What part of a SxS shotgun is the "firearm"

[Arizona_Mike]

What part of my SxS shotgun in the "firearm"

Recently I was looking into getting a threaded "upper" for my Ruger Mk I pistol and was suprised to learn that the upper was the "firearm" in this case. I had assumed it was the lower and was wrong.

I had assumed that the "receiver" (lock) of my SxS shotgun was the "firearm" but I am not so sure now.

Lock:
Overseas maker
shallow etching of alternate model name
"Dot mattrix" serial number on inside surface

Barrels:
US Manufacturer & address.
Model Name
Chambering
"Dot Matrix" serial number on inside surface

I have a pending from 1 on the gun. I'd love to put the 12" barrel on another stock/receiver on occastion if it is the barrel. Of course I won't do it if my first hunch was right (that it is the receiver).

Mike

 

[rcmodel]

It should be the receiver, not the locks or the barrels.

Unhook the barrels off the receiver and look for the real serial number on the watertable under the barrels.

rc

 

[Arizona_Mike]

I thought the watertable was the top of the frame (what I am calling the lock here or "receiver" in quotes).

The only two serial numbers are the two I described, one on the top of the frame and the other on the underside of the barrels (on the flat). Both are the same dot matrix engraved font and size and appear equaly "real".

Mike

 

[Acera]

I think you first hunch is correct. I have a couple of double barreled shotguns that only have the serial number on the lower receiver and not on the barrels.

That Ruger is a lot like a FAL where the upper is the registered part.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I'd love to put the 12" barrel on another stock/receiver on occastion if it is the barrel.

You will register the SxS receiver serial number for SBS on a Form 1 to make. Putting the barrel on another receiver makes that an unregistered SBS unless you file a Form 1 to make that an SBS.

There is a wrinkle on contraband forfeit unregistered SBS: when offered for police auction in Sevierville TN, they sell the receiver with stock and forearm but no barrel as an ordinary shotgun (4473 not Form 4).

 

[publiuss]

It's the receiver, or wherever the serial number is on other guns.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

Title I and Title II definitions are not always exactly the same, so the context may be different. I mentioned the NFA in one thread and not the other.

I would have preferred to keep the thread in the more busy forum . . .

Mike

 

[Arizona_Mike]

I think my first instincts were correct given the definition from 27 CFR 478.11:

Firearm frame or receiver. The part of the firearm which provides housing for the hammer, bolt or breechlock, and firing mechanism, and which is usually threaded at its forward position to receive the barrel.

In the case of the Ruger Standard, the firing mechanism and hammer are in the lower but the bolt and barrel threads are in the upper. It seems to be a wash: could have gone wither way legally.

It seems to be unambiguously the frame/lock in the case of an SxS even if most of the legally required markings are on the barrel. The fact that multi-barre sets are often sold together would seem to go with this as well.

Mike

 

[AlexanderA]

The "firearm" is the receiver, and that's the part that would be registered as an SBS on a Form 1, if you were to shorten the barrels below 18". However, as I understand it, the required engraving of your name and address can be placed on the barrels. The way the economics of short-barrelled firearms work, there's not much of a resale market. If your name/address is on the barrels, you can remove the barrels, "deregister" the gun by letter to the ATF, and then sell the receiver (with or without new 18"+ barrels) as an ordinary Title I firearm.

 

[MasterSergeantA]

You could actually sell the gun the same way even if your name was on the receiver. It just might make it a bit harder to sell. You can ALWAYS put the gun back into Title I configuration, destroy the barrels, and notify the ATF that it is no longer a Title II firearm.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

I researched the regs last night (when researching where markings have to go) and it appears that only the serial number must be on the frame.

Mike