We can't have nice things in NJ!

I came across this 50 BMG AR-15 bolt action upper but they won’t sell it to 3 states one of those being NJ:

Is 50 BMG outlawed here entirely now?
Other odd requirements they mention is they must ship to a FFL and must be 21 or older, but it’s an upper… bolt action even. :roll_eyes:

Seems Like they changed the law 10/1/2022

(sorry, can not post links yet. It is on the NJ Legislature website, Bill S2905 Session 2022 - 2023)

If you had purchased one legally prior to that, you can fill out the below form to register it with the NJSP.

(Sorry, can not post links yet, but it is on the NJSP website)

It really is amazing on the things they find to ban!!

Yeah, that is a few good questions; why to an FFL? why 21?

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If there was a good sub 50 cal bullet similar to the 50BMG, we could easily (but not cheaply) create a wildcat, like .497 BMG. Just to say FU to Murphy. Same upper/bolt, same parent case. All we’d need is a bullet and a custom wild cat chamber reamer.

Edit: I propose the wildcat be named the .497 FPM

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I like it!

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U know it can be done. All we need is a company willing to make a barrel. It’s not like it costs a billion dollars to make a rifling die. The bullet would be a tough one to get to make cheap. wonder if a standard 50 cal bullet could be swaged down to .497 with a hydraulic press.

I learned a new thing last night… Jacketed bullets can not be swaged but they can be “drawn”. It is a process for slimming down bonded jacketed bullets and it’s done all the time.

50BMG is actually .511" so they’d have to be drawn down 14 thousandths to get to .497. That’s actually a lot compared to the 2 to 6 thou commonly drawn bullets get slimmed down to, but it is at least proof of concept.

The caliber is not what was banned. It was specifically the .50BMG cartridge. If you stretched the case a few thou to be longer than the CIP spec and reamed the barrel a bit deeper to match, it would become a wildcat cartridge and not .50BMG any more.

However, why go to such lengths? There are other .50 caliber cartridges out there already.

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2007/11/29/50-bmg-alternatives/

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I believe they categorized 50 cal and over as destructive devices, and named (called out) the 50 bmg as part of their political messaging.

You had to go ahead and make me look it up, didn’t you!?! :rofl:

tl;dr: Anything over .60 cal, except shotguns, and the .50BMG specifically are destructive devices. All other .50 caliber firearms are just firearms.

2C:39-1 Definitions.
2C:39-1. Definitions. The following definitions apply to this chapter and to chapter 58:

c. “Destructive device” means any device, instrument or object designed to explode or produce uncontrolled combustion, including:

(1) any explosive or incendiary bomb, mine or grenade;

(2) any rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces or any missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter of an ounce;

(3) any weapon capable of firing a projectile of a caliber greater than 60 caliber, except a shotgun or shotgun ammunition generally recognized as suitable for sporting purposes;

(4) any Molotov cocktail or other device consisting of a breakable container containing flammable liquid and having a wick or similar device capable of being ignited. The term shall not include any device manufactured for the purpose of illumination, distress signaling, line-throwing, safety or similar purposes; or

(5) any center-fire rifle that is capable of firing a .50 BMG cartridge as defined in subsection mm. of this section.

The provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to any antique firearm as defined in subsection a. of this section or any “curio or relic” as defined in 27 CFR 478.11.

The provisions of this paragraph also shall not apply to a weapon solely used to fire blank ammunition for the purpose of a living historical reenactment as defined in subsection nn. of this section.

mm. “.50 BMG cartridge” means a cartridge that is designed and intended to be fired from a center-fire rifle and that meets all of the following criteria:

(1) it has an overall length of 5.54 inches from the base to the tip of the bullet;

(2) the bullet diameter for the cartridge is from .510 inches to and including .511 inch;

(3) the case base diameter for the cartridge is from .800 inches to and including .804 inch; and

(4) the cartridge case length is 3.91 inches.

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I never read the statute on .50 bmg closely.

So did our astute representatives inadvertently outlaw .68 caliber paintball guns?

No. Paintball doesn’t count as a firearm because the ammo is not a solid projectile. Similarly, airsoft is not a firearm either.

I thought paintball previously had a specific exemption by projectile size in the “firearms” definition (emphasis added):

“Firearm or firearms” means any handgun, rifle, shotgun, machine gun, assault firearm, automatic or semi-automatic rifle, or any gun, device or instrument in the nature of a weapon from which may be fired or ejected any solid projectile, ball, slug, pellet, missile or bullet, or any gas, vapor or other noxious thing, by means of a cartridge or shell or by the
action of an explosive or the igniting of flammable or explosive substances. It shall also include, without limitation, any firearm which is in the nature of an air gun, spring gun or pistol or other weapon of a similar nature in which the propelling force is a spring, elastic band, carbon dioxide, compressed or other gas, or vapor, air or compressed air, or is ignited by compressed air, and – ejecting a bullet or missile smaller than three-eighths of an inch in diameter, – with sufficient force to injure a person.

3/8" = .375", so no, the new .50 bmg restriction doesn’t include that.

Disagree. Airsoft meets the NJ definition of a “firearm”. For whatever reason, it’s not routinely regulated or enforced as such, but if you do something that draws negative police attention with an airsoft you just may catch a firearms charge:

Goias said he spent four days in jail as friends and family raised $10,000 for bail.

:thinking: Wonder if the outcome would have been the same were he black, tranny, latino.

Airsoft and pellet guns are not the same thing. The airsoft projectile is a plastic ball which is hollow in the center. It is a very small hollow center. but hollow, it is. Therefore it is not a solid projectile and is excluded from the definition of a firearm.

Pellet guns and BB guns do use a solid projectile.

Are you sure about that? Maybe when they first came out, but from what little I know about airsoft (I’m no expert, just have some airsoft guns and ammo) hollow airsoft bb’s are routinely disfavored as they’re prone to breaking inside higher powered airsoft guns.

I encourage you to slice some airsoft pellets in half. I have, in response to this same argument coming up elsewhere (maybe it was even with you, can’t remember).

I have about 5 varieties of airsoft bb’s kicking around. I either dremeled them in half with a minature saw tip or ground them against a grinding wheel. Some had randomly distributed tiny air pockets, but NONE were reliably hollow in the center.

I’m just going from the decision from the NJSP FIU. I don’t have any airsoft guns. I only have an air tank to charge a cool-fire trainer.

Is that published anywhere? Is that something that you could use in defense if you were charged with a firearms offense for doing something “bad” with an airsoft gun?

If the “exemption” is that airsoft bb’s are hollow, well, the majority of airsoft bb’s are NOT.

  • Are airsofts firearms?

No. They are considered to be toys in New Jersey. The plastic pellet ammunition utilized for an airsoft contain a hollow cavity which do not conform to a solid projectile.

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From the NJSP FAQ…yeah, that’s not going to save you in a case with an aggressive prosecutor. They’re going to go to the statute alone and once they determine the airsoft bb’s are solid then you’ve got a “firearm”.

So in other words, if you shoot a .72 cal pumpkin ball from your replica 1740 flintlock smoothbore fowler, you’re a felon ?