Black Fly":1bq9mdk7 said:
I do a lot of my hunting in PA, where we cannot use semiauto rifles for hunting. Back when Bill Ruger brought out the first 44 mag rifle, you could get a plug to turn them into a straight pull bolt rifle. Curious if it is technically possible to do something similar to the mini to be able to use it to hunt in PA.
Thanks
Bfly
I might be able to offer some perspective since I am in CA. CA has all sorts of odd gun laws to include an AW ban, hi cap mag importation ban and some other odds & ends. The net result is that we have devised legal ways to work around those laws, but there was risk.
For example, on some rifles a flash hider is illegal - we use "brakes". Know the difference between the two? It can be a challenge. We buy & use ARs, AKs, FALs, Sigs, etc so long as they are set up a certain way - unfortunately they look pretty much like the banned "AWs" to most folks including cops and cops (much like gun owners) often do not respond well to things they may not understand. Alot of folks have gone through a certain amount of legal aggravation for us to do what we like but after a while, through repetition, LE accepts the law.
It would appear that what you want to do (with a permanent change) is entirely legal and your gun becomes essentially a "straight pull" Mini such as is sold overseas. If all of a sudden PA hunters flooded the countryside using those Minis then the GWs would get exposed to the gun, check up command and get a "they're OK". Problem is, that's probably not going to happen and you're the fellow who'll hear the GW say "well I've never seen that before" & that's probably not good.
How to do it on your own? Can you get Fish & Game to check the thing and say it's OK - in writing? Show it to a few of them & get them to say it's OK and when you are hasseled say "I checked with Officer Smith - give him a call?" Carry an out of country advert for the "Mini Straight Pull". Letter from a gunsmith that it's not a semi? All marginal I'd say. The GW is either going to get it right or give you all sorts of grief.
My bet is that if you use the gun and are hasseled but then OK'd the first year - then maybe the 2nd and a time or two after that at some point you'll become known by the F & G folks as "that pain in the butt guy who hunts with a bolt action Mini" and then you probably won't be hasseled.