A company in the U.K. is making U.K. legal 9mm AR15 rifles. The catch is that you have to release the bolt with a side mounted thumb level after each shot.

 Its bizzare but it can be fired rapidly. Would it be Cali legal?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsDqE9j3bzI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksom5P_cEpk&feature=related

Why not just get a normal AR and not get a sore/tired thumb after 15 mins of plinking? Normal AR can be fired as fast as you can pull the trigger. Probably costs less than that too.
eta: oh, reading is important: UK legal

As for Cali legality, it looks a little too short to be 30" (or is it 32"?) required in Cali.

30" overall in its shortest configuration.



 

That is pretty damn interesting.
I guess it would come down to whether or not it was defined as a semi-auto in california.
The fact that you have to operate a second lever each time before pulling the trigger would make it a bolt action, and not just a simple safety lever.

I'd like to see that in 5.56 so I can use my old 30 rounders legally.

There are tons of off-list 9mm ARs in California already that are legal non-AWs.  

They just either have BulletButton maglocks on them, or run featureless with a non-pistol grip ("MonsterMan", "Solar Tactical", etc.)

The idea that a bolt catch in theory stops bolt cycling and results in supposed non-AW status is intereresting, but:

1.  Bolt catches DO break, and such a special bolt catch  could 'fail into semiautomatic'

2.  Unless it's a really special bolt catch, it probably can be held in such a away to allow for semiauto firing.

3.  British law and many other states' laws (as well as Fed law) are much different that CA's, and it is unwise
to move exemption concepts across borders.

Please stick with the tried & true recipes.


-Bill Wiese