It shall be unlawful for any person to assemble from imported parts any semiautomatic rifle or any shotgun which is identical to any rifle or shotgun prohibited from importation under section 925(d)(3) of this chapter as not being particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes except that this subsection shall not apply to
Ok, I have a Yugo, I want to use it for hunting (sporting purpose in my eyes). Any problem anyone sees with throwing a tapco 5 rd'er in there and trying to harvest a deer, that's considered sporting right? My state says "It is unlawful to hunt with a semi-automatic shotgun or semi-automatic rifle that can hold more than six shells in the barrel and magazine combined ." With a 5rd stop in the original magazine a Conservation Officer could see that as adaptable to hold 10 if it was removed IMHO. Also I wouldn't even dare try to hunt with the gas valve in the bolt action position with more than 5 rds in there for the same reson above.
So is hunting considered "sporting" or am I reading this wrong?
Big game, I assume?
The quote of Federal law you posted really has nothing to do with your state hunting laws.
What that quote is telling you is pertinent to 922(r),
the law about assembling firearms from imported parts
that are in essence the same as rifles that cannot be imported.
You see, the term "for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes" is a term used by the batfe to decide
whether or not they will allow certain rifles into the country.
Now your Yugo was imported to the USA under the umbrella of C&R aka Curio & Relic.
Otherwise, it would have been illegal to import because rifles that have bayonets, night sights,
grenade launchers etc. are not "for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes" in the eyes of the atf.
The act of taking your C&R rifle out of it's original military configuration is what creates a 922(r) violation.
I'm don't think putting a five round fixed magazine would take your rifle out of it's C&R configuration
as you are not really changing the configuration and are keeping the fixed mag.
But I really can't say for sure and IANAL: so to be 100% positive you may want to write the atf
with that question as they would have the final word on such matters.
So then your last issue would be is your SKS legal to use for hunting in your state?
Well, most states allow .30 caliber rifles like the SKS for deer and other big game.
But your best bet is to ask a game warden or anyone familiar with your states hunting laws
for the answer.
Hope that helps with your question.
