Stripped AR 15 lower to pistol

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  • BW460

    Member
    Mar 8, 2012
    89
    My plan is to buy a stripped lower and a pistol buffer and tube. I'll build it into a pistol lower. Then I'll take photos of it to document that it started life as a pistol lower. I'll then replace the buffer tube with a rifle tube and build a rifle. Do I need to do anything else to preserve my right to convert it back to a pistol later? For example, do I also have to get a pistol upper now and put it in the photo? The deal is that I may want to build a 9 mm pistol later, but not now. Right now, I would just use it with a spare rifle upper I have.

    Thanks.
     

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    49,810
    You don't need to use a "pistol" buffer tube to build a legal pistol. A carbine tube is okay on a pistol as long as you NEVER attach a rifle(or carbine) stock onto the buffer tube. Pistol braces are fine and certain types actually require a carbine buffer tube upon which to be attached.

    I used to do the photo thing, but it's not necessary and will prove nothing. It is the burden of the courts to prove your gun didn't start out as a pistol. Slap a pistol upper on it and enjoy.
     
    Last edited:

    danb

    dont be a dumbass
    Feb 24, 2013
    22,704
    google is your friend, I am not.
    You don't need to use a "pistol" buffer tube to build a legal pistol. A carbine tube is okay on a pistol as long as you NEVER attach a rifle(or carbine) stock onto the buffer tube. Pistol braces are fine and certain types actually require a carbine buffer tube upon which to be attached.

    I used to do the photo thing, but it's not necessary and will prove nothing. It is the burden of the courts to prove your gun didn't start out as a pistol. Slap a pistol upper on it and enjoy. Just make sure your lower is transferred to you as "other" as opposed to "rifle". If the transfer says "rifle", you can not build it into a pistol(but with the proper tax stamp, it can be built into an SBR).

    From another thread, someone who may know a thing or two about gun laws:

    A paperwork error does not make the gun "made from a rifle." I can also assure you that, as this lower left the factory, it was a "RECEVIER."

    The 4473 for a receiver really should say "receiver" or "other," not "rifle," or "pistol." Anything else is a clerical error.
     

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    49,810
    From another thread, someone who may know a thing or two about gun laws:



    The 4473 for a receiver really should say "receiver" or "other," not "rifle," or "pistol." Anything else is a clerical error.
    Correct. And I have read stories of that happening, usually by an ffl who doesn't know what they are doing.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
     
    From another thread, someone who may know a thing or two about gun laws:



    The 4473 for a receiver really should say "receiver" or "other," not "rifle," or "pistol." Anything else is a clerical error.

    Correct. And I have read stories of that happening, usually by an ffl who doesn't know what they are doing.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

    Happened to me.FFL in Annapolis which is now closed,marked 2 lowers as rifle and I neglected to catch it.:sad20:
     

    Hawkeye

    The Leatherstocking
    Jan 29, 2009
    3,971
    If the transfer says "rifle", you can not build it into a pistol(but with the proper tax stamp, it can be built into an SBR).

    It does not matter what the 4473 says. As Nate said in the other thread where this came up recently, a paperwork error doesn't make a reciever into a rifle. Only having the physical characteristics of a rifle (simultaneously having a rifled barrel and a shoulder stock) make a receiver into a rifle.

    Remember that until 2004, there was no "Other" box on the 4473 at all, so all receivers were transferred with either "handgun" or "long gun" checked, no matter that they were not either one.
     

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    49,810
    It does not matter what the 4473 says. As Nate said in the other thread where this came up recently, a paperwork error doesn't make a reciever into a rifle. Only having the physical characteristics of a rifle (simultaneously having a rifled barrel and a shoulder stock) make a receiver into a rifle.

    Remember that until 2004, there was no "Other" box on the 4473 at all, so all receivers were transferred with either "handgun" or "long gun" checked, no matter that they were not either one.
    I'm obviously not a lawyer, but until or unless that clerical error is corrected (and how does one go about this?), aren't they bound by the existing paperwork?



    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
     

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    49,810
    From another thread, someone who may know a thing or two about gun laws:



    The 4473 for a receiver really should say "receiver" or "other," not "rifle," or "pistol." Anything else is a clerical error.

    Should have read this better...:o

    It does not matter what the 4473 says. As Nate said in the other thread where this came up recently, a paperwork error doesn't make a reciever into a rifle. Only having the physical characteristics of a rifle (simultaneously having a rifled barrel and a shoulder stock) make a receiver into a rifle.

    Remember that until 2004, there was no "Other" box on the 4473 at all, so all receivers were transferred with either "handgun" or "long gun" checked, no matter that they were not either one.

    I'm obviously not a lawyer, but until or unless that clerical error is corrected (and how does one go about this?), aren't they bound by the existing paperwork?



    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

    Okay, I read your reply to Ed Shell in that same thread where you answered my reply above.

    Thanks Hawkeye and danb for trying to unfog my brain.

    Good info. Thanks!
     

    Hawkeye

    The Leatherstocking
    Jan 29, 2009
    3,971
    Eh... it's confusing stuff.

    In any case, there's a paper trail that the receiver was a receiver. When they're shipped from the manufacturer they're recorded as such, when the FFL puts them in the bound book, they're recorded as such, etc. A paperwork mistake on a 4473 doesn't change their status, even though it seems scary.
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    To me, it is not like a stripped lower that that expensive.

    I would just buy another one and make sure it is transferred as Other.

    And build the one I had into a rifle.

    AR are likes chips, you can't have just one. And more is more better. :D
     

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