My local gun shop refuses to let me mark a stripped lower receiver as a "pistol", I told him it is not illegal, but he refuses to believe me, he will only mark it as a "rifle" on the 4473.  Does anyone have an official doc that is downloadable with the current BATFE rules.  I saw the one thread, but it doesn't look too official, and it is un-printable in it's current format.  My Gun Shop owner is a very nice guy, just a little paranoid, and I don't blame him.  Can anyone help?

I had problems also, they said it has to have "pistol" writen on it for them to file it as a pistol...........

They said it was a new ruling, if not, its a good way to cover their asses.


Just send the lower to Steve at TomSawyerMFG and let him engrave it as a pistol and then he will ship it to your FFL.
Then they can log it in as a pistol, just to be safe.

tell to just mark it as "lower"


if not its not a problem, check the tacked threads up top. they state as long as it was a virgin lower it can be built into either

Quoted: tell to just mark it as "lower" if not its not a problem, check the tacked threads up top. they state as long as it was a virgin lower it can be built into either

My FFL put mine as a stripped lower receiver. I also have the bill of sale from the supplier as a  stripped lower receiver, I keep a copy of both in hollow cutout of the pistol grip. My FFL said the local ATF rep wasn't happy with the description as it could be used for both pistol / rifle.

I marked the ones I did as "stripped pistol lower only" just to be sure but "stripped lower only" is also fine. The more documentation you have the better, but not required. Just not marked "rifle".

Can a stripped lower, on a 4473 as a pistol, be made into a rifle?

Also, if you already have an AR rifle in the house, and then make a pistol (with a seperate lower) with a shorty upper, will that cause eyebrows to get lifted by our favorite alphabet organizations? I mean, you would have the makings of an SBR in your house, without SBR papers...

Sorry to hijack, but I'm in the market for another lower, and have been thinking about making a pistol.