Saw this topic on another forum and figured I’d check in here for thoughts on this subject since its a good one. Wondering if it would be feasible/legal to mount a Sig Brace to a Pistol Gripped Shotgun using a Mesa Tactical Stock adapter?
Initially my response was no since it would require a stock adapter to make it happen, however it was pointed out that Sig mounts the brace to their 556 Pistol and it doesn’t even require a buffer tube to function.
Since factory pistol gripped shotguns have no barrel length requirements you’d only need to maintain the 26" OAL correct?
So what say you on the legality of such a mod? I know the ultimate answer would need to come in official letter form but figured I’d ask in case anyone had already been down that road.
After doing a little research it seems that as long as the firearm was originally made with a pistol grip and not a stock and has an oal 26" or more it does not fall under any nfa categories.
So it seems that if the company made the original pistol grip to fit the Sig brace it might be “legal”.
That’s what I’m finding which is what brought about the question. Obviously a letter to atf would provide the best clarity but wanted to get some feedback.
Yeah, I’ve seen this guys website and argument before… Maybe it’s legal, maybe not… ask him for the ATF letter declaring that this is NOT an AOW. I’ve asked and was sent the ATF shotgun classification document but nothing specifically clearing this grip.
Edit to add: I bought one of these grips years ago for my Mossberg AOW. It looks cool, but sucked for actual use. I just have my AOW for fun, but I cant imagine how it would be useful for things like breaching doors. You have to have such an exaggerated grip on it that it makes it very awkward.
Dont take this the wrong way as I love Serbu-12/Keg12 style aows, but besides range toys theses aows.are not practical. I have a 12" 590 and a 14" 870. your effective range with a 7" 12g is limited, but it does look cool imo.
There are two letters one about aow’s being concealed and one about mods to the shotgun. In the second one it covers the pistol grip instead of stock being legal.
I’m not going to pretend to be a lawyer, but if I have learned one valuable lesson from the ATF is how do write an ambiguous definition. This is another of their opinion letters and these change all the time.
Actually he didn’t give it a classification if the examiner had they wouldn’t have use the words “may” and “if it”. Also if they had defined clearly every possible type of aow’s they would no longer have the broad definition and be able to interpret the law. That is why they give opinions. But we could argue different points all day and the same would be true with lawyers.
I feel that as long as ar pistols are legal I am pretty sure this style of firearm will be also.
I’d send a letter to the ATF tech branch and explain exactly what you are intending to do. Then they will write you a letter pertaining to your exact situation vs. extracting bits and pieces of info from various sources.
