Application To Make And Register A Firearm: Fill & Download for Free

(Assuming US) If you want to take a hacksaw to a shotgun right now, you absolutely can provided you maintain the barrel at a length of at least 18” (not 17.99999”, 18”+) as measured internally from the tip of the muzzle to the breech face. So if you have a hunting or trap style gun, it probably has a barrel 26–32” or longer and you could cut off quite a bit if you wanted. A “tactical” style shotgun typically already has an 18” barrel so there’s nothing you could cut- not right away anywayIf if you want a shotgun with a barrel less than 18”, you can have one. What you need to do BEFORE you cut is complete and submit an ATF Form 1- Application to Make and Register a Firearm. Along with this form, you’ll need to pay a $200 tax. Once your Form 1 is submitted and tax paid, get comfortable because you’ll be waiting several months for approval. Use that time to save up to buy the proper tools to cut down a barrel- sure a hacksaw will work, but there is definitely a better and proper way.Short-barreled shotguns (SBS) are firearms regulated under the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA) and require approval and registration to make, own or acquire. An SBS is defined as a firearm made or designed to be fired from the shoulder, which fires shotshell ammunition and has a barrel less than 18” in length OR a total overall length of less than 26”. To acquire or make an SBS requires ATF approval, registration of the firearm and payment of $200 tax.

File a BATFE Form 1 “Application to Make and Register a Firearm” with details on the type of destructive device to be made along with the $200 tax. Wait for the Form 1 to be approved and then make your 20mm or 30mm rifle as you described in the application.How one builds a large bore rifle isn’t much different except in scale to manufacturing a smaller firearm. It has been done and, unlike machine guns, there is no limit or restriction on building a single shot breech loading rifle, cannon or artillery piece in any caliber that doesn’t fire explosive rounds. As long as you’re willing to go through the process of taxing and registration you can make it.

Assuming that you don’t have a criminal record or a history of significant mental health issues, getting a shotgun certificate is normally pretty easy (although you'd need to be resident for two years first and the process can take a couple of months). However, in your case you may have a problem finding a character referee who is a UK resident and has known you personally for at least two years (for British applicants this is an almost trivially-easy part of the process).If you want a firearm other than a shotgun you’ll need two such character referees and to provide details of your doctor (GP) (when a firearm certificate is granted your GP is asked to set a flag on your medical records so that if later on you develop a “relevant medical condition” an alert can be raised to review the certificate). I’m not sure whether, as a US service member, you’d have a GP so that could well be a further problem with getting a firearm certificate (not an issue for a shotgun certificate. You’d also need to have a specific and demonstrable “good reason” to own the firearm — for example, shooting game or vermin or target shooting (if you want to own a firearm for the purpose of target shooting you need to be a member of a registered target shooting club, and joining one of those normally also requires you to produce UK resident character referees).[Edit: I disabled comments because I got fed up with posters assuming that the OP (who asked a perfectly reasonable fact-based question) must automatically be a gun nut with a desire to carry a handgun around with him and feeling the need to comment on my answer to that effect. Anyone who attempts to get around their inability to post comments by instead making an edit suggestion to that effect on my answer is going to find themselves reported for vandalism; you are why we can't have nice things like open comment sections.Also, I don't want to go into exhaustive detail in every aspect of the certificate application process and who needs to interview whom and what needs to be kept where, so please don't make those edit suggestions either; my focus here is on the aspects that a newcomer to the country would find unusually difficult and I suspect they can cope with interviews and cupboards. I did initially miss out the residence requirement, which is a significant one, so thanks to Anthony Ford for pointing that outAlso also, I know that certificates for handguns are somewhere between “extremely difficult” and “virtually impossible” to get. But the OP didn't mention handguns and I'm not about to embark on an exhaustive catalogue of different types of firearm and the regulations pertaining to them, so please don't make those edit suggestions either. We had some interesting discussion around handguns in the comments before I had to close comments and so it all disappeared.]