Buried in the exceptions to the "specified semiautomatic firearm" definition is a list most casual readers of SB25-003 miss entirely: 35 specific rifle models, named individually, that are excluded from SSF status regardless of magazine type. If you own one of these, the whole detachable-magazine analysis doesn't even apply to you.
Why a named list exists at all
Every other exception in C.R.S. 18-12-116(1)(d)(II) is defined by characteristics — caliber, action type, magazine capacity. This one is different: it names actual makes and models, "as they exist and are configured on the effective date of this section." That's a legislative choice to specifically grandfather a set of older, mostly mid-20th-century semiautomatic rifle designs that happen to use detachable magazines but that lawmakers apparently didn't intend to sweep in with modern AR- and AK-pattern rifles.
The list
As written in the statute: AG42 Ljungman, Benelli Argo E Pro, Benelli R1 Big-Game Rifle, Browning BAR Mk 3, Browning BAR LongTrac Rifle, Browning BAR ShortTrac Rifle, Fabrique Nationale Model 49 (FN49), Fusil Automatique Modèle 1917 (RSC M1917), Gewehr 43, Globco Mohawk, Hakim Rifle, HK SL6, HK SL7, M1 Carbine, M1941 Johnson Rifle, Marlin Camp Carbine, MAS49, Remington Model 4, Remington Model 8, Remington Model 740, Remington Model 742, Remington Model 750, Remington 7400, Ruger Deerfield Carbine, Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle, Ruger Mini Thirty Rifle, Ruger Model 44, Springfield Armory M1A Standard Issue Rifle, SVT-40, Valmet Hunter M88, VZ.52, Winchester Model 100, Winchester Model 1905, Winchester Model 1907, and Winchester Model 1910.
What jumps out
A few patterns are worth noticing. There's a heavy concentration of WWII-and-earlier military and semi-military designs (the Gewehr 43, SVT-40, M1 Carbine, FN49, Hakim, MAS49, VZ.52) — largely surplus and collector rifles. There's also a run of American hunting semi-autos that have been in continuous production or use for decades (the Remington 740/742/750/7400 family, the Ruger Mini-14 and Mini Thirty, the Browning BAR line). The Ruger Mini-14 in particular is a genuinely common rifle in Colorado, so its presence on this list is one of the more practically significant entries for the average gun owner.
The catch: "as configured"
The exemption applies to these models "as they exist and are configured on the effective date of this section" — meaning a heavily modified example, especially one altered in a way that changes its magazine or receiver configuration, could raise questions the plain-vanilla factory version wouldn't. If you've modified one of these rifles significantly, that's a detail worth running past the state's guidance or an attorney rather than assuming the exemption travels with the name regardless of what's actually been done to the gun.
Bottom line
If you own one of these 35 specific models in a reasonably factory configuration, it's exempt from SSF status by name — you don't need to separately analyze detachable magazines, gas operation, or anything else in the definition.
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