Hi guys,

There’s a guy in Cali who wants to buy my AUG A3, but he wants me to strip it down, ship the receiver to an FFL, and ship all the parts straight to him.

Is the AUG A3 even legal in California? Is there anything sketchy about this? I don’t want to ship anything down there that might get me in trouble.

A Steyr AUG A3 in unmodified form is an assault weapon. However, it isn't an assault weapon by name, so it's possible to modify a Steyr AUG A3 so it isn't an assault weapon under California law. That would usually involve modifying the pistol grip and flash hider and vertical foregrip or modifying the magazine release. To be an assault weapon under California law, it must also be semiautomatic. California regulation gives as examples:

(3) With regards to an AR-15 style firearm, if a complete upper receiver and a complete lower receiver are completely detached from one another, but still in the possession or under the custody or control of the same person, the firearm is not a semiautomatic firearm.

(4) A stripped AR-15 lower receiver, when sold at a California gun store, is not a semiautomatic firearm. (The action type, among other things, is undetermined.)

Shipping the receiver to the FFL and the rest of the gun, or at least the offending parts, to the customer directly is perfectly legal and done often enough here in CA.

Even stripped, it looks to have a detachable magazine and pistol grip.  This what a CA compliant AUG looks like:

https://atlanticfirearms.com/products/california-legal-steyr-aug-rifle-nato-black

Use your judgement.

12276.1 (a) Notwithstanding Section 12276, "assault weapon" shall also mean any of the following:A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and any one of the following:
A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon.
A thumbhole stock.
A folding or telescoping stock.
A grenade launcher or flare launcher.
A flash suppressor.
A forward pistol grip.

A disassembled firearm is not semi-automatic and thus cannot be an assault weapon.  This comes from DOJ.

Don't weigh in on anymore "can I send it" threads.  Your anaysis is completly off.

There are ways this can be accomplished and the receiver shipped to the FFL for them to deal with is one of them.  Riflegear in OC is one of those places.

Sending it broken down is a safeguard.