminal mind.
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