Why it matters: ATF's Oct. 9 letter removed the federal approval and registration step for putting a shoulder stock on a pistol. Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons argues that the guns' own history says demand will jump and then fall back.
Forgotten Weapons has published a short commentary video titled "Does the End of SBR Regulation Mean a Stocked Pistol Renaissance?" In it, host Ian McCollum answers a question he says several viewers asked him in the days after ATF's Oct. 9 open letter: now that ATF says it will not enforce the National Firearms Act's short-barreled rifle and AOW provisions, will shooters rush to put shoulder stocks on their pistols?
McCollum's answer is no, with a caveat. He notes at the outset that the letter is "not quite the same thing as the law changing." He predicts an initial spike in interest, driven largely by the appeal of something that was off limits until now, followed by a fade as buyers find out what the configuration gives up.
ATF SBR letter and what it changed for stocked pistols
Under federal law, a handgun fitted with a shoulder stock and a barrel shorter than 16 inches is a short-barreled rifle. Until this month, that meant ATF approval and registration before the stock went on. The Oct. 9 letter says ATF will no longer enforce those approval, registration and tax requirements for SBRs, short-barreled shotguns, suppressors and AOWs. It follows an August ruling in the Northern District of Texas and the Justice Department's decision not to appeal it.
A century of shoulder-stocked pistols, from Borchardt to Browning
The core of McCollum's case is historical. Some argue the NFA killed the stocked pistol; he disagrees, saying the guns "were never hugely popular" even where no such law applied. He traces stock options back to Colt percussion revolvers and several European black-powder military revolvers, then through the early self-loaders. The C93 Borchardt, which he describes as the first commercially viable semi-automatic pistol, was in his account designed as a stocked "mini carbine first and a pistol second." The C96 Mauser's hollow wooden stock doubled as its holster.
From there he lists makers that offered stocks: Colt for the 1905 and the 1911, FN for the 1903 and the Browning High Power, along with the Luger and the Beretta 1923. His summary is that the stock was "offered by basically everybody and purchased by almost nobody."
He gives two practical reasons. A shoulder stock puts the pistol's reciprocating slide close to the shooter's face; he says the guns are designed so the slide does not strike the shooter, but calls it unnerving. And pistol sights, with a short distance between notch and post, are laid out for a gun held at arm's length, not one held close to the eye.
Why militaries dropped the pistol stock for PDWs
“His prediction is a spike in interest driven by novelty, followed by a fade as buyers learn what a stocked pistol gives up.”
J.D. Whitfield, The ReticleMcCollum describes the stocked pistol's classic military job as an early personal defense weapon: something for artillery crews, NCOs and junior officers whose main duty was not shooting a rifle. In his account, those troops rarely trained with it enough to use it at 100 or 200 meters, and most armies that bought stocked pistols dropped the stock on their next purchase as not worth the money.
For anyone who wants more than a handgun in a small package, he points to purpose-built designs instead: the Czech vz. 61 Skorpion and the Polish PM-63 RAK at the small end, and the FN P90 and HK MP7 as modern examples. He argues they offer much more capability than a stocked handgun while being only slightly harder to carry.
Flux Raider, clamp-on chassis and the modern stock market
On current products, McCollum singles out the Flux Raider for the SIG P365 as "probably the best example out there" of a stocked pistol that keeps most of a handgun's concealability. He still calls it a tool for a narrow group of buyers who will trade some pistol handling for the stock. He says he likes Flux's designs and enjoys stocked pistols himself, but has "shot enough of them to recognize that they're not very practical for very many things at all."
He is harder on other options. He calls clamp-over pistol chassis "essentially totally worthless" next to a small purpose-built carbine, and describes stocks that clip into the rear of a Glock frame as flimsy. He compares them to historical designs that sold poorly and left the market. He closes with the observation that some may be "reasonably decently valuable collector pieces" in 50 years.
For context
- ATF's Oct. 9, 2026 open letter says it will not enforce the NFA's approval, registration and tax requirements for short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, suppressors and AOWs; the statute itself is unchanged.
- The policy follows the Aug. 5 ruling in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, which The Reticle covered in August, and the Justice Department's decision to extend that posture beyond the plaintiffs.
- Machine guns and destructive devices remain fully regulated, interstate transport of an SBR still calls for ATF Form 5320.20, and state laws restricting SBRs still apply.
- Forgotten Weapons is Ian McCollum's long-running channel on historical and unusual firearms; The Reticle has covered its work several times this year.
