Complete Lower
- HEYOPEY
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Complete Lower
Can you buy a complete lower and remove the stock/buffer tube and replace it with a brace/brave tube? Or is that an illegal SBR? I've also just got stripped lowers never a complete.
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- ssracer
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Re: Complete Lower
From what I have read and even the legal brief over on the gun collective, a lower that has never been on an upper is not yet a firearm. So you can buy a complete lower, remove the stock and make it into a pistol.
- iron369
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Re: Complete Lower
I have been told by no person of any authority that once it has a stock on it, it is a rifle and cannot be a pistol. A pistol can become a rifle but not the other way around.
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- Niceguy
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Re: Complete Lower
That has been my take... But I've never seen anything convincing either way. You got to love all the gray areas...iron369 wrote:I have been told by no person of any authority that once it has a stock on it, it is a rifle and cannot be a pistol. A pistol can become a rifle but not the other way around.
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Re: Complete Lower
YepNiceguy wrote:That has been my take... But I've never seen anything convincing either way. You got to love all the gray areas...iron369 wrote:I have been told by no person of any authority that once it has a stock on it, it is a rifle and cannot be a pistol. A pistol can become a rifle but not the other way around.
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Re: Complete Lower
86 slo-vo wrote:A complete lower receiver with a stock will probably be labeled at a rifle on a 4473 from a dealer.
Not likely it does not have a barrel , so it is not a rifle.
It is a firearm.
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Re: Complete Lower
86 slo-vo wrote:That's just what was done at the shop I was at for a while.
See Hoppies -ATF letter it explains the federal code interpretation by the Technical Branch.
- HEYOPEY
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Re: Complete Lower
The way I take the letter I posted above if it has never had a barreled upper attached you are good to go with removing the stock and replacing it with a brace. So section B number 18 on a 4473 would be marked as "Other Firearm" correct?
- Whootsinator
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Re: Complete Lower
According to the ATF agent responsible for Northern Kentucky, it should go out as it came in. If it was sent from the manufacturer as a rifle, it is a rifle. If it was sent as a pistol, it should go out as a pistol, if it came in as a "firearm" it should go out as a firearm. I bought a complete lower with stock installed, and had it transferred to me before I was 21. At first the FBI kicked the sale back and said I couldn't legally purchase a "firearm" under the age of 21. However, the ATF agent advised the FFL to "manufacture" it into a rifle... strike the "firearm" from his books and enter it back in as a rifle after I had installed my rifle upper. Then it was officially transferred to me as a rifle.HEYOPEY wrote:The way I take the letter I posted above if it has never had a barreled upper attached you are good to go with removing the stock and replacing it with a brace. So section B number 18 on a 4473 would be marked as "Other Firearm" correct?
Obviously this isn't the exact scenario you are asking about, but I share it to give some insight. If your lower went through the dealer as a "firearm" it shouldn't be a rifle until a rifle upper is attached, but you can't just write whatever you want it to be on the paperwork. It is what it came to the FFL as.
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Re: Complete Lower
HEYOPEY wrote:The way I take the letter I posted above if it has never had a barreled upper attached you are good to go with removing the stock and replacing it with a brace. So section B number 18 on a 4473 would be marked as "Other Firearm" correct?
Yes a firearm can be made into a handgun, and it is marked 18 as a other
But what is marked on 4473 after 17 is not up to the buyer. That is the FFL holder sole choice.
And even if it is marked a rifle , what is marked on the 4473 does nothing to change the fact that a complete lower is a firearm and requires 21/state resident. And can be a handgu. Or rifle or SBR or even a shotgun.