New York’s magazine capacity limit is ten rounds, and you can legally load all ten. The confusion traces back to the original NY SAFE Act, which tried to cap loading at seven rounds even in a ten-round magazine, but a federal appeals court struck that provision down in 2015. The only enforceable hardware limit today is ten, and going over it is a felony, not the misdemeanor many gun owners still assume.
How the Ten-Round Limit Is Defined
New York Penal Law § 265.00(23) defines a “large capacity ammunition feeding device” as any magazine, drum, belt, feed strip, or similar device that can hold more than ten rounds. The definition reaches further than the physical part in front of you: it also covers devices that can be “readily restored or converted” to accept more than ten rounds. A magazine with a removable block or plug still qualifies as oversized if someone could easily take it back above ten.
What matters is the device’s capacity, not how many rounds happen to be inside it. An empty fifteen-round magazine is illegal to possess. A ten-round magazine loaded to ten is fine.
Two narrow carve-outs sit inside the definition itself. Tubular magazines designed exclusively for .22 caliber rimfire ammunition are exempt regardless of capacity. Magazines that qualify as curios or relics also fall outside the ban, but only if they meet a strict four-part test discussed below.
The Seven-Round Loading Rule Is Dead
When the NY SAFE Act passed in January 2013, it originally set capacity at seven rounds. Because virtually no manufacturers produced seven-round magazines, the legislature amended the law: you could own a ten-round magazine but could never load more than seven rounds into it, except at a firing range or an official shooting competition. Every gun owner in the state was expected to leave three rounds out at all times.
The Second Circuit dismantled that rule in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Cuomo (2015). The court found the seven-round loading limit failed constitutional scrutiny because the state couldn’t show it actually improved public safety. Nothing in the SAFE Act, the court said, would “outlaw or reduce the number of ten round magazines in circulation,” making the loading cap “entirely untethered from the stated rationale” for the law. Every other challenged provision, including the ten-round hardware limit, was upheld.
Section 265.37, which codified the seven-round loading cap, still appears in the statute books but cannot be enforced. You can load a ten-round magazine to its full capacity anywhere in New York.
Penalties for an Oversized Magazine
This is where many New Yorkers are dangerously out of date. Until September 2022, possession of a large capacity magazine was charged under Penal Law § 265.36 as a Class A misdemeanor carrying up to one year in jail. That section was repealed. Possession now falls under Penal Law § 265.02(8), criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, a Class D felony.
A Class D felony carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years. A first-time offender with no prior record may receive a definite sentence of one year or less at the judge’s discretion, but leniency is not guaranteed. Each oversized magazine can be charged as a separate count, and prosecutors have wide latitude.
The move from misdemeanor to felony also triggers federal firearms disabilities. A conviction means you lose the right to possess any firearm anywhere in the United States, permanently.
Who Is Exempt
New York recognizes several narrow exemptions. None of them apply to ordinary civilians buying standard magazines off the shelf.
Active Law Enforcement
Active-duty police officers and certain corrections officials may possess large capacity magazines while performing official duties. Sworn peace officers from other states conducting official business inside New York are covered as well.
Retired Law Enforcement
Qualified retired New York and federal law enforcement officers get a separate exemption, but with real conditions attached. It only covers magazines that were issued to the officer or purchased during official duties and owned at retirement, along with comparable replacements. The retired officer must have qualified with the weapon accepting that magazine within twelve months before retiring, and must requalify at their own expense at least once every three years afterward.
Curios and Relics
A magazine qualifies as a curio or relic, and falls outside the ban, only if all four of these are true:
- The device was manufactured at least fifty years before the current date.
- It can only be used in a firearm, rifle, or shotgun also manufactured at least fifty years ago. Replicas don’t count.
- The person possessing it is not prohibited from owning firearms under state or federal law.
- It is registered with the New York State Police. Devices brought into the state must be registered within thirty days of arrival.
Miss any one of these and the device is treated like any other oversized magazine. The registration piece catches people off guard: an unregistered antique magazine is not exempt no matter how old it is.
If You Already Own One
The deadline to deal with pre-existing oversized magazines was January 15, 2014. If you still have one, you are already in violation of state law. Before that deadline, owners had four options:
- Permanently modify the magazine so it can hold no more than ten rounds. Permanently means the modification cannot be reversed with basic tools.
- Surrender it to a law enforcement agency.
- Sell it to a licensed dealer or to an out-of-state buyer where possession is legal.
- Destroy it.
There is no active grace period or amnesty program. If you discover an oversized magazine in a collection you inherited or purchased, the safest step is to contact a licensed firearms dealer or an attorney before handling it further.
Traveling Through New York
The federal Firearms Owners’ Protection Act (18 U.S.C. § 926A) lets you transport a firearm through a state where you couldn’t otherwise legally possess it, as long as possession is legal at both your origin and destination. During transport, the firearm must be unloaded, and neither the firearm nor any ammunition can be readily accessible from the passenger compartment. In a vehicle without a separate trunk, they must be in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console.
The statute mentions firearms and ammunition but does not specifically address magazines. Courts have not uniformly decided whether a detached empty magazine gets the same safe-passage protection. If you’re driving through New York with magazines that exceed ten rounds, you are taking a real risk. New York has historically enforced its magazine law aggressively, and raising federal safe passage as a defense requires you to prove you were genuinely in transit and met every condition of the statute. Stopping overnight, running errands, or deviating from a direct route can undo the protection.
Where the Constitutional Challenges Stand
The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen changed how courts evaluate gun regulations, requiring the government to show that a challenged restriction aligns with the nation’s historical tradition of firearms regulation.
Federal courts have split on magazine capacity bans under that framework. In March 2026, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled in Benson v. United States that magazines of all capacities are “arms” under the Second Amendment and struck down the District of Columbia’s ban on magazines holding more than ten rounds. The Second Circuit, which covers New York, went the other direction. In NAGR v. Lamont (2025), it upheld a magazine capacity ban, finding the historical tradition supports such restrictions.
Until the Supreme Court takes up the issue or the Second Circuit reverses itself, New York’s ten-round limit is the law you have to follow. A favorable ruling in another circuit does not protect you here. Federal courts also can no longer issue universal injunctions after the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Trump v. CASA, so even a future win in a New York federal district court would only protect the specific plaintiffs unless a broader class is certified. Compliance is the only safe course.