homemade firearms

Question
It is my understanding that it is perfectly legal for me to make my own homemade firearms as long as they don't violate federal or local laws.
My question is, am I able to make a handgun that fires shotgun shells as long as the barrel is rifled?
The Taurus Judge is a handgun, and it fires 410 gauge shells. Is the only reason that is legal being the rifled barrel? or is there some other reason...

Answer
David,

First I have to give the usual qualifier that nothing in this post is to be considered legal advice and you should not rely on it to keep you out of trouble with the BATF.  You should probably contact them for an opinion to keep yourself from crossing the line on any legality issues.  BATF takes a notoriously dim view of people who violate the National Firearms Act of 1934.  Since short barreled shotguns are on this list, I would be somewhat cautious about building anything that might be construed to be one of these.

Part of what makes the Taurus Judge legal is that it is not considered to be a short barrel shotgun since it was never a 'shotgun' to begin with.  The prohibition is taking something that was a shotgun and either removing the stock or shortening the barrel or a combination of the two to make it shorter (and more concealable) than permitted by law.  The second issue is that the barrel is less than .5 inches in diameter.  This is specifically why the .45 caliber and .410 shotshell were selected.  The final factor is that the barrel is rifled.  There is also the notion that the device will use ammo that has 'smokeless' powder.  Black powder guns are not regulated under the NFA.

The fact that it is a handgun that never had a stock, has a barrel less than .5 inches in diameter and has a rifled barrel that keeps the Judge out of NFA territory.  Any gun you build would typically be under the same kind of restrictions.

Theoretically, you might even be able to build something that would handle a larger shotshell, but then the device might fall into the category of a "Destructive Device" or "Any Other Weapon".  

A 'destructive device' is any firearm with a barrel diameter greater than .5 inches and is not considered to be a 'sporting firearm' (like a shotgun).

'Any other weapon' is a kind of catchall for a lot of other firearms that BATF deems worthy of regulation and taxation.

As long as you are making your own gun and it doesn't fall afoul of the NFA, you are OK, but it sure would seem easier and safer to me to just go and buy yourself a Taurus Judge if that is the type of gun you are looking for...

You should also take a look at a previous post at the link below.  I provided an answer to  another person asking a question about homemade guns.  All the things I wrote may also be of interest to you.

Best regards,

Doug

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Guns-Firearms-Projectile-1501/2008/2/homemade-guns.ht...