Spirit of the Sportsman

In California Legal Carbines parts 1 and 2 we examined Legal Standard Rifles and Legal Rifle Modifications. Now we will discuss Alternate Platforms.

Disclaimer: Consult the office of the California attorney general and your own legal counsel in order to verify you are in compliance with the law.

If we re-examine our definition a “carbine is created by taking a full-sized rifle and making it more portable usually by decreasing the size and weight”. This definition includes rifles which are not semi-automatic. Here are few California legal carbines that are not considered ‘assault weapons’ because they use alternate platforms:

Single Shot Carbines

Whether the rifle is bolt-action, break-open or straight-pull, a single shot rifle is not considered a semi-automatic and therefore not considered by the state of California as an ‘assault weapon’. Normally, single-shot rifles have a magazine well that is cut down or completely removed.

DPMS/Panther Single Shot AR

Barrel: 20″ Length w/A2 flash hider (birdcage), 4140 chrome-moly steel heavy barrel
Chamber: 5.56×45mm/223 Remington
Operation: Manual rotating bolt
Weight: Empty – 8.7 lbs.
Length: 38 1/4″
Action: No Mag Well, Single shot reload

Bolt-action Carbines

Bolt-action carbines are highly effective as they are usually quite accurate and normally fire a full-size high power rifle cartridge with ease. As the reload is manual, they too are not considered ‘assault weapons’ by the state of California.

Savage 10 FCM Scout

Caliber: 308 Winchester/7.62 x 51mm
Length: 20.5″ (barrel) 39.75″ (overall)
Weight: 6.65 lbs
Magazine: 4-round box magazine
MSRP: $799.00

Lever Action Carbines

Portable, lever action rifles have served as effective carbines for more than a century. The manual action makes them California legal.

Marlin Guide Gun

Caliber: 45/70 Gov’t.
Capacity: 4-shot tubular magazine
Action: Lever action; side ejection; solid top receiver; deeply blued metal surfaces; hammer block safety.
Stock: American black walnut straight-grip stock; cut checkering; ventilated recoil pad; tough Mar-Shield® finish; swivel studs.
Barrel: 18.5″ with deep-cut Ballard-type rifling (6 grooves).
Overall Length: 37″
Weight: 7 lbs.
MSRP: $600.00

Internal Magazine Well Carbines

Whether by original design or by modification, internal magazine well rifles cannot accept a detachable magazine and are therefore not deemed ‘assault weapons’ whether they are semi-automatic or not. A carbine with an internal magazine well is usually loaded by manually opening the breach and loading the magazine one by one or with the use of a stripper clip. Several internal magazine well rifles have been effectively used by militaries throughout the world.

Bushmaster Carbon 15 “Top Loader” Carbine

Caliber: 5.56mm or .223 Rem.
Magazine Capacity: 10 Rounds (Internal Magazine)
Overall Length: 37” [93.98 cm]
Barrel Length: 16” [40.64 cm]
Weight unloaded: 5.8 lbs. [2.63 kg]
Mode of Operation: Gas Operated/Semi-Automatic

“The unique Carbon 15 “Top Loading” Model has been developed specifically for the California market (and other States with similar restrictions). It offers traditional AR-15 type features, rugged Carbon Fiber composite molded Receivers for light weight and durability, and a 10 Round Internal Magazine – loaded by simply pushing in the Receiver Takedown Pin and then pivoting open the Receivers. This exposes the Internal Magazine components – which are permanently fixed in position within the Lower Receiver. Then cartridges can be inserted into the Magazine Feed Lips in the same manner as any removable AR-15 type Magazine. Internal Magazine capacity is limited to 10 Rounds, and the bottom of the Magazine Well is sealed.”

Pump Action Carbines

Although found most frequently as a feature on shotguns, pump action rifles have been around for more than a century and exist on modern rifle platforms.

Remington 7615

Caliber: 223 Remington
Mag. Cap. 10
Barrel Length: 18 1/2″
OA Length: 38 1/2″
Avg. Wt. (lbs.) 7 1/8
MSRP: $955

Part 1
Part 2

Tags: California legal, Carbine

This entry was posted on Friday, February 12th, 2010 at 3:10 pm and is filed under Shooting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.