French firearm categories A, B, C and D: decoding C1b, C3, C9 and C12
Published on · 21 min read · Anthony Baillon
Verified by a gunsmith"C1b" reads Category C, heading 1°, sub-point b). The notation is everywhere — product sheets, the SIA, forums — and appears nowhere in the legal text: that is why it looks opaque. With that key, categories A, B, C and D read without effort.
Nobody feels stupid alone on this subject, and the State itself acknowledges it. In its March 2026 thematic public report, the Cour des comptes notes that 33 texts — statutes, ordinances, decrees, orders — were passed between 2007 and 2024, and that some articles of the code de la sécurité intérieure were amended up to six times between 2012 and 2024. It writes that these revisions "may make assimilation difficult both for holders and for the control authorities […] and generate unintentional offences"1323.
In other words: the difficulty lies first in the text itself.
Four categories, one legal regime each
Since 6 September 2013, France has moved from eight categories to four319. The classification is not cosmetic: each letter corresponds to a regime of acquisition and holding.
| Category | Regime | Common examples |
|---|---|---|
| A | Prohibited (save derogation) | Automatic firearms, war materiel |
| B | Subject to prefectural authorization | Pistols and revolvers, semi-automatic rifles with a detachable magazine |
| C | Subject to declaration | Shotguns, bolt-action rifles, deactivated firearms, alarm firearms |
| D | Free to acquire and hold | Compressed air from 2 to under 20 joules, bladed weapons, pre-1900 firearms |
The D1 sub-category, "subject to registration", disappeared on 1 August 201894. A page still presenting it as a regime in force has not been updated since — a handy freshness test.
The reading key: "C1b" does not exist in the text
This is the point most often missing from the available explanations, and it unlocks all the rest.
Article R311-2 of the code de la sécurité intérieure — the reference text, in its version in force at 7 September 2025 — never writes "C1b", "C3" or "C12". It writes: "III. — Catégorie C", then numbered headings 1°, 2°, 3°…, and for the first of them sub-points a), b), c), d)1.
The short notation is therefore built like this:
category + heading number (°) + letter of the sub-point
So "C1b" reads: Category C, heading 1°, sub-point b).
It is the F2246 factsheet of service-public.fr and the SIA interface that popularized the contracted form C1-a, C1-b, C1-c, C1-d2. It is convenient, but it gives the labels without explaining them — hence the reflex to go looking for "arme catégorie c3" or "c12" elsewhere.
Why the numbering looks full of holes. Public-facing lists show C1a-d, C2, C3, C4, C5, C9, C10, C12 and skip 6°, 7°, 8° and 11°. There is no inconsistency: those four headings designate ammunition, not firearms15. The series does run complete from 1° to 12°.
Category C, heading by heading
Here are the twelve headings, one line each. It is the table we wish we had found the day we opened our first digital gun rack.
| Heading | What it covers |
|---|---|
| C1 a) | Semi-automatic long gun with a fixed feeding system of 3 rounds at most |
| C1 b) | Manually operated long gun (bolt, lever) allowing 11 rounds at most |
| C1 c) | Long gun single-shot per barrel: side-by-side, over-under, single |
| C1 d) | Rifled pump-action meeting five cumulative criteria (see below) |
| C2 | Components of the firearms classified under 1° |
| C3 | Firearms firing non-metallic projectiles, classified by order |
| C4 | Non-pyrotechnic launchers of 20 joules or more at the muzzle |
| C5 | Discretionary classification by order, for dangerousness |
| C6 · C7 · C8 | Ammunition and its components |
| C9 | Category A, B or C firearms that have been deactivated |
| C10 | Feeding systems for Category C firearms |
| C11 | Metallic-case or metallic-head ammunition using black powder and centerfire ignition |
| C12 | Alarm and signalling firearms |
Two received ideas fall here. First, Category C is not reserved for long guns: that is true only of 1°, whereas 3° (defense launchers) and 12° (alarm pistols) are overwhelmingly handguns. Second, 4° catches far more people than expected: from 20 joules at the muzzle, a pre-charged pneumatic rifle is no longer Category D but Category C, with a declaration, an SIA account and a supporting title13. The boundary deserves reading word by word: the code classifies in Category C from an energy "greater than or equal to 20 joules", while Category D stops at "between 2 and 20 joules". Exactly 20 joules is therefore Category C — and the 2013 guidance note, which wrote "greater than 20 joules", lags the text here1.
Where the figures 3, 11, 21 and 31 come from
They are often quoted without anyone knowing their origin. The guidance note from the Ministry of the Interior's directorate of public liberties and legal affairs says so explicitly.
Beyond how many rounds does a firearm change category?
Firing capacity without reloading, chamber included, thresholds of article R311-2 of the code de la sécurité intérieure in its version in force at 7 September 2025. The move to Category A then depends on the ignition type.
The origin of these figures is documented in the Ministry of the Interior's guidance note: "The limit of 31 rounds for long guns is that of an industry standard for many magazines (30 rounds + 1 in the chamber)", "The limit of 3 rounds is the one adopted by the annex to directive 91/477/EEC", and "A limit of 21 rounds for handguns is set on the same basis"3. The "+1 in the chamber" logic is explicit for 31 and claimed for 21; we extend it to 11 by analogy, the note not saying so. Careful with the 31: that note dates from 2013 and does not yet know the distinction introduced in 2018. Since then the 31-round threshold applies only to rimfire; a centerfire semi-automatic long gun moves to A1 3° bis as soon as it exceeds 11 rounds14.
Voir les données
| Threshold | Type of firearm | Below | Above | Origin of the figure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 rounds | Semi-automatic long gun, fixed feeding | Category C 1° a) | Category B | Annex to directive 91/477/EEC |
| 11 rounds | Manually operated long gun | Category C 1° b) | Category B 2° b) | 10 rounds + 1 in the chamber |
| 11 rounds | Centerfire semi-automatic long gun | Category B | Category A1 3° bis | Directive (EU) 2017/853, transposed in 2018 |
| 21 rounds | Handgun | Category B 1° | Category A1 2° | 20 rounds + 1 in the chamber |
| 31 rounds | Rimfire semi-automatic long gun | Category B | Category A1 3° | Industry standard: 30 + 1 |
The same note sets out the three criteria underpinning the whole classification: repeatability of fire (automatic, semi-automatic or manual), firing capacity without reloading, and the firearm's concealability — long gun against handgun3. To which are added three secondary criteria: caliber, with the 20 mm frontier beyond which you leave the domain of firearms for that of war materiel; dimensions (80 cm overall, 45 cm of rifled barrel, 60 cm of smooth barrel); and the 20-joule threshold31.
That guidance note dates from 2013. It explains the logic of the classification perfectly, but two of its elements have aged. The less troublesome: it still describes a Category D "subject to registration", gone since 2018. The more troublesome: it places semi-automatic long guns "between 3 and 31 rounds" in Category B without distinguishing the ignition type, whereas since 2018 a centerfire firearm moves to Category A as soon as it exceeds 11 rounds19. That is the fate of many official documents still online: sound on reasoning, out of date on figures — and it is the reasoning you go there for.
Three traps that change a firearm's category
The same firearm can fall into two categories depending on what you put in it, what you do to it, or when you acquired it. The three cases:
- The magazine inserted — it decides, not the firearm alone
- Modification — shortening a barrel or a stock can move it up a category
- The date of acquisition — the transitional regimes of 2011, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2024 apply only to certain periods
The magazine you insert
This is a little-reported document, and yet one of the most useful. The "Regime applicable to detachable magazines" sheet from the central firearms service, dated September 2018, contains a dual classification table: the firearm's category depends on the magazine in it4.
| Firearm | Magazine inserted | Resulting category |
|---|---|---|
| Manually operated long gun, C1 b) | fewer than 11 rounds | C1 b) |
| Manually operated long gun, C1 b) | 11 to 30 rounds | B 2° b) |
| Semi-auto long gun, centerfire, cat. B | more than 10 rounds | A1 3° bis |
| Semi-auto long gun, rimfire, cat. B | more than 30 rounds | A1 3° |
| Handgun, B 1° | more than 20 rounds | A1 2° |
Two ways of counting coexist here, and confusing them makes the table say anything at all. The code's headings reason in total capacity, magazine plus chamber: C1 b) covers "11 rounds at most". The central firearms service sheet reasons on the magazine alone — hence the "fewer than 11" of the first row. A 10-round magazine in a firearm with a loaded chamber does make 11 rounds in total, and the firearm stays in C1 b)41.
The document is unambiguous on the consequences: "insertion of the magazine is carried out only on the firing line, in a club affiliated to the FFTir or during international competitions", failing which the holder "is in breach (carrying and transporting a Category A firearm […] is indeed a criminal offence)"4. The same sheet sets the quota at 10 magazines per firearm held, in Categories B and C, with a derogation for practical shooting on an FFTir attestation412.
A semi-automatic with a detachable magazine is not Category C
The idea that a semi-automatic .22 LR fitted with a ten-round magazine would fall in Category C remains very widespread, including on serious sites. It was once true; it no longer is.
C1 a) requires a fixed feeding system allowing 3 rounds at most1. As soon as there is a detachable magazine, you move to Category B. The central firearms service table confirms it line by line: a rimfire semi-automatic long gun — the Ruger 10/22 type .22 LR — is classified B 2° a bis) or B 2° e), and stays there as long as the inserted magazine does not exceed 30 rounds41. Only versions restricted to fixed feeding of 3 rounds at most stay in Category C. Model-by-model classification is verified in the Référentiel général des armes1422.
The pump-action
With a smooth barrel, it has been in B 2° f) since 1 August 2018, without exception91.
With a rifled barrel, it is in C1 d) only if five conditions are met cumulatively. Four concern the firearm itself, and the Eure prefecture's notice states them in the negative: the firearm moves to Category B as soon as it has "either a capacity greater than 5 rounds, or an overall length less than or equal to 80 cm, or a barrel length less than or equal to 60 cm, or a stock that is not fixed"101. The fifth is a caliber criterion, almost always forgotten: the firearm must be chambered for one of calibers 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36 or 410110. Outside that list, C1 d) does not apply.
One detail that confuses on reading: the barrel threshold used here is 60 cm, whereas the general dimension criterion sets 45 cm for rifled barrels. There is no error — heading C1 d) sets its own rule, and it is that rule which applies to rifled pump-actions13.
The six dates that decide your situation
Two identical firearms may fall under two different regimes depending on when they were acquired. It is the least explained mechanism in firearms law, and the one that traps heirs most.
| Date | What changes | What to remember |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Dec. 2011 | Declaration waiver | Smooth-barrelled shotguns acquired before are exempt from declaration (article 18 of the decree of 7 October 2011). No proof of purchase is required11 |
| 8 Apr. 2016 | European deactivation standard | Regulation (EU) 2015/2403 applies; later deactivations require a certificate18 |
| 13 June 2017 | Start of the transitional regime | Between that date and 1 August 2018, declaration to be made before 14 December 20199 |
| 1 Aug. 2018 | Decree 2018-542 | End of Category D1; single-shot smooth barrel → C1 c); deactivated firearms → C9; smooth-barrelled pump-actions → B94 |
| 1 Aug. 2019 | Rifled pump-actions | Deadline to apply for authorization, or to have the firearm converted to Category C by a dealer10 |
| 1 July 2024 | Decree 2024-615 | Alarm and signalling firearms move from i) of Category D to 12° of Category C78 |
Two points deserve a mark in the margin, because they invert very natural reasoning.
The 2011 waiver attaches to the holding, not to the firearm. It applies only to smooth barrels — rifled-barrel firearms were already declarable. And it falls at the first change of hands: resale, gift or inheritance puts the firearm back into the declaration circuit, an inherited or found Category C firearm having to be the subject of a declaration of possession, now from the SIA account117. That is what surprises heirs: their grandfather's shotgun had nothing to declare, theirs does.
As for alarm firearms, the 2024 change comes with two rarely given nuances: those acquired up to 30 June 2024 may be kept without declaration, and their ammunition stays classified in Category D i)78.
Declaring: two opposite regimes under the same letter
This is the most concrete consequence of the sub-categories, and it almost always slips through: depending on the heading, the documents required are not merely different, they are inverse.
| Headings | Title required | Medical certificate |
|---|---|---|
| C1 a) b) c) d), C4 | Validated hunting permit or shooting, ball-trap or biathlon licence or collector's card | No — the title stands in for it (art. R312-53) |
| C3, C9, C12 | None (art. R312-54) | Yes, less than a month old (art. R312-56) |
That table does not exhaust the category: it contrasts the two regimes covering complete firearms that diverge most. The other headings follow their own rules — components under 2°, ammunition under 6°, 7°, 8° and 11°, and feeding systems under 10°, whose acquisition merely requires producing the holding title for the firearm they are intended for45. In other words, identify the exact heading before deducing the documents required.
Those two regimes are read in article R312-53 of the code de la sécurité intérieure, which specifies that producing the title "stands in for production of the medical certificate", and in articles R312-54 and R312-56 for the title waiver applicable to 3°, 9° and 12°52. It also explains the existence of the "holder without title" profile in the SIA: heirs and holders of C3, C9 and C12 create an account there with an identity document and a proof of address less than three months old, then upload their medical certificate within three months of the firearm being registered177.
On the procedure itself, an update is needed: declaring at the prefecture no longer exists. The dealer or broker registers the transaction in the SIA, holding takes effect when you leave the shop, and the holder validates the firearm in their digital gun rack within five days — validation becoming automatic past that deadline221. Since decree 2024-615, an inherited or found Category C firearm is also declared directly from the SIA account, without any obligation to go through a dealer78.
Quotas: they are not where people think
This is one of the points on which wrong information circulates most, and it deserves saying simply: there is no quota on the number of Category C firearms — unlike Category B, capped at fifteen firearms. The sub-section of the code devoted to firearms subject to declaration caps ammunition, never the number of firearms5, and the Ministry of the Interior's "Quotas" factsheet knows a firearm quota only in Category B2412.
Category C ammunition: two ceilings, and one exception
Articles R312-61 and R312-63, per lawfully held firearm
Ammunition of 8° of Category C — .22 LR, 7 × 64, 8 × 57 JRS… — escapes the 1,000 ceiling of article R312-61, which covers only 6° and 7°524. One caveat, often omitted: it is indeed 6°, 7° and 8° that stay capped at 500 as long as you do not hold the matching firearm (article R312-63). As for the "100 cartridges per firearm" you meet everywhere, that is not a French quota: it is the limit of article R316-11, applicable only to travel within the European Union under the European Firearms Pass615.
Voir les données
| Situation | Ceiling | Basis | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Without holding the firearm | 500 | Article R312-63 | 6°, 7° and 8° combined |
| Category C, 6° and 7° | 1,000 per firearm | Article R312-61 | Per lawfully held firearm |
| Category C, 8° | no ceiling… if you hold the firearm | Not covered by R312-61, but covered by R312-63 | .22 LR, 7 × 64, 8 × 57 JRS…; 500 without the firearm |
On the Category B side, the ceilings moved on 1 January 2024 and the figure of 12 firearms still shown on ministerial documents is out of date — factsheet F2250, verified 20 March 2025, gives "at most 15 firearms"16. The detail of firearm and ammunition quotas, acquisition and holding included, is treated in its own article.
Where, then, does the idea come from that hunters are limited to three Category C firearms? From article R316-11 of the code de la sécurité intérieure, which provides that hunters "may hold three Category C hunting firearms […] and one hundred cartridges per firearm" and that sport shooters "may hold up to six firearms of Categories A, B and C". Except that this article governs one situation only: travel within the European Union under the European Firearms Pass615. Turned into a general quota, it makes no sense at all.
Conversely, Category B opens only after three controlled shooting sessions two months apart: the firearm's classification is only half the question, the other being the title that authorizes you to hold it.
Another regime often badly summarized: the collector's card. Free and valid 15 years, it serves as a title to acquire and hold Category C firearms without a permit or licence — but it opens access only to deactivated ammunition, and it replaces neither the hunting permit for hunting, nor the licence for shooting at a club202.
How to check your firearm's category
Four questions classify the vast majority of cases:
- Is the barrel smooth or rifled?
- What is the operating mode: single shot, manual repetition, semi-automatic, pump?
- Is the feeding system detachable, and of what capacity?
- What are the overall length and the barrel length?
Then comes the non-negotiable step: checking against the Référentiel général des armes. The RGA is the Ministry of the Interior's official library; it assigns each model an identifier of two letters and three digits with its administrative classification, it is consultable by private individuals from the dedicated tab of the SIA and published as open data on data.gouv.fr1422. It is the RGA that governs, not a dealer's product sheet — nor this article.
Sources 24 references
Texts reread on Légifrance in their version in force; official guidance and prefecture notices cited with their date, several of them predating changes they do not know about. Click a note marker in the text to highlight the matching source.
- Légifrance — article R311-2 of the code de la sécurité intérieure, version in force at 7 September 2025: classification of firearms into categories A, B, C and D, headings 1° to 12° of Category C, sub-points a) to d) of C1, thresholds of 3, 11, 21 and 31 rounds, energy of 20 joules or more, and the five cumulative criteria of C1 d).
- service-public.fr — factsheet F2246, Category C firearms: contracted notation C1-a to C1-d, declaration through the dealer in the SIA, validation in the digital gun rack, collector's card.
- Ministère de l'Intérieur — guidance note of the directorate of public liberties and legal affairs, 2013: three principal criteria (repeatability, capacity without reloading, concealability), secondary criteria (caliber, dimensions, 20 joules), origin of the figures 3, 21 and 31. ⚠️ Note predating the 2018 changes: it still describes a Category D subject to registration and does not distinguish ignition type for semi-automatic long guns.
- Service central des armes — "Regime applicable to detachable magazines" sheet, September 2018: dual classification table by inserted magazine, insertion permitted only on the firing line, quota of 10 magazines per firearm, derogation for practical shooting on FFTir attestation.
- Légifrance — code de la sécurité intérieure, firearms subject to declaration: articles R312-53 (title standing in for the medical certificate), R312-54 (title waiver for 3°, 9° and 12°), R312-56 (medical certificate less than a month old), R312-61 (1,000 rounds of 6° and 7° per firearm) and R312-63 (500 rounds of 6°, 7° and 8° without the firearm). No firearm quota in Category C.
- Légifrance — article R316-11 of the code de la sécurité intérieure: three Category C hunting firearms and one hundred cartridges per firearm for hunters, six firearms of Categories A, B and C for sport shooters — applicable only to travel within the European Union under the European Firearms Pass.
- Légifrance — decree no. 2024-615 of 27 June 2024: alarm and signalling firearms moved to 12° of Category C from 1 July 2024, declaration of an inherited or found firearm from the SIA account.
- Ministère de l'Intérieur — notice on alarm and signalling firearms: those acquired up to 30 June 2024 may be kept without declaration, their ammunition staying classified in Category D i).
- Légifrance — decree no. 2018-542 of 29 June 2018, in force 1 August 2018: end of Category D1, single-shot smooth barrels to C1 c), deactivated firearms to C9, smooth-barrelled pump-actions to Category B, transitional regime from 13 June 2017 with declaration before 14 December 2019.
- Préfecture de l'Eure — notice on rifled pump-action shotguns: move to Category B beyond 5 rounds, at or under 80 cm overall, at or under 60 cm of barrel, or with a non-fixed stock; deadline of 1 August 2019 to apply for authorization or have the firearm converted.
- Légifrance — decree of 7 October 2011, article 18: waiver of declaration for smooth-barrelled firearms acquired before 1 December 2011, no proof of purchase required, waiver falling on any change of hands.
- Ministère de l'Intérieur — "Quotas" factsheet: firearm quota in Category B only, 10 feeding systems per firearm, derogation for practical shooting.
- Cour des comptes — thematic public report of March 2026 on the control of civilian firearms: 33 texts between 2007 and 2024, articles amended up to six times between 2012 and 2024, risk of unintentional offenses.
- Ministère de l'Intérieur — Référentiel général des armes: official library of models, identifier of two letters and three digits, administrative classification, consultable from the SIA and published as open data.
- service-public.fr — European Firearms Pass: travel within the European Union, limits of article R316-11.
- service-public.gouv.fr — factsheet F2250, verified 20 March 2025: "at most 15 firearms" in Category B.
- SIA — "holder without title" profile: account creation with an identity document and a proof of address less than three months old, medical certificate uploaded within three months of the firearm being registered.
- Regulation (EU) 2015/2403 of 15 December 2015, applicable 8 April 2016: common deactivation standards and deactivation certificate.
- Loi no. 2012-304 of 6 March 2012 and its implementing decree, in force 6 September 2013: move from eight categories to four.
- service-public.fr — collector's card: free, valid 15 years, title for Category C, access to deactivated ammunition only, replacing neither the hunting permit nor the shooting licence.
- SIA — digital gun rack: registration of the transaction by the dealer, holding effective on leaving the shop, validation by the holder within five days then automatic.
- data.gouv.fr — open data publication of the Référentiel général des armes.
- Cour des comptes — same report: impossibility of a reliable count of firearms and lawful holders in France.
- Ministère de l'Intérieur — "Quotas" factsheet: ammunition of 8° of Category C not covered by the 1,000 ceiling of article R312-61.
The Référentiel général des armes governs, not this article. Classification is decided model by model, and it changes: six of the dates above moved a whole family of firearms from one category to another, sometimes whatever the date of acquisition. Before buying, selling or declaring, check the model in the RGA from your SIA account, and ask your dealer where a doubt remains — an error of category is an offense, not an administrative detail.
Frequently asked questions
What does C1b mean, and where does that notation come from?
Nowhere in the legal text. Article R311-2 of the code de la sécurité intérieure writes III. Catégorie C, 1°, b): the category, the heading number, then the letter of the sub-point. C1b is the contraction popularized by service-public.fr and by the SIA. It designates manually operated long guns whose feeding system allows firing 11 rounds at most.
What is a Category C3 firearm?
Heading 3° of Category C groups firearms firing non-metallic projectiles classified by joint order — the family of Gomm-Cogne type defense launchers. Careful: the same family is split between Categories B and C, model by model. Classification cannot be deduced from characteristics; you have to consult the Référentiel général des armes or the order.
Does a Category C9 or C12 firearm require a shooting licence?
No, and that is the big difference from the rest of Category C. For 3°, 9° and 12° — defense firearms, deactivated firearms, alarm and signalling firearms — article R312-54 waives the hunting permit, the licence and the collector's card. In exchange, the declaration must be accompanied by a medical certificate less than a month old.
How do you declare a Category C firearm in 2026?
Declaring at the prefecture no longer exists. The dealer or broker registers the transaction in the SIA, holding takes effect when you leave the shop, and the holder validates the firearm in their digital gun rack within five days — past that deadline validation is automatic. Since decree 2024-615, an inherited or found firearm is also declared directly from the SIA account, without going through a dealer.
How many Category C firearms may you hold?
There is no firearm quota in Category C. Quotas concern Category B: 15 firearms since 1 January 2024, the effective date of decree 2023-557, and only 6 for first-time holders for five years — that second ceiling comes not from the same text but from decree 2022-144 of 8 February 2022, applicable to applications filed from 10 May 2022. The figure of 3 Category C firearms that circulates comes from article R316-11, which governs only travel within the European Union.