Franklin Armory Antithesis, SBR without NFA regulations

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I got a notification today that was just a "Hey, watch this, it changes everything". So, I went and watched it and I have to say I am impressed, even though the People's Republic of Illinois has banned the sale of "assault weapons" and it isn't available to me. What they have done is found a loophole in the NFA where a rifle is defined as "

"a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed cartridge to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger, and shall include any such weapon which may be readily restored to fire a fixed cartridge."

Franklin filed a lawsuit against ATF when they ruled the product they had come up with was a "rifle" and since the barrel was shorter than 16" it was a short barrel rifle. The first case upheld the ATF ruling but the appeal the judge ruled against ATF which lead to a settlement. So, why is it not a rifle? Because it wasn't designed to fire a single projectile only, it is designed to fire multiple projectiles. The multiple projectiles are in the form of a "bullet" which is made of plastic and houses several smaller projectiles. When it goes through the barrel, the plastic breaks open and releases the multiple projectiles. 

They have done the same thing with "shotgun" because the definition of a shotgun "a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to fire through a smooth bore either a number of projectiles (ball shot) or a single projectile for each pull of the trigger, and shall include any such weapon which may be readily restored to fire a fixed shotgun shell."

A shotgun has to have a smooth bore. They added straight rifling, it is no longer a shotgun and since it was meant to fire more than a single projectile with each shot, it can't be a rifle either.
c


https://franklinarmory.com/shop/antithesis/

I have to admit, holding ATF to the plain language meaning of their laws is working out pretty well. But if the democrats ever get control they will change both the NFA and GCA to outlaw this.
[-] The following 1 user Likes MontanaLon's post:
  
It's not available here either, but what I think I'm seeing is the ammo itself is what won the case. Would that mean any AR-15 with a long enough free bore be permitted?
(This post was last modified: 09-17-2025, 06:09 PM by tommag.)
(09-17-2025, 06:08 PM)tommag Wrote: It's not available here either, but what I think I'm seeing is the ammo itself is what won the case. Would that mean any AR-15 with a long enough free bore be permitted?
I don't believe the free bore has anything to do with it and this will likely branch out to include any rifle with just a bit of a push in the courts.

Way back in the 50's the Army experimented with multi-projectile 7.62x51 ammo in the 1950's so in theory any rifle chambered in 7.62x51 is by definition not firing only a single projectile.

While Winchester introduced the .308 Winchester in 1952 and the Army introduced the 7.62x51 in 1954, the reality is the cartridge existed as early as 1946 and was pushed along by powder developments that took place during WW2. They found they could achieve the same ballistics as the .30-06 with smaller case .30 caliber cartridges due to the new powder formulations, not the other way around.

So, multiple projectile rifle cartridges are not new. There was experimentation with the .45/70 government model back in the 1870's which used multiple round balls instead of a single projectile, so it is really an old idea. And any caliber can be adapted to it. I hope the NFA falls soon.
[-] The following 1 user Likes MontanaLon's post:
  
So I wonder if this will cover any AR that fires .223 or .556? Two different cartridges!

I saw this last night on Youtube and it does look pretty promising...just might be the end of SBR! Hopefully SBS also!
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[-] The following 1 user Likes RocketFoot's post:
  
They will just redefine "Rifle" like they did bumpstocks, braces and anything else they don't like.

Terry
That didn’t take long.

BREAKING NEWS: ATF Goes After Franklin Armory's Antitheses Firearm



Terry
Wow, three weeks!
I'm shocked, shocked I tell you..... 🙄

Terry



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