Quoted: They can be returned to normal rifles and you can send a letter to ATF advising them that they are no longer SBRs.  They will still be listed on the registry but the record will be updated to indicate they are no longer title II weapons.

+2.
They do not refund your $200. And be aware that once you notify BATFE that it is no longer a Title 2 firearm, if you ever move to a Free State and want them short again, you will have to file another Form 1 and pay another $200 making tax per gun.

So unlike MGs, SBRs can go back and forth between Title 1 and Title 2 status, but each trip into NFAland costs you another $200 ticket.

Quoted: Quoted: If i may jump in here and ask some thing. If I have an AR lower that is a SBR lower, does it matter if i put a 16"+ upper on it or can I do anything I want? No one gets mad if the bbl is to long on a sbr do they??? have to ask you know the atf and their rules. Affirm, you can place a 16"+ barreled upper on your SBR & swap back & forth.

Agreed.

Just remember, though, that the receiver remains a registered NFA item, so even when you have a 16" plus barrel on it, it must be treated like any NFA item (no loaning it to buddies, selling it without an approved Form 4 transfer, transporting it interstate, etc.).

Quoted: So the question then is are NFA registered receivers banned by Ill. states law or are rifles with a barrel length under 16" banned by state law and how do they define that.  If you SBR with a longer barrel does not violate state law and there are no references to NFA registered weapons being banned, then there would be no need to remove it from the register to move into Ill, and then  to have to re-make it if you ever leave Ill. again.

Ummm ... but since the receiver is still a registered NFA item, you mut have an approved 5320.20 to transport it interstate (regardless of the barrel length installed on it), and BATFE will not approve a 5320.20 for destination state which does not allow NFA.

While you might not be breaking state law, taking a registered NFA item to Illinois without BATFE transport approval is a federal felony.

Quoted: Allow me to complicate issues here.  According to the ATF themselves, an SBR is not an SBR unless it has a short barrel on it.  What say you? NFA Handbook, Chapter 2.1.6 Of all the different firearms defined as NFA weapons, machineguns are the only type where the receiver of the weapon by itself is an NFA firearm. Gotta love that handbook.

Respectfully, I would say you are taking that out of context. It is in the middle of a page of text explaining how to identify which part of a receiver is the registered part. (Interestingly, the very same page says that on an FNC, the lower is the registered part, and this week BATFE reversed itself and now the upper is the registered part. So much for the handbook's enduring accuracy.) An assemblage of Title 1 parts in a certain configuration is required to meet SBS/SBS/AOW registration, but the receiver is the serial-numbered item by which the registered assemblage is registered.

There is also a Tech Branch letter dated July 2007, floating around on the internet, that says if an SBR is temporarily reconfigured to Title 1 dimensions, it can be transported interstate without a 5320.20. But as we all know, Tech Branch letters are only relevant and legally useful to the person to whom the letter is addressed.

And to take this a step further, Illinois is one of the states which frequently challenges the feds on the interstate transportation provisions of FOPA '86. I really would not like to be an individual who lives in Illinois and is caught in possession of a firearm whose receiver is still listed in the NFA Registry as an SBR. Very, very bad juju.

My take is, when dealing with federal firearms law, it is always better to err on the side of caution. Making a mistake, or misunderstanding or misinterpreting a regulation, can cost you your right to ever own any firearm for the rest of your life.

So I would not transport the receiver of a registered NFA item interstate without an approved 5320.20 in hand. Your Mileage May Vary.