Ok, I am now totally confused and despite researching it I seem to find conflicting info. I was planning on an ar pistol project. My goal was to get it to just over 26 inches to not have to register with the state. I thought that there was not a maximum pistol length. A guy (worker) at the local gun shop, though, told me that if it is over 26 inches that the atf considers it an sbr even though there is no stock. I have not been able to find this info anywhere else. It would affect whether I would have the flash hider pinned or not because I would rather register it in Michigan than have an illegal sbr.

Edit: Of course I just had an idea. I just checked the rock river arms and bushmaster sites and found pistol models listed at 26.5 inches. Plus my inability to find anything that backs up what he said suggests to me that I got bad info from the gun shop.

Hmm...  I have a Sig P556 registered as a pistol.  I bought it from Jay's.

Sig lists it as 28.25".

If you were the guy at Silver Bullet the employee had no idea what he was talking about.  Over 26 is simply a firearm. It's not a pistol and it's not a long gun.

Under MI law its not a rifle since it never had a stock on it, hence never "intended to be fired from the shoulder". Therefore its not a SBR. However under MI law its not a pistol  cause "(e) "Pistol" means a loaded or unloaded firearm that is 26 inches or less in length, or a loaded or unloaded firearm that by its construction and appearance conceals itself as a firearm."

The Federal definition of a rifle is the same so its not a rifle and therefore not a SBR. Just dont put a vertical forward grip on it cause then its an AOW under Federal law. Magpuls angled foregrip is good though.

That's what I thought but he freaked me out.