Why Easing ATF Stock Rules Won't Make Pistols Into Carbines

ATF's decision to stop enforcing the short-barreled rifle and "any other weapon" provisions of the NFA has some gun owners wondering if stocked pistols are about to become a mainstream category. Forgotten Weapons' Ian McCollum says history says otherwise, and the reasons go deeper than paperwork.

The short version

In a video from Forgotten Weapons, Ian McCollum walks through more than a century of stocked pistol designs — from black powder revolvers to the C96 Mauser, the Borchardt, and shoulder-stock options for guns like the 1911, Browning Hi-Power and Beretta 1923 — to make a point: these configurations were widely available long before the NFA existed, and almost nobody bought them. McCollum argues that removing ATF's enforcement friction will likely cause a short-term spike in interest, mostly driven by the novelty of doing something that was previously restricted, but that the fundamental usability problems won't go away.

His conclusion is that stocked pistols have always been a compromise: worse as a pistol, worse as a carbine, and historically adopted mainly as a niche tool for support troops and officers who weren't expected to need rifle-range performance from a sidearm.

Key points

• Historical precedent: McCollum cites stocked Mauser C96s, Browning Hi-Powers, 1911s, Colt 1905s, FN 1903s and Beretta 1923s as examples sold with shoulder stock options long before NFA restrictions mattered.
• Ergonomic problems: He notes that a reciprocating slide held close to the shooter's face, combined with pistol sights never designed for cheek-weld use, makes stocked pistols awkward to actually shoot.
• Military track record: According to McCollum, militaries that issued stocked pistols to secondary personnel generally dropped the stock option on their next procurement cycle as not worth the cost.
• Better alternatives exist: He points to purpose-built PDWs like the VZ61 Scorpion, Polish PM-63 Rak, FN P90 and HK MP7 as options that outperform stocked pistols without sacrificing much portability.
• Modern exception: McCollum singles out the Flux Raider chassis for the Sig P365 as one of the few modern stocked-pistol setups that keeps most of a handgun's concealability while adding real capability.

Bottom line

McCollum's take is that easier access won't fix what's always made stocked pistols a hard sell — the compromises are built into the concept, not the regulation. Buyers who've been curious should expect a niche tool, not a replacement for a dedicated pistol or carbine.

Source: Forgotten Weapons