Thread: Length of a rifle with welded on suppressor?

I've got a .22 that I want to cut down and thread for a silencer/suppressor.
I know the law in regard to a firearm that is less than 762 millimetres [30 inches] in length (classed as a pistol).

However what if I cut my barrel down to 5"/13cm (rifle length 24"/610mm), and then weld my stainless steel suppressor that is 6"/15cm long onto it (making an overall rifle length of 30"/762mm).....

.....legal? (suppressor baffles come out from front of silencer for cleaning).

logical.
Dont know about legal.

Ask Nicholas Taylor. (specialist firearms lawyer)

Originally Posted by 40mm

logical.
Dont know about legal.

Ask Nicholas Taylor. (specialist firearms lawyer)

I'll wait to see if anyone on this forum knows. If not I'll phone the local arms officer tomorrow (has finished from work today).

I'm not phoning a lawyer....he might charge me for the info

Originally Posted by Hermitage

I'll wait to see if anyone on this forum knows. If not I'll phone the local arms officer tomorrow (has finished from work today).

I'm not phoning a lawyer....he might charge me for the info

Cant charge for advice over the phone unless you agree to employ him.

Originally Posted by Hermitage

I'll wait to see if anyone on this forum knows. If not I'll phone the local arms officer tomorrow (has finished from work today).

I'm not phoning a lawyer....he might charge me for the info

Na, he is usually happy to give a bit of advice. (from myexperience)

Andif heis going to charge, then surely he has to say what his rates etc are before you consent to employinghim.

Give him a call.

I think there was a case of the length being taken to the end of the rifling regardless of a fixed suppressor. I can't find any info on that though.

Section 2 of the Arms Act only talks about the 762mm length, nothing about where that is measured from.

Even if he charged you for the info might work cheaper than the court case if you get wrong . Plus his will be the correct info sometime the AO's dont have all the correct info .

Dont cut the bastard too short or the end of the suppressor will be poking you in the back of the ear when shes slung - most disconcerting

contact Mark Trail then.....last I heard he was using a 10" barrel on .308 so he will know the legalities of it ....

It is measured to the muzzle. not suppressor.

https://www.colfo.org.nz/news/9-colf...ue-1-2017.html

ANY firearm which is less than 762mm will be classified as a pistol. The length of any firearm is measured without any “attachments” (whether or not “permanently” attached (e.g. welding, pinned)), such as flash-hiders, silencers, muzzle brakes, barrel extensions or magazine extensions. In the case of rifled firearms (such as rifles and Pistols), barrel length will be determined by measuring the length of the barrel rifling.”

Now i tried to find this in the legislation but i cant find it.

Bit ironic. 10/22 remove barrel action from stock for cleaning and its sub 762mm and you now have a pistol.
700mm long rifle and have a pinned (that you need tools to remove) or welded on suppressor making it 800mm in length its now a pistol. Both situations rely on tools to break down shorter than legal length. But one is classified as a pistol.
Both rely on "fit and proper" people to only use it in its intended configuration.

if you asked 100 people they would say that the rifle is 800mm long. But by legislation its 700mm.
Well my car is 3.2m long but if you don't count the bumpers its 3.0m long.

Originally Posted by Nugget connaisseur

It is measured to the muzzle. not suppressor.
ANY firearm which is less than 762mm will be classified as a pistol. The length of any firearm is measured without any “attachments” (whether or not “permanently” attached (e.g. welding, pinned)), such as flash-hiders, silencers, muzzle brakes, barrel extensions or magazine extensions. In the case of rifled firearms (such as rifles and Pistols), barrel length will be determined by measuring the length of the barrel rifling.”.

Well there's the answer. And Colfo.org.nz must have got that info from the legislation....even if we can't find said legislation.

Thanks for that @Nugget connaisseur ... for a moment there I was thinking I had a really compact and silent bunny buster in the making.

762mm IS short....add on what???another 100mm and its still short....I once owned a .12ga that was 785mm....ridiculously short,and LOUD..... mate had stuck barrel into rabbit hole and split barrel.... it was almost dangerous to carry as could swing in one hand and point at feet...no point in slinging it,was below ears.
seriously put tape measure on rifle as it is and see just where the 762mm will be...chances are,right on end of forestock....

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

762mm IS short....add on what???another 100mm and its still short....I once owned a .12ga that was 785mm....ridiculously short,and LOUD..... mate had stuck barrel into rabbit hole and split barrel.... it was almost dangerous to carry as could swing in one hand and point at feet...no point in slinging it,was below ears.
seriously put tape measure on rifle as it is and see just where the 762mm will be...chances are,right on end of forestock....

When l was working in Africa it was common to have a riot/sawn off shotgun as a backup gun on Leopard hunts for charging ,wounded, in the thick stuff or when hunting over dogs . One crew had a old authentic Luftwaffe drilling, made for the Luftwaffe exclusively by JP Sauer & Sohn ,a survival gun the Germans gave their pilots operating over remote areas of North Africa .From what l remember these Luftwaffe Drillings were fairly rare, .not sure if they were all the same but this one had two 12G shotgun barrels & a 9.3 x 74 rimmed rifle barrel slung under.The shotgun shells were OO Buck & the 9.3 had Geco 250 grn soft points from memory.

This gun had been nearly destroyed from a local tracker deciding to try to shoot some fish for tea & had put the barrel under the water for a better shot ,so for leopard it was cut down to 12 inch barrels & had the sling point right at the muzzle,meaning like you said when carried on the sling you had the barrels rubbing on the back of your ear, every time you ducked under a branch it would hit the nape of your neck .I could not carry it on the sling for this reason & sure enough about a year after l carried it ,the guy who owned it reached around in a hurry to grab it off the sling while crossing a knee deep swamp & some how had a ND ,he was lucky it did not take half his head off ,as it was he had instant Tinnitus in his right ear.Never again for this little black duck.

I had another look, i swear it was defined in the legislation before on how they measure it.
But looking at arms act 1983, Arms regulations 1992, 2020 its not there

https://kiwigunblog.wordpress.com/20...inimum-length/

Mike loader says they revised that "policy" and include the muzzle attachment. *EDIT as long as attachment requires tool to remove it.

I looked into this a while ago as was going to build a short sub rifle with a pinned supressor. I was going to just do it and argue my 2 points above and that police policy is not law if anything ever happened but ended up getting into long range shooting instead.

COLFO got that directive from the Police in 2017. Its not in the legislation, it was Police 'policy'.

However, there have been two amendments to the Arms Act 1983 since then.
So err on the side of caution taking anything from that 2017 COLFO webpage as relevant now.
Don't call your AO either, as the view of an individual AO won't be a defense in court.