Besides the possibility of "intent to manufacture" is it legal to buy a less than 16" barrel before having a BATF approved SBR?  

None of the companies I've seen selling short barrels mentions any kind of tax stamp requirement but I just wanted to make sure in case something pops up at a gunshow next week.

Thanks

If anyone is thinking of buying a short barreled upper in anticipation of someday soon creating a legal SBR,
PLEASE read the following case carefully:

United States v. Kent
175 F.3d 870 (USCA 11 Cir, 1999)

(Take this reference to any reference librarian at any law school library and they can get the entire text for you; about 9 pages = $.90 in copy costs can save you from a major felony)


"The evidence indicates that the upper receiver unit was a complete, intact unit and that this short-barreled upper receiver unit was "compatible" and could be interchanged readily with the upper receiver unit on the Colt AR-15. Moreover, an ATF agent testified that the result of interchanging these upper receiver units would be "a weapon which is designed and intended to be fired from the shoulder, capable of discharging a shot through a rifle bore[,] and having a barrel length of less than sixteen inches."   Because the short-barreled upper receiver unit and the Colt AR-15 lower receiver unit were located in the same, small apartment and could be connected so quickly and easily, creating an operable short-barreled rifle with only a minimum of effort, evidence that Kent possessed both of these units was sufficient to prove that Kent possessed a "rifle having a barrel ... of less than 16 inches in length" for purposes of §  5861(d)."
175 F.3d 870 at 874.


Troy: at first I misread your post, in that I did not see "upper" receiver. Sorry.


Yes, I am an attorney; No, I do not want any of you as clients, especially as criminal clients.(so please read the NFA laws carefully)

Cheers, Otto

(edited to follow my own advice of careful reading)

Otto,

So the upper receiver unit in question was a complete upper as opposed to a barrel and verifies Troy's explanation?

For me,the point is moot right now since I've decided to take the safe route and not even consider buying a barrel until I have my tax stamp but I'm still curious about any cases involving this.  

"Rather, the evidence showed that the short-barreled upper receiver unit was found intact, as one complete unit. The short-barreled upper receiver unit included an upper receiver assembly, a rifle barrel, a flash suppressor, forward and rear sights, a sling, a scope with batteries to activate the light in the scope, a gas tube, a handguard assembly, a bolt and bolt carrier--all welded or otherwise fastened together as a single, active upper receiver unit."
...
"The Government contended that this evidence of the short-barreled upper receiver unit being an intact, active unit, with a sling and with batteries in the scope, and the fact that the short-barreled upper receiver unit was easily interchangeable with other AR-15 upper receiver units including the longer-barreled unit on the Colt AR-15 when it was found in Kent's apartment, demonstrated that Kent's intent was to use the short-barreled upper receiver unit as an intact unit as opposed to using the unit for parts."
United States v. Kent, 175 F.3d 870 at 872-873

Yup, Troy was right. My original post had a line where I obviously misread it the first time.

Short barrels are not like machine gun parts that if you have enough of them lying around to convert a rifle into an NFA MG, you are in constructive possession of an unregistered machine gun. But ready conversion by "placing the short-barreled upper receiver unit on the lower receiver unit and pushing the two pins back into place to fasten the two receiver units together.   This entire process could be completed in less than a minute." (175 F.3d 870 at 872) can get you in trouble, as Troy points out.
If you read the entire case, Kent had more troubles than just an unregistered SBR.  Stupid is as stupid does.

Cheers, Otto