So I went to a local shop today to pick up a ST lower reciever that I am going to form 1 and make into a 10.5.  I made reference to the owner of the shop that I already have the ST 10.5 upper heading my way and that I was going to take it to a friends house to store the day it arrives.  He told me that all I had to do was put a pistol buffer tube on the lower that I am form 1ing and can keep the 10.5 on it like that until the stamp arrives and then throw on the riffle buffer tube.  That didn't sound quite right, so I went to another shop and they told me that the pistol lower has to be stamped, or marked, that it is a "pistol only" lower.  Can anyone advise me as to who is right?  Ideally, I would love to just spend a few bucks on a pistol buffer tube and not have to worry about storing somewhere else...but I don't want to put myself in risk of breaking any laws...please help

Can't speak to your State laws, but under federal law dealer number 1 is correct.  A stripped lower is classified as an "other" on your 4473 and can be built into anything your heart desires.  RRA sells a pistol buffer than cannot be used in a rifle build. That makes if very clear that you have a pistol.  I think that is the safest one for 25 dollars.  

I would actually build the pistol and get it working while waiting on your Form 1.  Then all you need to do is install a stock.  You can even use the same buffer and buffer spring.  Actuall you don't even need to put a pistol buffer on it as long a you don't own a rifle stock, but I recommend that just to be on the super safe side.

Do your engraving before installing the LPK.

Just Sayin!

Like titleII said, the original delaer is correct. As long as your lower has never had a stock installed, you can build it as a pistol. You need to be sure it can't readily accept a stock, hence the pistol buffer tube, to avoid the threat of a constructive intent charge.

ETA: remember though, once you install a stock and sbr the gun, it can not longer be considered a pistol. So you can only do this with the lower once when you sbr it. If you plan on building more sbrs in the future, its nice to keep an extra pistol lower around for when you're waiting on stamps.

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Thank you for the replys.  My plan is to only mount the pistol buffer tube until the stamp comes back and then permanently SBR it with a riffle buffer tube.  This will help me a lot because I have already ordered the upper and should now be able to keep in my safe, even without the stamp (with the pistol buffer tube on of course).  So, If I'm reading what you guys are saying correctly...once I get a pistol buffer tube, I can keep it for future SBR builds and always just toss it on to the lower that I am form 1-ing and be totaly leagle.

Btw...why do some manufactures even put, (pistol only) on their recievers?  Shouldn't the pistol buffer tube alone be good enough?

Up until about 2 yeas ago, before the 4473 changed, I think some dealers were having a hard time understanding the virgin stripped lower issue.  Some state statutes contributed to that misunderstanding. I think some states still cause the issue to be confusing.

If you live in a state that does not register handguns then I think it is a mute point.

Most discussion on the Internet apply to Federal law.  Always check you state statutes before following the advise of non-attorneys on a Internet forum.  Or go to you home town forum.