Hypothetically question. You buy a used lower via a private party. How do you know you can build a pistol with it if the seller never specified if it was originally a rifle or pistol? Does the original format of the gun matter since you bought it stripped?
212
Not a lawyer, or an ATF agent, but if I didn't know FOR SURE that the 4473 it was originally sold had it recorded as a "pistol" (or "other", for a stripped receiver), I wouldn't even consider building it into anything but a rifle. New lowers aren't that expensive.
Contact the manufacturer with the serial number to see what configuration it was originally sold as.
We wish to thank the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, without whose assistance this program would not have been possible.
As you know, the ATF says the "gun" is not the entire gun, it's just the receiver. If it was originally sold as a rifle, you may not convert it to a pistol.
I'll also add that I bet a ton of people have done it, most likely not even knowing the law says not to. Nor have I heard of anyone getting prosecuted for it. But it's still illegal.
I'd just buy another lower. Cheap insurance.
Last edited by Darth_Uno; 03-21-2019 at 12:55 PM.
But even then, it would still be possible for someone to buy a stripped lower, have the FFL record it as an "other" when transferred, build it into a rifle, and then later strip off the upper and stock and just sell the lower. The 2nd owner could not legally build it into a pistol, but there'd be no paper trail proving that.Originally Posted by Dave J
Same here, build this one as a rifle, get a nice new lower sold as an “other”
Yes, there is. The manufacturer keeps record how the receiver was convicted when it left the factory.
We wish to thank the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, without whose assistance this program would not have been possible.
It may have left the factory as an "other", but there's nothing legally stopping anyone from changing that gun to either a rifle or pistol. If they make it into a rifle, and then they later sell just the receiver, then neither the manufacturer's records nor any FFL's records will reflect the fact that the gun was a rifle at one point. Yet the receiver would only be legal to make into a rifle again.
Or let's make it more complicated. Owner #1 buys a stripped receiver from FFL #1, builds it into a rifle, then some time later transfers the complete rifle to FFL #2, who records the sale as a rifle. FFL #2 transfers it to owner #2, who later parts it out and transfers just the reciever to FFL #3, who records the sale as an "other." FFL #3 transfers it to owner #3, who calls up the manufacturer and asks if his receiver left the factory as a stripped receiver. The factory truthfully says "yes, left as a stripped receiver." Yet it was proveably a rifle at one point, as recorded in FFL #2's bound book, and can't legally be made into a pistol.
As cheap as stripped lowers are at this time this is a waste of time and energy. Just buy another lower to build your pistol.
This, this, a thousand times THIS. I would NEVER think about trying to build a lower as a pistol unless I knew for a FACT it shipped from the manufacturer as "other" or a pistol lower.
Reply With Quote