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Posted: 12/12/2004 5:16:10 AM EDT
| If the lower was sold to you as a rifle lower, I don't think it can be changed to a pistol lower when sold to someone else. I'm not a 100% on this, but that's what I had heard at one point. I believe it can be sold as a pistol lower only when purchased new as a lower that has not been built into a rifle configuration. Any one else? |
| I saw a thread on this earlier. As long as the lower was sold as a stripped lower and never marked as a rifle on the batf form it can be used to build a pistol. If it was ever marked as a rifle it can only be used to build a rifle. There is a thread on this somewhere else on this forum that can better explain this than I can, but that was it in a nutshell. |
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It is the first build that determines what it is. If the first build is a rifle, it is a rifle for ever and ever. If it is first built as a pistol, then it is a pistol forever and ever. IF, you took a pistol lower, made it into a rifle, and sold it as a rifle so that it appeared on a 4473 as a rifle, then I believe you would loose your pistol status, but I am not 100% certain on that but it does stand to reason that once is was sold and logged as a rifle, it could not go back to being a pistol. Now, it is perfectly legal to take a pistol and convert it into a rifle so long as it has a 16 inch barrel and stock with OAL of 26 inches, and then you can convert it back to a pistol again, so long as it does not have a shoulder stock attached when a shorter than 16 inch barrel is attached. If made a pistol first, you can go back and forth between pistol to rifle to pistol as much as you want and no laws are violated-Thompson Center Contender rulings about converting a Contender handgun to a carbine and back again. But, if it is made into a rifle first, it cannot ever be made into a pistol, only an SBR. So, in your case, if the lower you have was sold as a stripped lower and then made into a rifle, or sold as a rifle lower, it is a rifle from that point on no matter if it is stripped down and sold again and can never be sold as a pistol lower. If the lower has NEVER been assembled into a firearm of any kind, then it can be sold and assembled into a pistol. However, one should be able to document its history. According to the letter I posted from the ATFE regarding pistol builds here on this site, the lower does not have to be logged anywhere as a pistol, only that it has not been logged anywhere, including the 4473, as a rifle or assembled FIRST into a rifle. I would not do this with a previously owned lower from anyone as there is no paper trail for proof in the VERY unlikely event you should need it. IMO you should only use new stripped lowers bought from either the maker or the first seller from a dealer where it can be shown the dealer bought the lower as a stripped lower from the maker, then sold it to you as a stripped lower or as a pistol lower, but not as a stripped rifle lower or rifle lower. |
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When I got my stripped lowers from my local gun shop and they did the paper work and called it in, he stated long gun, even though it was a stripped lower? The receipts I have say lower reciever. How does this work if I want to make a pistol. Ive seen pistol kits with everything exept the stripped lower. Can I buy one of these kits and make it up on one of my lowers? What are the regulations for a pistol now, like can you be able to hold it with both hands..(hand guards) Any info would be of great help as I am thinking of adding a pistol to my collection. |
Big-Bore, You are dead on! Thank you. I really fear that many guys are setting themselves up for some major headaches with these rifle cal pistol builds. Especially with some of the crap spewing out of some dealers mouths these days. As you correctly pointed out, there is no such thing as federal "registration" of title 1 firearms (thank God). There is only "Logging". Since the ATF ONLY cares if a firearm/receiver was NEVER built into a rifle (and the only definition of a title 1 rifle is if it has a buttstock attached) then a FFL writing "pistol" on a 4473 or a receiver stamped "pistol" means absolutley NOTHING in the eyes of the law. When the original manufacturer reports a receiver as sold, he states if it is a complete firearm (with barrel). Thats it..........thats the only reporting that matters. Everything else after that is meaningless. IMO, I would never build a pistol on a rifle cal receiver unless I knew it was NEW. I might even confirm myself how the receiver was originally sold. Most manufacturers are happy to provide such information in writing. Rifle cal pistols are cool and with the sunset of the AWB, the sky is the limit but be careful guys. Don't risk mixing title 1 and NFA. The Feds DO prosecute NFA violations big time. Always buy new and you will be safe. |
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From what the letter said, and Mary Jane Humphrey, supervisor, Louisville KY ATFE, if the NICS check was called in as a rifle, that part does not matter. What matters is that the "firearm" that is listed on the 4473, not the NICS part, says "Stripped Lower, Stripped Lower Receiver, Stripped Lower AR-15 receiver, Lower Receiver, Pistol Receiver..." pretty much anything so long as the description of the item sold does not use the word "rifle." If the description of the lower says "stripped lower rifle receiver" or any combination with the word "rifle" in it, you are screwed for building that as a pistol, according to the letter of the law. Hellbringer, you are sooo correct. Best to be able to document and verify and if one cannot do that, forget the pistol build on that particular receiver. The ATFE has no since of humor when it comes to NFA weapons. Let's see, buying a receiver that is easy to verify it is a virgin receiver, $100 verses 10 years in Club Fed with Bubba as a roomy AND a $10K fine. Even a dummy like me can do the math on that one. |
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