Question For You Gun Gurus

I do stand corrected, I did not have all the facts before I spoke. Since I do not collect guns, I spoke out of turn. Listen to the guys who have been there.
 
If the firearm is of a certain age you can do several things to it and not be in violation of the law.
I would highly recommend plugging the chamber before doing anything.This will keep it from accidentley getting loaded. You might also modify the hammer or remove the firing pin(s). If it is made unserviceable you will not be in any violation of the law.Plugging the barrels will make it unserviceable removing the firing pin will not.. You can check with the atf and they will be able to guide you. Tell them the year of the gun first.
 
If it is made unserviceable you will not be in any violation of the law.Plugging the barrels will make it unserviceable removing the firing pin will not..

Plugging the barrels alone will certainly NOT make it unserviceable it would still be very much a real gun as the receiver is intact and the receiver is the gun... It would take only a few seconds to swap out a new barrel and go *bang* again...

In the US it's either a gun or not a gun, an unserviceable gun is still a gun, as I referenced in regards to the DEWAT fiasco... You have to remove it from legal gun status if you want to remove it from the laws that govern guns, and the only legal way to do that is to destroy the receiver per ATF specifications, and that generally involves cutting it in three parts... Once you remove it from gun status you can rebuild it in a nonfunctional form that can't be 'readily converted' back to functional... So until the ATF signs off the the receiver being destroyed it's still technically a gun, and even if it's nonfunctional it technically still falls into all the laws that govern guns...
 
Question, on a shotgun what would you call the receiver? There is no mag to stick or slide in, so what would you do?
I look at gunbroker all the time for parts, and you can see where they cut them up and how they did it. There are even sites who offer to make you a new one, but again on a shotgun am lost
 
Can't you attach a solid barrel on it and leave the receiver intact? It will still be a gun but it's not an SBR or AOW because the barrel isn't real. They can't say it's a short barrel if it's not a barrel and it can't chamber a round if it's solid. It would still be considered a gun and i wouldn't go costuming with it but it doesn't make it illegal. I can take any one of my guns and take off the barrel and stick a piece of solid steel or wood out the end and it doesn't change it's classification. If you want the gun to no longer be a gun you will have to demil it but if you want to just use it as a base and still keep it's firearm status just go solid and keep your old barrel around uncut.
 
Question, on a shotgun what would you call the receiver? There is no mag to stick or slide in, so what would you do?
I look at gunbroker all the time for parts, and you can see where they cut them up and how they did it. There are even sites who offer to make you a new one, but again on a shotgun am lost

The shotgun receiver is the block of steel the bolt rides in and the barrel attaches to. The mag in this case would be the shell tube.
 
Question, on a shotgun what would you call the receiver?

That part with the serial number, pretty much the entire thing minus the barrel/stock on a shotgun...

On a side by side, double barrel shotgun this part...

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Can't you attach a solid barrel on it and leave the receiver intact?

Yes, I believe I said that in an earlier post, a dummy barrel that isn't functional can be attached for display purposes... Lots of people do this, and some companies even offer said short dummy barrels for the purpose... Heck the original Sterling civilian version of the SMG even came packaged with a short dummy barrel and end cap to make it look like the short barrel version... But even with the dummy barrel in place it's still a gun and you have to follow all laws that apply to guns...
 
In the US the receiver is considered the component of a firearm that contains the trigger group and is serial numbered. So, for a double barrel it would be the lower stock which houses the trigger group.

I would also agree with Exoray, you need to be very careful when something like this is done; e.g. Shorting the barrel and deactivating or rendering the firearm inoperable. And since the OP lives in California, he need to take extra special care.

Your best bet in this case is not to ask these question on a prop forum. You should contact a local Gun Smith, Gun Shop, or an organization like the Gun Owners of America or the National Rifle Association.
 
My advice would be to simply not to try to do it yourself, instead go either the airsoft route or a buy a ready de-milled shotgun from a reputable dealer/store.
 
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