How do curio and relic (C&R) and antique firearms work in California?

Federal regulation recognizes three groups (27 CFR 478.11):

1. Firearms manufactured at least 50 years before the current date, but not replicas.
2. Firearms certified by the curator of a municipal, state or federal museum that exhibits firearms as being of museum interest.
3. Other firearms that get a substantial part of their value from being novel, rare, bizarre, or tied to a historical figure, period or event.

ATF publishes a Firearms Curios or Relics List. The newest edition on ATF's C&R page covers 1972 to 2025.

A "licensed collector" is a collector of curios and relics only, licensed under federal rules (27 CFR 478.11). ATF explains that the license covers transactions in C&R firearms only, that a collector has the same status as an unlicensed person for every other firearm, and that it does not authorize dealing in firearms (ATF collector Q&A).

In California the federal license is only half of the picture. The state exceptions below also require a current COE, which DOJ issues after a fingerprint-based eligibility check (DOJ, Certificate of Eligibility).

For a collector who holds both, and only for C&R firearms:

• Dealer requirement for long guns. The private party dealer rule in PC 27545 does not apply when the firearm is not a handgun, is a C&R, and the recipient is a licensed collector with a current COE. The recipient must report the acquisition to DOJ within 30 days. (PC 27966).
• 10-day waiting period. The wait does not apply when a dealer sells or transfers a C&R firearm to a licensed collector with a current COE. The dealer still reports the transaction to DOJ that day (PC 26970, PC 27670).
• Purchase limit. The 30-day purchase limit does not apply to a licensed collector with a current COE (PC 27535(b)(10)).
• Firearm Safety Certificate. A licensed collector with a COE who is acquiring a C&R firearm is exempt from the FSC requirement (PC 31700(a)(6)).
• Bringing a C&R home from another state. A collector whose licensed premises are in California, and who lawfully takes possession of a C&R firearm outside the state, reports it to DOJ within 5 days of bringing it in (PC 27565).

• Handguns. PC 27966 applies only when "the firearm is not a handgun." A C&R handgun changing hands between private parties in California follows the standard dealer process in PC 27545.
• Non-C&R firearms. The federal license covers curios and relics only (ATF).
• Item bans. PC 27966 lets DOJ request photographs to decide whether a reported firearm is "a generally prohibited weapon, assault weapon, or machinegun, or is otherwise prohibited."

No. The roster law does not apply to "firearms listed as curios or relics, as defined in Section 478.11" (PC 32000(b)(3)). A C&R handgun can be off-roster and still need a dealer transfer.

California uses more than one definition, depending on the statute (PC 16170):

• For the assault weapon sections it lists, an antique is any firearm made before January 1, 1899.
• For the general "firearm" definition, the FSC rule and several others, California borrows the federal definition. That definition covers firearms made in or before 1898, certain replicas, and certain black powder muzzleloaders that cannot use fixed ammunition (27 CFR 478.11).

Under PC 16520(d), the word "firearm" does not include an unloaded antique firearm for a specific list of sections. That list includes the dealer delivery rules (PC 27540), the private party dealer requirement (PC 27545) and the dealer age limit (PC 27510). The list does not include the concealed carry or loaded carry sections, so an antique is not outside every firearm law. The FSC requirement also excludes antique firearms (PC 31615).