Tag Archives: aow

ATF shrugs and gives up (for now) on suppressors, SBRs, SBSs

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In the aftermath of a Texas federal court ruling and sweeping legislative changes brought about in the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” the ATF has issued official guidance halting the enforcement of traditional National Firearms Act (NFA) transfer, registration, and tax-stamp requirements for short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, suppressors, and “any other weapons.”

After U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to appeal Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, the Department of Justice exercised its enforcement discretion and applied this relief nationally to all gun owners rather than limiting it strictly to the lawsuit’s plaintiffs.

“The direction from the President, Congress, and the courts is clear,” said ATF Director Rob Cekada in a statement. “ATF is now following suit with our enforcement posture while continuing to ensure we remain focused where we are needed the most: combatting violent crime in American communities.”

While the pause in federal enforcement of NFA provisions is at the executive, or White House, level, it could be turned back “on” with very little notice, leaving Congress to make a more lasting fix. However, if thousands of devices are released in the coming months, it may be a “closing the barn door after the horses left” moment to try to revert to the pre-Silencer Shop Foundation ruling status quo.

Moreover, and this is important, dozens of states have their own local restrictions on suppressors and short-barreled firearms, so the pitfalls can remain real for millions of Americans.

Machine guns and destructive devices remain fully subject to NFA regulations and their $200 tax stamps.

Further, Gun Control Act of 1968 standards – including Form 4473 background checks via licensed dealers, interstate transport approval via Form 20, and all applicable state or local regulations – remain fully in effect.

More in my article on Guns.com.

RIP: Serbu Super Shorty, We Hardly Pumped You

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The Willy Wonka of gun craft has officially waved goodbye to one of his most famous offerings. The production of the Serbu Super Shorty has ended.

Tampa, Florida’s Mark Serbu announced on Monday that the final four Super Shorty models were being sent out, some of which had been on the waiting list going back three years. “The main reason we discontinued them is because they take our limited resources away from our main products, the BFG-50, RN-50, and BFG-50A,” said Serbu.

The final four Serbu Super Shorties headed out the door, all crafted from Remington 870 models including a Police Magnum and an 870 Tactical. (Photo: Serbu Firearms)

During a visit to Serbu’s plant in 2019, he told me a bit about the compact scattergun’s evolution.

“There was a group I was involved with– we’d gone to different events– and this one guy I always hung out with we rented cars together we rented hotel rooms, and I owed him a bunch of money. It was like $500 or $600 bucks,” regaled Serbu. “And he says, eh, ‘instead of giving me money why don’t you just make me a really short Mossberg shotgun, make it the shortest you can.”

After a year of tinkering around with the concept (“Because I hated it and thought it was the dumbest idea in the world. You know, if you have something you just hate, and you can’t do it?”) Serbu gave the world the Super Shorty.

For better or worse, the Super Shorty proved his biggest hit for a long time, with the guns going on to show up in dozens of movies and games including the “Crank,” “Fast,” and “Terminator” franchises. Over the past 20 years, Serbu modded both Mossberg 500 and Remington 870 shotguns in both 20 and 12 gauge to produce the Shorty.

“Now, years later, this is like my ‘Freebird,’ my ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ one of those songs that, while it’s a hit, the artists are just so sick of it,” he said.

Back in 2019, Serbu let me run one of his Super Shorty models in his shop– about two feet away from his office!

Another nail in the coffin of the gun was the fact that it was an NFA item due to the fact it started life as a shotgun and was modified into an Any Other Weapon (AOW). While it only required a Form 4 and a $5 tax stamp, it still was wrapped up in ATF waiting periods and red tape. When firearms like the Mossberg Shockwave and Remington TAC-14 came along after 2017, allowing almost the Super Shorty experience without the ATF having you listed in the NFRTR until the end of time, the market dried up a bit.

While the Super Shorty was more of a hacked production shotgun made by other folks, Serbu wants to spend his time on making his own guns such as the BFG-50, RN-50, and BFG-50A. There is only so much space on the workbench. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Still, you gotta love the old-school cool that is the Serbu Super Shorty.

Now this is an AOW I could get behind

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I’ve always thought that the best shooting auto-loading shotguns for the money were classic (1950s-80s) Remington 11-48s/1100/1187s.

A 1951 ad showing the then-new 870 pump side-by-side with the 11-48. Note the similarity

I have a vintage Wingmaster 1100 that has always delivered when it came to dove hunts (a September ritual in Mississippi) and once-beautiful 11-48 that has seen better days and I have since been repurposed with a shorter barrel, tac stock/furniture, and WML as a home defense gun– and will just chew through buck and slug all day.

Well, with that in mind, Eric Lemoine with Black Aces has been busy showing off a few of their hacked semi-auto AOW Shockwave builds. The 4+1 capacity vintage Remmy 1100 has been chopped down to bite-sized and tuned to run just fine with a foot-long barrel and a Shockwave grip.

“All that means for you is a $5 fee for your Form 4 and a little bit of patience,” Lemoine says.

Black Aces upgrades the piston assembly and lifter latch spring; adds new seals and does some other black magic to get these old duck guns to run short and lean for a price of $949 plus stamps– less if you have your own gun for starters, a concept that may wind up sending my beater 11-48 in for a morph.

More in my column at Guns.com

 

Shockwave-style shotguns, err, I mean ‘firearms’ now Texas-legal

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While pistol grip only shotguns have been around for years, the newest idea is the 14-inch barrel “firearm” in 12 gauge that gets the job done without a tax stamp required. Traditionally, shotguns crossed over into National Firearms Act territory when they were under 26-inches overall and/or had a barrel less than 16.

Now, with guns such as the Mossberg Shockwave, introduced at SHOT Show earlier this year, and Remington’s Tac-14, debuted in April at the National Rifle Association annual meeting, manufacturers are taking shotgun-based systems still just over 26-inches long and mounting a 14-inch barrel and, as the receiver used was born a “firearm” and not a shotgun, it’s all good when it comes to the NFA– though some state and local restrictions on short-barreled or “sawn-off” shotguns still apply.

One state that has tweaked their law is Texas, which, is ironically where the Shockwave is produced. You can buy one effective today.

More in my column at Guns.com

 

There are now over 5 million NFA items on the books, including 1.3 million suppressors

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The number of National Firearm Act items saw a huge jump in the past year — including a 50 percent increase in suppressor registration and 39 percent bump in short-barreled rifles registered — according to new data released by federal regulators.

The report provides an overview of the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, which is the federal list of all items, such as suppressors, SBRs, short-barreled shotguns, destructive devices and any other weapons logged under the NFA as of April, and updates figures released in February 2016.

In the 14-month period between reports, the total number of NFA items of all kinds has climbed to 5,203,489 — an overall increase of more than 800,000 items.

While the numbers of AOW’s, machine guns and SBSs all saw negligible increases, the biggest jumps in the 14-month interlude came in the numbers of registered SBRs and suppressors.

More in my column at Guns.com

Feel like a credit-card sized .22LR pistol?

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A new company in North Carolina debuted what they call the LifeCard last week, set for shipments later this month.

The appeal is that it is 7-ounces and about the same dimensions (length and height) when folded as a credit card. Width is a half-inch. Interesting concept if the price was right.

More in my column at Guns.com

Got to bump into some groovy hardware last week

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So I hung out at NRA Show for a few days last week. Got to see some cool new stuff and write about it.

Including Springfield Armory’s new XD-E hammer fired compact 9mm single stack


Which complemented FN’s new 509.

So now FN is making striker-fired guns while Springfield XD is making hammer fired. What the what?

Then there was Colt’s new 70 series Gold Cup Trophy and Competition models (yup, no firing pin block).

Those G10 scales, tho

And Savage’s Fox A Grade SXS double shotgun series, which are really sweet and feature bone and charcoal case color-finished receivers over black walnut furniture (though original Foxes are cheaper).

And nope, this one is not made in Turkey

But the coolest thing (that I am soon going to be T&E’ing, squeeeee) is Remington’s Tac-14 870 that I was able to get the first media peek at while touring Big Green’s Huntsville Factory prior to the show.

At 26.25 inches overall and with a Raptor Shockwave pistol grip, the 12-gauge’s 14-inch cylinder bore barrel is not a National Firearms Act regulated item as it is a “firearm” and not an SBS or AOW, thus no tax stamp is required under federal law, though state and local laws may apply.

I will for sure keep you posted on that one…

ATF’s NFA branch moving on up

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The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has split its National Firearms Act branch into a separate division in hopes of providing more oversight and efficiency.

The new NFA Division will consist of an Industry Processing Branch, focusing on processing forms from the private sector, and a Government Support Branch centered on law enforcement.

The IPB will see the regulatory body dedicate an entire branch to handling the processing of consumer-directed documents including Form 1 and Form 4 applications for the making and transfer of NFA items such as suppressors, and short-barreled rifles and shotguns.

But what does this mean? I talked to the experts to find out…

More in my column at Guns.com

Getting shot while you are getting stabbed

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grad-rs1-knife-gun

In the late 1990s, the Global Research and Development (GRAD) Company designed the world’s first production fixed-blade knife that held a multi-shot firearm inside its grip.

GRAD produced four knives, three of which contained working 22LR double-action revolvers.  Each knife featured a high-quality, 440C heat-treated, high-carbon stainless steel, single-edged fixed blade. Inside the grips lay the revolver cylinder and a 1.75-inch rifled barrel. In the lower half of the knife handle a spring-loaded trigger lever could be pulled down and when depressed would fire the revolver. The barrel’s muzzle was shrouded by the top half of the grip and fired over the top of the blade through the knife’s hilt.

To load and clean the revolver, the grips separated and folded open, allowing access to the concealed gun.

They came in several variants.

The Hybrid Standard Edition had black aluminum checkered grip panels and held a 5-shot revolver.  A deluxe 22-karat gold-plated Millennium version of the Standard had a highly hand-polished blade and frame.

grad-milime-knife-gun grad-milime-knife-gun-s grad-milime-knife-gun-as

The Hybrid Bayonet held a 6-shot revolver and mounted to the standard NATO bayonet lug on the M16/AR-15-style rifle. The bayonet version could be fired either mounted or unmounted to the rifle. The knife-only version, the Model RS1N, was the base knife with no barrel or firing assembly.

grad-knife-gun grad-knife-gun-2
Across all versions, fewer than a thousand of these weapons were made. The company history is murky; they seem to have folded around 2007 and, as such, have no warranty or production to fall back upon.

The firearms versions are all NFA Title II weapons and are transferable under the $5 Any Other Weapon clause. When new and still in production, they sold from $699 for the Standard models to $1999 for the gold-plated series. Today, if you can find one, they are basically worth whatever the market will pay and are rare at any price.

And the ATF generally frowns on keeping and/or selling them, or any other neat AOW such as cane guns, without the proper paperwork.

Enjoy the silence: There are more than 900,000 legal NFA-compliant suppressors out there

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hk 91 with suppressor and m1 garand silencerco photo

New data released last week by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives shows FFL numbers rebounding, over 9 million firearms produced in 2014, coupled with healthy import and export activity.

The statistics are part of the agency’s 2016 Annual Statistical Update of Firearm Commerce in the United States.

Sweeping in its context, the report gives the public a rare glimpse into the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, which is the federal list of all items, such as suppressors, SBRs, short-barreled shotguns, destructive devices and any other weapons logged under the NFA as of February 2016. While this figure includes Post-86 Dealer samples, SOT production guns up for sale and LEO guns as well, most of these are in civilian hands.

Comparing last year’s report with the new information shows the aggregate number of NFA items of all kinds have climbed to 4,436,096, adding over a quarter million devices to the registry in a twelve-month period from February 2015.

This includes:

2,545,844 Destructive devices (mostly live ammunition over .50 caliber in size)
902,805 Suppressors
575,602 Machine guns
213,594 Short barreled rifles
140,474 Short barreled shotguns
57,777 AOWs (pen guns, cane guns, shorty shotgun pistols)

Suppressor numbers have just reached for the cheap seats in the past five years. In 2011, there were 285,087 cans registered– meaning U.S. silencer ownership has more than tripled in the past half-decade.

More in my column at Guns.com.

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