minimum overall length?

Questions about Western Australian gun and ammunition laws. W.A. Firearms Act 1973.

minimum overall length?

Post by brett » 03 Oct 2021, 1:17 pm

i cant find the details of what is the minimum overall length of a rifle or shotgun in WA. anyone know for sure or have a link?
please dont tell me its a 16" barrel length because it isnt.
thanks
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Re: minimum overall length?

Post by bladeracer » 03 Oct 2021, 1:48 pm

brett wrote:i cant find the details of what is the minimum overall length of a rifle or shotgun in WA. anyone know for sure or have a link?
please dont tell me its a 16" barrel length because it isnt.
thanks
brett


I'll have to delve through the regs, but I thought 750mm overall, 400mm barrel?
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Re: minimum overall length?

Post by bladeracer » 03 Oct 2021, 5:09 pm

bladeracer wrote:
brett wrote:i cant find the details of what is the minimum overall length of a rifle or shotgun in WA. anyone know for sure or have a link?
please dont tell me its a 16" barrel length because it isnt.
thanks
brett


I'll have to delve through the regs, but I thought 750mm overall, 400mm barrel?


Just went through the Firearms Act and Regulations and some other sites and can't find anything relating to barrel length of overall length, or even an offence for shortening a firearm.
I suggest emailing WA Firearms and ask them.

I know in Victoria we have minimum 750mm overall, and 400mm barrel length, but we are not allowed to shorten a barrel to less than 500mm without a Commissioner's Permit.
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Re: minimum overall length?

Post by bigpete » 03 Oct 2021, 6:03 pm

Weird isn't it. SA we can shorten shotgun barrels to 450mm and rifle barrels to 400mm and the overall length must be 750mm for both,without any special permissions
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Re: minimum overall length?

Post by on_one_wheel » 03 Oct 2021, 6:05 pm

Surely WA has a act and legislation that can be downloaded and printed.

I did exactly that with the SA act and legislation, found and highlighted all the bits that I found important and created an index with page numbers to make finding things easy.
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Re: minimum overall length?

Post by bladeracer » 03 Oct 2021, 6:42 pm

on_one_wheel wrote:Surely WA has a act and legislation that can be downloaded and printed.

I did exactly that with the SA act and legislation, found and highlighted all the bits that I found important and created an index with page numbers to make finding things easy.


Yep, but it doesn't mention overall length or barrel length that I can find.
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Re: minimum overall length?

Post by on_one_wheel » 03 Oct 2021, 6:54 pm

bladeracer wrote:
on_one_wheel wrote:Surely WA has a act and legislation that can be downloaded and printed.

I did exactly that with the SA act and legislation, found and highlighted all the bits that I found important and created an index with page numbers to make finding things easy.


Yep, but it doesn't mention overall length or barrel length that I can find.


That's annoying, admittedly I took me a long time to find all the bits and pieces I was looking for in the sa paperwork, there's info spread out from a$$hole breakfast hole and the provided index was almost completely useless.
Also there seemed to be an even amount of useful information spread between the act and the legislation.
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Re: minimum overall length?

Post by Communism_Is_Cancer » 03 Oct 2021, 7:35 pm

No barrel length for longarms is listed as far as I can see but get a load of this from page 2 of the act. Seems they can deem anything a handgun which must be over 120mm for semi auto or 100mm for "or more in any other case" according to page 111 of the regulation. Again WA showing why it is a hell hole because nothing is set in stone.

In Queensland you can have a 0.1 inch barrel on an A/B licence so long as the overall length of the firearm is over 75cm. Anything under 75cm that is not a powerhead or category C, D or R is classed as a cat H.
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Re: minimum overall length?

Post by boingk » 03 Oct 2021, 10:51 pm

If its a commercially available longarm I'd wager to say it'll be fine.

Ask the plod and see what they have to say. They may be able to direct you to a nifty website, brochure etc.

Here in NSW its 700, 750 or 800mm overall length depending on air rifle, shotgun/combo, or rifle;

(1) For the purposes of section 62 (2) of the Act, a firearm is to be considered as having been shortened only if--
(a) in the case of a firearm that is a smooth bore shotgun or a combination smooth bore shotgun and rifle--
(i) the length of the barrel, or, if it has more than one barrel, of the longer or longest barrel is less than 45 cm, or
(ii) the length of the stock is less than 30 cm or it has no stock, and
(b) in the case of a firearm that is a rifle, not being a combination smooth bore shotgun and rifle or an air gun--
(i) the length of the barrel or, if it has more than one barrel, of the longer or longest barrel is less than 40 cm, or
(ii) the length of the stock is less than 30 cm or it has no stock, or
(iii) the overall length is less than 80 cm, and
(c) in the case of a firearm that is an air gun--
(i) the length of the barrel is less than 30 cm, or
(ii) the length of the stock is less than 30 cm or it has no stock, or
(iii) the overall length is less than 70 cm.
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Re: minimum overall length?

Post by brett » 04 Oct 2021, 12:48 am

the problem with asking WAPOL is they often make it up as they go, and if they dont know the answer or dont like the idea the answer they give is NO. i have asked several questions that i have been told is not allowed but when i ask for the details of the legislation they just give attitude and say that " we wont allow that"
one example was i was asking about a wooden stock for a deactivated firearm which is available to anyone with no licensing requirements here in WA. i was told that i could not legally own the stock if i didnt have the SMLE on my license. i explained that anyone can walk into a shop and buy a deactivated SMLE with a perfect wooden stock without a license, only to be told that the officer wouldnt let it happen and i was looking for trouble.
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Re: minimum overall length?

Post by Oldbloke » 04 Oct 2021, 5:37 am

W.A. is almost a Police State IMO.
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Re: minimum overall length?

Post by lcpltac » 05 Oct 2021, 2:51 pm

I had this response from a well known gun shop in Perth, taken from an email response from WAPOL Firearms.

Email from Police Licensing:

For Cat A, B, C firearms the minimum barrel length is 40cm - measured from the face of the bolt to the muzzle with any removable muzzle device removed. Where the barrel length is less than 40cm, but more than 30cm, the overall length of the firearm must exceed 75cm.
A Cat A, B or C firearm with a barrel length of less than 30cm is not licensable in WA.

As with all legal advice from the internet, it’s worth exactly what you paid for it.
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Re: minimum overall length?

Post by womble » 07 Oct 2021, 3:25 am

That’s true. My advice is to do whatever you want.
And that rarely works out well for me.
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Re: minimum overall length?

Post by JohnS1976 » 04 Feb 2022, 7:49 pm

750mm barrel. Yes you can reach the trigger.
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