I just started looking at building a 5.56 pistol.
Picked up a DD 11.5 inch and I'm now sorting out the parts "needs"

A friend suggested I look at a can like the Silencerco Saker K. I already have a trust with toys.

Lights went on..

If I get a Saker K and have it pinned & welded to the barrel,, Saker K @ 5.625inch and 11.5inch barrel = 16+ inch

Do I have a rifle w/NFA barrel, an SBR w/can or a pistol w/can??

My none 2L side says I have a rifle with a purpose build barrel-can combo, similar to the many 10/22 can barrels.

Thanks in advance

Should be a one stamp toy as a suppressor. The barrel isn't short because the can makes up the length and therefore no stamp needed for that.

What's the thread overlap?

1/2 inch

Some companies make integral uppers, and yeah as long as it's over 16" total length (permanently) you're just the silencer stamp.

Griffin makes one that's thread on and even has the spot to pin/weld, I'm sure there's others too, this one just came to mind:
https://www.griffinarmament.com/Spartan-3-Silencer-p/gasp3.htm

You never left pistol status and you don't need to weld anything anywhere.
Leave it as a pistol, put a brace on it, rock out.

Thanks for the input

Quandary,, To weld & pin the barrel to the can,, It has to be done by the original suppressor manufacturer,, to be "part of the unit serial" ???

I'm pretty sure I can not apply for a 2nd stamp to "build" the can, ie weld-pin the barrel to an already serialized can?

I think it's a hard stop for this discussion?

Back to building a pistol.. :]

Welding or pinning a suppressor to a barrel doesn't create another silencer. That said, pinning a can is almost always a regrettable configuration when it comes to maintenance, cleaning, baffle or front cap strikes, etc.

Pin and weld can be done in your neighbor's garage.

I know this will be met with vehement disagreement, but there's contradictory evidence to a pin and weld being necessary.

It is legal to pin a silencer to a short barrel to get the barrel length >16" in order to avoid the SBR

Unless SBRs are illegal in your area, the money spent to pin & weld is about the same as applying for the form1 to SBR

Permanently attached is a big decision. It has its pros n cons. In Ohio, I don’t see the appeal. I would rather have 2 lowers. Keep it on the sbr lower 95% of the time. Put it on a pistol lower for impromptu out of state travel or to be able to have it loaded in my vehicle.

I would definitely use a different can to permanently attach. Some direct thread cans have the threaded end sticking out from the body of the can with flats milled on it. Those would be an easy permanent attachment. It would only take about 10 minutes in my garage. Most of that time would be setting and double checking the depth stop on my drill press. Tig welding over the pin would be easy due to the can design. The saker on the other hand would be at minimum 2 separate attachments with a lot more difficulty. It’s not impossible at all, but I wouldn’t want to do the mount to can attachment. Barrel to direct thread mount would be easy with low risk of a F-up, but can to mount would make me nervous unless they are the same material and SiCo wouldn’t void your warranty for doing it full circumference weld. I couldn’t see them not voiding your warranty though. The heat input alone would have the potential to cause alignment issues. Pinning and welding the mount to the can has its risks too with the thickness of the materials. There wouldn’t be much room for error in your depth of drilling.

I like the two stamp gun idea the most myself. Form one the pistol and then you could put it back to pistol if you had to.

This is the can I was thinking of.
The "flash hider" on the front can be exchanged to a flat one or wire-cutter.
The threaded end looks like it would be prime for a pin and weld.

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I've never seen that version. Looks like it would work for a pin and weld.  I've never been able to talk myself into a pin and weld.  Shit happens with suppressors and being able to dismount it for inspection and maintenance for me would trump other considerations.

I know people are not fans of it, but I did it to this to one of my rifles. I have a few 80% receivers that were milled into 100% using a high quality CNC machine. I'd prefer to not turn those into SBRs, so for one of them I did the 9in barrel + 7.8in suppressor pin. I'm happy I went this route instead of registering the receivers.

Can someone enlighten me as to why we're still talking about a pin & weld?
The OP was asking about a pistol configuration.
Why are we perm attaching a can to a pistol?

If the pined can & barrel are longer than 16inch,, it's not a pistol or SBR..

But why? You already have a "trust with toys". Get the SBA3 brace and you won't even know it's a pistol (I mean, except when you're lashing it to your arm for stability). What other people are saying is that some states have laws that just make having a 16" rifle the only or best option, but if you're not in one of those states, then the money you'd spend customizing your saker and getting it perm attached will probably be about what an SBR stamp would cost anyway, and if you just leave it a pistol then you wouldn't have to worry about any of it. AND if you already have a silencer among your "toys" then you wouldn't even need to buy a new can. Of course, if you wanted a new can, then you could get a Saker K ASR and use it for this any any future pistol builds.

I mean, obviously it's your money. If you really want this, then do it. It just doesn't make a lot of sense in most people's case.

Who told you that?

Handguns have no BBL length restrictions. Unless state law is different, here is Federal Definition you need to go by:

(29) The term “handgun” means—
(A) a firearm which has a short stock and is designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand; and
(B) any combination of parts from which a firearm described in subparagraph (A) can be assembled.


User55645 gave the correct answer in his 1st post.

I never saw anything about a stock in the OP so I didn't assume. This was the cause of my confusion.
After all, the ATF gave the go-ahead to shoulder braces

For the record, I'd rather pin and weld than do the SBR, presented the choice. You can use the SBR's stamp money towards another suppressor

That would be an easy pin n weld. Go for it. Just about anyone with a tig welder would be able to do the job. I would put the pin on the bottom of it for esthetic purposes and just touch it up with a paint pen.

Pay the $200 tax and get an SBR

You're going to pay quarter that for a good pin job, ruin the barrel value and can value and ruin any ability to change gas blocks, barrels, parts, barrel nuts, etc without breaking the pin weld.  You might want to look at the issue of the can being modular and being able to be shortened by hand or removed from it's thread adapter, which means you might make that can non modular too.

If the OP is dead set on pinning a can to his 11.5 barrel this might be a good option to consider.

https://thunderbeastarms.com/products/556-take-down

Personally I chose to just roll with pistol braces and pistol tubes.  Build stripped lowers as a pistol first and then you can go pistol, rifle, then back to pistol on the lower whenever you please.  Just don't put that sub 16 inch upper on it when the rifle stock and tube are on the lower and your golden. Do that or go rifle to pistol back to rifle and its a trip to club fed. I know, crazy right?  Stupid quirks in our laws but its what we got to work with unfortunately.

Thanks again

As was suggested, I will build a new pistol "other" lower with a brace (DoubleStar Strongarm), and not bugger up the barrel with a pin job.

Sounds good.



I'm loving the SB SBA3 brace arrangement.  If I ever wanted to SBR this lower once it was approved just a simple swap of the brace for the regular butt stock and be done with it. Since I built as a pistol first if I wanted to slap a 16 plus inch upper on top I could easily throw any 6 pos adjustable stock on there and then back to the brace and the shorter uppers.  All legal as long as I do it in the correct order. So there you go. The SBA3 using a standard 6 position tube makes it easy cheesy.  Like I said, stupid laws but work with what we've got.

Good luck with your project.