Encore SBS?

[CCCLVII]

I have an encore that I would like to make into a SBS just for fun. Is there any place that would do a custom job and make a Shotgun barrel with a pistol front grip? I know the barrel would have to be built slightly different.

Id like them to make it 18 inches long at first until the stamp is passed then I would cut it down once the stamp is passed.

I am thinking really short like a 6-10 inch barrel.

[CCCLVII]

also do I need a separate stamp if I decide to make it into a SBR as well?

[lcpiper]

The problem is once you make a weapon into a SBR or SBS, it has to be stamped with markings and kept as is, it can't be modified back to a non-ClassIII weapon.

Your best bet is to decide what you want it to be, submit the form application, and then do the modification properly and live with what you have made and sell it if you decide it's not what you want anymore.

[Willie Lowman]

...and kept as is, it can't be modified back to a non-ClassIII weapon.

Yeah, except you are entirely wrong about that. SBS/SBR can be removed from the registry.

Fullautos are subject to the "once a machinegun always a machinegun" rule meaning that they can't be converted to semiauto and removed from the registry.

[Brian Pfleuger]

It doesn't have to be "removed from the registry" either. You could register an Encore as a SBR and use it with a long barrel or (as legal in your state) as a handgun. Registering it as an SBR doesn't mean it has to stay in that configuration forever, it means it's ALLOWED to be in that configuration. If you sell it, you'd have to go by the NFA rules but you can use it yourself however you'd like.

[johnwilliamson062]

OP touched on something I have considered myself. Is the stamp shotgun/rifle specific?

[eodinert]

If you sell it, you can sell it with the long barrel as a title I, with no paperwork, or as a title II with a short barrel, and do the paperwork for a transfer.

There is a different definition for a short barrel shotgun vs. a short barrel rifle. SBR vs. SBS (shotgun). The form will specify what it is.

[Deja vu]

I think you will need to do two separate stamps.

[Willie Lowman]

As much as I hate it when people ask the ATF for clarification on a topic, this seems like a good one to ask them about.

[GarrettJ]

A few thoughts on the matter:

*I built a Contender SBR some years ago. Add a suppressor and it makes a nice, compact package. I especially like how easy it is to switch calibers, configurations, etc.

*I'm not much of a shotgun guy, but if I were to do a cut-down single-shot SBS to use only as a shotgun, I'd use a different host firearm. There are all sorts of inexpensive single-shot shotguns out there that would work great. You could build a couple of them, including tax stamps, for what it would cost to do one Encore SBS.

...also do I need a separate stamp if I decide to make it into a SBR as well?

*Will ATF let you make an AOW from a full-length, stocked shotgun? The answer is NO. This is because the definition of a short-barreled shotgun includes "...any weapon made from a shotgun (whether by alteration, modification or otherwise) if such a weapon as modified has an overall length of less than twenty-six inches. " (18USC 921 (a)(6))

So if you cut down a shotgun and install a pistol grip, you have something that resembles an AOW, but that is still a "shotgun", since it was "made from a shotgun".

Based on this, if you register and cut down a shotgun into an SBS, and you later install a rifled barrel, the firearm is still a "shotgun", since it was "made from a shotgun".
(disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. This is speculation on my part, based on past ATF rulings, the text of legal definitions, and application of logic. That last part (logic) may or may not exist on the part of ATF. YMMV)