Bigs28 Wrote:Your failing to understand what is being said. If you buy a striped lower it's marked as "other". Everyone agrees. You can use lower to build either a rifle or a pistol. Everyone agrees. Where you are getting lost is that if you built a rifle with that lower originally then that lower is always a rifle and cannot be made into a pistol. If you made it into a pistol originally then your good. Here is the atfs definition of a pistol and on their publication they put the word "originally" in bold for a reason.

the term “pistol” is defined by the Act’s implementing regulations, 27
CFR 479.11, as “a weapon originally designed, made, and intended to fire a projectile
(bullet) from one or more barrels when held in one hand, and having (a) a chamber(s) as an
integral part(s) of, or permanently aligned with, the bore(s); and (b) a short stock designed
to be gripped by one hand and at an angle to and extending below the line of the bore(s)”

Lastrites Wrote:The issue isn't a brand new lower w/stock, as that doesn't make a lower a dedicated rifle lower. What makes it originally a rifle is when he placed his completed rifle upper on it for the very first time and it still had a stock on it, if that is the actually case. If he placed a long barreled upper on the lower and he had already removed the stock prior to it would be classified as being built as a pistol first, adding the stock later then converted it to a rifle. I always build my lowers as pistols first no matter what the final build is going to be as it leaves options open.

Now for all we know he had removed the stock prior to the upper being put into place but he hadn't mentioned it.

Lastrites Wrote:Been playing the ar15 pistol game for a long time, somethings are as clear as mud lol and several things have changed back and forth quite a few times in the past several years but the above hasn't.

Kswhitetails Wrote:Bigs, agree to disagree. The part I am seeing you overlook is that that lower, stripped, not yet assembled. is not a pistol, rifle, or firearm. It is an "other". It was registered with it's serial number to the ATF.gov that way. By whomever milled and sold it. Once that is done, it can be in any form the owner wishes it to be, because it remains registered as an "other" firearm.

The danger your referring to only applies, ONLY, to a lower that was built by a manufacturer as a "Rifle" lower. Meaning they milled it, assembled it, and sold it with the intention for it to have a rifle stock on it; and therefore registered it upon it's completion to .gov as a rifle lower.

Another tidbit that gets hairy: According to my FFL, if they receive an "other" lower that has a rifle stock on it, they are required to re-register that lower serial as a rifle before they can legally transfer it to your possession. I say hairy, because I don't know if this is true. But if mine does it out of the abundance of caution, then I wonder how someone else with the best mind and intentions could get it wrong if it was easy and cut-and-dry?

Here's why I think you're incorrect. If you own an "other" lower, how does the ATF have any idea in the world how you or anyone else built it? Do you call up and ask to register your newly assembled weapons with them? Otherwise, how would they know, and how would they care? You are not obligated anywhere in law to call them or send a letter to them to change it's registration if you're building a non-NFA firearm.

NFA items get re-registered with them upon the form 1-2-4 application with the appropriate tax payments, so they don't apply in the same way... (before some frogman gets hoppy and wants to argue about it).