What is the law on chambering guns?

[AJMD429]

I often think how I'd like a certain gun in a certain chambering, and of course sometimes it can be re-chambered, but I'd usually rather wait until the manufacturer does it.

I assume there are patent or copyright rules involved, but what, for instance, keeps Marlin (now Remington!) from coming out with a gun in .480 Ruger, or Ruger from coming out with one in .308 Marlin? Is it just their expectations of the market, or are the legal prohibitions involved?

Anyone know?

[86er]

There are patents and trademarks in place when a manufacturer puts their name on a cartridge. To commercially chamber a rifle with a patented or trademarked cartridge, the rifle maker must pay royalties to the patent holder or Custodian of Trademark. A perfect example of this: .325 Winchester comes out and shortly thereafter, Ruger chambers the Model 77 Frontier Rifle in that caliber. Ruger neglected to follow the patent and trademark dates and terms. Winchester filed a petition against Ruger for using their cartridge in violation of the terms of patent and trademark. Ruger had to stop production of .325 Frontier rifles and pay a lump sum to Winchester. Also, as part of the settlement, Ruger cannot make any more Frontier rifles in .325 Win until a certain deadline expires. Too bad, I wish I could get my hands on one of the early .325 Win Frontier rifles that made it out into the public from production.

[Rusty]

There must be a way to come to an agreement. I see where you can get a BLR in .450 Marlin

[O.S.O.K.]

Oh no! I just rechambered my 30-30 Winchester to 30-30 Ackley Improved! I'm in trouble.... !

Thank you Mr. Akley...

[awp101]

There are patents and trademarks in place when a manufacturer puts their name on a cartridge. To commercially chamber a rifle with a patented or trademarked cartridge, the rifle maker must pay royalties to the patent holder or Custodian of Trademark. A perfect example of this: .325 Winchester comes out and shortly thereafter, Ruger chambers the Model 77 Frontier Rifle in that caliber. Ruger neglected to follow the patent and trademark dates and terms. Winchester filed a petition against Ruger for using their cartridge in violation of the terms of patent and trademark. Ruger had to stop production of .325 Frontier rifles and pay a lump sum to Winchester. Also, as part of the settlement, Ruger cannot make any more Frontier rifles in .325 Win until a certain deadline expires. Too bad, I wish I could get my hands on one of the early .325 Win Frontier rifles that made it out into the public from production.

You mean adding the grain designation or WCF/ACP/etc doesn't work anymore?

[Andrew]

It also tends, IMHO, to be about the piece of pie. Everybody wants theirs. If you make a gun and your own cartridge, you have more pie. If you make a gun and someone elses cartridge, you get less pie.

[mescalero1]

I just want a straight stock 336 in 25 Bullberry,
why is that so hard?

[Ysabel Kid]

If a person was going to rechamber a firearm into a proprietary cartridge with the intent on selling it - and substantial value would be had/increased for the chambering, this would be a problem.

If some individual wanted to have a gunsmith rechamber their own gun (property) for their personal use, this should not be an issue. You own the gun - you can do what you want with it as long as it doesn't violate any federal, state or local laws.

[adirondakjack]

Sometimes, it's about giving kudos to your competitor.

Sure, you CAN come to terms if you WANT TO. Sometimes gun companies would rather chew their own arm off than stamp their competition's name on the barrel. In the instance of a cartridge new enough to be proprietary, that's simply not a great choice for some companies.

So we end up with a slightly different cartridge with your own name on it.....

This is nothing at all new. ".32 S&W Long" and ".32 Colt New Police" are absolutely twins, but S&W and Colt each got to make guns and have their OWN name on the barrel.