Are any post 1898 firearms considered to be treated as "pre-1898?"

[Andy Griffith]

Just asking.

If there are exceptions, where is the list of them, if any?

 

[Muley Gil]

I believe a few topbreak S&Ws, though they shipped from the factory post 31 December 1898, were built before the cut-off, and are considered antiques.

 

[GatorFarmer]

Check the SCSW for the model, but it was a big bore top break that was sold until 1913 or thereabouts yet had all the frames made before
1-1-1899 that Muley Gil is likely thinking of. I've seen them on the auction sites a time or two.

Any gun that doesn't used fixed ammunition - in-line muzzle loaders, Ruger Old Army revolvers, flintlocks, what not - is considered in the same category under the GCA '68 even if it was made last week. Since the ATF considers conversion cylinders for cap and ball revolvers (which allow them to accept fixed ammunition) to be replacement parts, it's quite feasible to order a cap and ball revolver and a conversion cylinder from Midway, mate the two, and have a "new" cartridge arm.

Energy weapons also aren't directly covered under the GCA '68, though they are regulated by the FDA (in the case of lasers). Thus a spiffy new electromagnetic rail gun would be considered the same as a non fixed ammunition using flintlock.

Flamethrowers are also non regulated by the feds, being considered essentially the same as airguns.

 

[Andy Griffith]

I knew about the S&W's exception on a few guns, I just wanted to know if there were others.

 

[Wheelgunner840]

What about all those reproduction firearms like the Uberti SAAs and '66, '73, 94, leverguns? They are pretty much exact reproductions with stronger metals.

I will answer my own question here. I believe they are all considered modern firearms, but I don't know why.


WG840

 

[s&wchad]

ATF definition:

Antique firearm. (a) Any firearm (including any firearm with a matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar type of ignition system) manufactured in or before 1898; and (b) any replica of any firearm described in paragraph (a) of this definition if such replica (1) is not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition, or (2) uses rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition which is no longer manufactured in the United States and which is not readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade.

 

[walnutred]

So by that definition any revolver in 32 Rim Fire should be an antique.

 

[gizamo]

Andy, watch out for Winchesters in that time frame. I know you like your Winny's but George Madis and other reference material around the late 1800's to the turn of the century are off by as much as three years...

 

[cuzz]

I have a 38 that I purchased from my uncle before he passed. It's a S&M Top-Break Seial # 236XXX. Any Idea of value or age?
Thanks

 

[RufusG]

I'm not sure if this fits into your definition but I'm pretty sure that there were some Rooskie (or maybe Finnish?) Mosin-Nagant rifles that were remanufactured during one of the World Wars to the current pattern but the receivers were originally date stamped pre-98 so they were considered antiques.

 

[LVSteve]

I'm not sure if this fits into your definition but I'm pretty sure that there were some Rooskie (or maybe Finnish?) Mosin-Nagant rifles that were remanufactured during one of the World Wars to the current pattern but the receivers were originally date stamped pre-98 so they were considered antiques.

You got most of it. The Finns built most of their Mosin Nagant variants on captured receivers from the mid 1920s until after WWII. Given that the Mosin was built from 1891, antique receivers are not that rare. However, to muddy the waters, the only way to see the receiver date on a Mosin is to take it out of the stock as the mark is on the underside of the tang. To really screw things up, Mosin barrels are dated, but this is not the receiver date. So you can end up with a firearm that has a visible date from the 1920s, 30s, 40s or 1968, but it is actually an antique.