7MM Rem Mag. in a 16 inch barrel?

[oneshotwonder]

I have a 26" 7mm Rem Mag barrel for my Encore.  In indiana I cannot use this to deer hunt.  My thought was to cut it down to 16" and use it as a pistol barrel.  Does anyone have any experience with this round in a pistol barrel.  I also have a 308 Win barrel (15") that I currently use to deer hunt, just thought I would use the 7mm barrel as a pistol more than I would as a rifle.  I'm just looking for comments, suggestions.
                                        Thanks in advance,

[Lloyd Smale]

it will work fine if you dont mind going to jail!! It is very illeagal to shorten a rifle barrel and use it as a handgun. A rifle barrel would be leagal at 16 inch but it needs a but stock. Now you could have one made as a pistol barrel at 16 inch. Kind of a stupid law but it is the law.

[Rog]

 

[Keith L]

it will work fine if you dont mind going to jail!! It is very illeagal to shorten a rifle barrel and use it as a handgun. A rifle barrel would be leagal at 16 inch but it needs a but stock. Now you could have one made as a pistol barrel at 16 inch. Kind of a stupid law but it is the law.

I wonder where you got this Lloyd?  You can use a Super 16 (16.25") Contender barrel on pistol or rifle.  And I don't know that a rifle barrel is registered as such.  My guess is that it would be up to the owner if he wanted to shorten a barrel and use it on a pistol frame.

[Ken ONeill]

In the Contender and Encore, the serial numbered action is considered the "gun". Some are originally sold as handguns, with a pistol grip and forend, others are sold as rifles, with a buttstock.
T/C barrels are not serial numbered. It is perfectly legal to shorten a 24-26" or whatever, rifle barrel length to , say, 16 1/4" ( greater than 16"). It may then be used either as a rifle, on the original "rifle" action, and using a buttstock, or as a handgun ON A HANDGUN ACTION. A barrel could also be shortened to a lesser length, say 14-15" AND USED ONLY ON A HANDGUN ACTION ( action originally sold as a handgun).
I'd guess the 16 1/4" 7 Mag. barrel would run a 139 @ about 2650-2700 fps.
My 15" Fox Ridge .308 Win. barrel runs a 150 Hornady about 2500-2550 fps.

[Grumulkin]

it will work fine if you dont mind going to jail!! It is very illeagal to shorten a rifle barrel and use it as a handgun

No Lloyd, that's not the way it is.  You can take any rifle barrel and shorten it to handgun length but once shortened, it can only legally be used with handgun grips and not with a buttstock.

As far as using an Encore or Contender frame that was originally sold as a long gun is concerned, as far as I know it is legal to do according to Federal law (information from a gun dealer that sells many Encores and Contenders) but could run afoul of the law States requiring handgun registration.

There are also guns sold in the U.S.A. with serial numbers on the barrel.  Unlike many foreign countries, the BATF doesn't care at all about whether or not a barrel has a serial number; shorten at will.

[oneshotwonder]

Thanks Ken for giving me some input on my question.

Lloyd, if I had wanted bad legal advice, I would have searched a forum for that.

This is the problem with a forum.  Someone like myself asks a question,  nobody wants to answer my question so they start a totally different discussion.  I know the minimum length for a rifle barrel is 16 inches.  I also know that a handgun frame must be registered as just that, a handgun.  I also know that there is no maximum length limit on a handgun barrel.  My question was "Does anyone have any experience with this round in a pistol barrel?".  Ken was the only one that gave me any pertinent information.  So according to Ken I would only pick up about 1-2 hundred feet per second over my 308 winchester pistol barrel.  Does this sound about right to anyone else.

Again thank you for your replies and I'm sorry if I have upset anyone.  I am just looking for some useful information.

[JKF59]

  I have a 7mm Rem. Mag. barrel that I shortened to 16 1/8 inches. I have chronographed reloads about 2850 with 140 Ballistic Tips and about 3000 with 120 Speer SP.
   Both loads generate an impressive fire ball and blast at the muzzle. Acceptable recoil and muzzle blast is debatable ofcourse but both are well beyond what I enjoy shooting. If you are into a lot of noise and pretty hefty recoil then you will have a "handgun" that is the equal of a 7-08 in a rifle.
  My barrel started as a 26 inch heavy. The forearm for the regular pistol barrels will not fit. I just shoot it with the rifle forearm and a Pachmeyer pistol grip. To me it is too big and heavy to be of much practical use as a handgun. It is too heavy for me to shoot offhand and it has sling swivels. As far as I'm concerned I might as well be carrying a rifle.
  What is too big is up to the individual but I added my thoughts just to give you some ideas that you might not have considered. You could always sell the rifle barrel and buy a pistol barrel.

[HL]

I wouldn't take it down past 16.25 for safety reasons. Just a little cushion.

Cutting your barrel down is no different than taking an inch or two off of another rifle. It's not illegal. From my understanding the only thing registered as either a rifle or pistol is the action.

And I don't see any difference from TC selling the 16" barrels to be used on either the rifle or pistol.

[jhalcott]

oneshot, you need a longer barrel for the 7mag. You will get a ton of blast and flash with a short barreled 7mag. recoil is also some thing to think about. I would NOT do it, but that's ME! You loose about 50 to 100 fps per inch,depending on the load. If you are comfortable shooting a 7-08 equivalent at the cost of MORE powder, than do it.

[ourway77]

I shot one without a brake and it was unbearable, at least to me I shoot my Bull berry 308 w/brake, and it is a real pussy cat, Maybe the 7MM would be bearable w/brake. But all in all not really picking up that much more velocity. But love for a certain caliber is in the eyes of the beholder. Lou

[Graybeard]

Sorry Lloyd but this time ya made a mistake. Now if that rifle had been other than a TC your advice would have been mostly correct. You cannot shorten a rifle barrel below 16" while on that rifle action and make it a short barrelled rifle. But even with a bolt gun or semiauto you can take the barrel off the action and shorten it and put it on a handgun action and be legal. With the TCs both Contender and Encore it's fine to shorten rifle barrels to handgun length and use them as long as there is no rifle buttstock attached and so long as the frame is not one that is in fact a rifle.

Now there is much disagreement on the issue of rifle vs. handgun frames and to date there has been no test case in court to establish a precedent even tho some think (incorrectly) that the TC suit did that. It didn't.

TC says rightly or wrongly that ALL frames they make are reported to BATFE as handguns. I sorta doubt that's true today but may have been when TC said it. All manufacturers are required to report annual production to BATFE and whether by SN they are handguns or long guns. So TC is in fact reporting all frames to BATFE as either long gun or handgun. Which I have no clue to be honest.

But generaly speaking you can't turn a long gun into a handgun and that is law. BUT TCs are a wee tad different due to case law from the TC lawsuit in that the frames orignally all handguns can be made into a rifle. No court case has said the reverse however. It's a slippery slope and some day someone is gonna be a test case I'm sure. It ain't gonna be me however.

[Lloyd Smale]

sorry pal but i dont see where i started a whole new post. I was just stating what i was told was the law. Mistaken i may have been but rude i am not!! I was also told that technicaly a but stock on any tc frame that is registered as a handgun frame is illegal. Anyone here with a with a semblence of tack want to straighten me out as to whether that is true or not.

Thanks Ken for giving me some input on my question.

Lloyd, if I had wanted bad legal advice, I would have searched a forum for that.

This is the problem with a forum.  Someone like myself asks a question,  nobody wants to answer my question so they start a totally different discussion.  I know the minimum length for a rifle barrel is 16 inches.  I also know that a handgun frame must be registered as just that, a handgun.  I also know that there is no maximum length limit on a handgun barrel.  My question was "Does anyone have any experience with this round in a pistol barrel?".  Ken was the only one that gave me any pertinent information.  So according to Ken I would only pick up about 1-2 hundred feet per second over my 308 winchester pistol barrel.  Does this sound about right to anyone else.

Again thank you for your replies and I'm sorry if I have upset anyone.  I am just looking for some useful information.

[Keith L]

Graybeard says it well in his post, Lloyd.  The case law clearly states that a pistol can be converted to a rifle as long as the barrel is longer than 16 inches long.  The case law is specifically based on Contenders, and the fuzzy part is whether the same logic can be automatically applied to Encore.  There is no case law for converting a Rifle to a pistol.  This applies to the frames, not the barrels.

[Lloyd Smale]

thank you Kieth! I guess i was under the impression that in the case of say a long barreled revolver it is illegal to put a but stock on it no matter what the barrel lenght. Lots of gray area here and i appreciate you taking the time to answer.

[xphunter]

I have a 26" 7mm Rem Mag barrel for my Encore.  In indiana I cannot use this to deer hunt.  My thought was to cut it down to 16" and use it as a pistol barrel.  Does anyone have any experience with this round in a pistol barrel.  I also have a 308 Win barrel (15") that I currently use to deer hunt, just thought I would use the 7mm barrel as a pistol more than I would as a rifle.  I'm just looking for comments, suggestions.
                                        Thanks in advance,

OSW,
The closest I can get is that I use a 7RM Imp in a MOA Maximum handgun (rear-grip, falling block action).  mine is very enjoyable to shoot with 162-180 bullets.  Mine does have a heavy barrel and is braked though.
What bullets do you intend to use and what distances are you comfortable shooting it?
Good luck and let us know how your project progresses.

[Keith L]

thank you Kieth! I guess i was under the impression that in the case of say a long barreled revolver it is illegal to put a but stock on it no matter what the barrel lenght. Lots of gray area here and i appreciate you taking the time to answer.

I don't know of any revolvers with a barrel longer than 16 inches, so that might take care of it right there.  The test case was on TC Contenders.  I am no lawyer so don't know if that case can be applied across the board.

[Lloyd Smale]

guess you have a point there too keith i cant recall one either.

thank you Kieth! I guess i was under the impression that in the case of say a long barreled revolver it is illegal to put a but stock on it no matter what the barrel lenght. Lots of gray area here and i appreciate you taking the time to answer.

I don't know of any revolvers with a barrel longer than 16 inches, so that might take care of it right there.  The test case was on TC Contenders.  I am no lawyer so don't know if that case can be applied across the board.

[swampthing]

Or you could just shorten it another inch for a total of 15" and have a nice day. Well until you squeeze the trigger with out hearing protection anyway.