Blocking a 10 round mag to 5 rounds acceptable in NY?

[Core]

This is not an NY SAFE question because I believe alterations to larger-than-10 round mags need be "permanent" to bring them down to 10.

 

Specifically I'm referring to NY's law pertaining to caliber beyond 22 rimfire

 

 

 

It is illegal to take or hunt wildlife:

...

with any semi-automatic firearm with a capacity to hold more than 6 rounds, EXCEPT the following semi-automatic firearms:

...

firearms altered to reduce their capacity to no more than 6 shells at one time in the magazine and chamber combined

 

 

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/28182.html

 

Given that dowels seem to be used in shotguns, I believe the answer to my question is YES:

 

Can a simple block/piece of plastic be temporarily added to a 10 round magazine in New York to reduce its capacity to five to meet the legal requirement of no more than 6 rounds including chamber?

 

This would be added above the follower and upon cessation of the hunting session the mag could be easily reverted back to 10 rounds.

 

I did look around, but I'm guessing this has been asked before.   Thanks as always!

Edited March 6, 2016 by Core

[Pygmy]

Good question and I really don't know the answer, however I strongly SUSPECT that unless the block required some disassembling of the magazine, it would not be legal.

As an example, when you plug or unplug a tubular magazine on a shotgun, some disassembling of the firearm ( removing the magazine tube cap and spring retainer) is required. I don't think you could get away with simply pushing a dowel into the magazine from the breech end.

I don't think that simply placing an easily removed block in a detachable box magazine would cut it.

Again, however, I don't know for sure. just an educated guess.

[Cbarber4]

Depending on what gun you can buy one piece followers with the block

[Core]

Depending on what gun you can buy one piece followers with the block

yep, they have some good ones on amazon and they seem preferable to me to buying an otherwise-useless 5 round mag, but based on pygmy's post I'm not the only one unsure about whether NY considers those satisfactory.

 

*UPDATE*

 

I found other people asking the same question. Some answers were as paranoid as saying no semi for which a 10 round mag exists is legal because it's a "semi-automatic firearm with a capacity to hold more than 6 rounds" when you put a larger mag in it. Most people just seem to block it.

 

But then I actually found something at the official NY SAFE act site, though I recognize the round limit is not a SAFE issue specifically.

 

Verbatim on 3/6/2016 from:

http://programs.governor.ny.gov/nysafeact/hunters

 

 

Q: I hunt with a semi-automatic rifle. Five round magazines are too expensive, so I blocked one magazine with a wood insert so it would only accept 5 rounds. On the other magazine I inserted a machine screw so the follower wouldn’t move far enough to accept a 6th round. May I still do that?

A: If the unaltered magazine capacity is 10 rounds or fewer, yes. However, any magazine that has a capacity greater than 10 rounds must be permanently modified so that it may only contain 10 rounds.

 

 

So although SAFE is obsessed with its 10 round limit, that's a semi-official recognition that a simple blocker to take a 10 round down to a 5 round is acceptable for hunting

Edited March 6, 2016 by Core