-=> Quoting Dave Appel to Steve Gunhouse on 05-30-96  13:20 <=-
 Re: Self Defense
 SG>But if you have dreams that such a thing would be useful under a trench
 SG>coat, think again. The cartridge stop is part of the receiver, hence you
 SG>can't keep shells in the magazine while the gun is taken down. With
 SG>nothing to keep them from coming out, the magazine spring would just push
 SG>them all out onto the floor. Given that you have to reload the gun once
 SG>you put it together, your fictional hero is further ahead with an illegal
 SG>sawed-off shotgun.
 DA> If memory serves, minimum lengths are 18" for barrel and 26"
 DA> overall.  26" is less than the distance from armpit to knee so a
 DA> legal shotgun could theoretically be carried in a shoulder
 DA> holster under a coat.
Sure, you could - and some criminals have done so. But the question was
about a takedown gun. I was simply saying that the takedown feature was
useless in that regard.
Unfortunately, pumps with shoulder stocks are longer in the action than a
mere 8" (the difference between 26 and 18). Perhaps a Mossberg or
whichever with a pistol grip could fit 26" with a legal barrel, but I
don't like "wristbreakers".
OTOH, I think I could fit my 20"-barreled Defender under my duster as it
is. (A duster is sort of the cowboy equivalent of a trench coat, for the
culturally challenged.) 
A "coach gun", such as the IGA or others we use in the cowboy shoots
here, would be easier. A double is naturally about 4-6" shorter than a
pump or semi-auto with the same barrel length, due to the action being
shorter. I just laid a 28"-barreled side-by-bide next to a pump of the
same barrel length, and the difference was 4" in overall length.
Steve
... Gun safety is NO accident. -- NRA poster
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