Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: AZRedhawk44 on April 01, 2009, 05:09:01 PM
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Pistol: A-OK.
Rifle: A-OK.
Pistol, given a +16" barrel and a stock, becomes rifle: A-OK.
Rifle, barrel shortened and stock removed, sans SBR certificate: FPMITA time.
How, then is a MechTech CCU a legitimate toy, yet there is a huge blowup about AR lowers being either pistols or rifles, and suddenly denying 18 year olds the ability to build their own AR? And, once you build a pistol on an AR frame, it has to remain a pistol and cannot be converted to a rifle via upper swap and stock installation?
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Pistols can become rifles.
Rifles cannot become pistols.
Quirky, I know. Lemme 'splain.
Receiver of pistol (or numbered part as deemed "receiver or frame") is logged at factory as handgun-worthy. It then goes on to enjoy a life as a handgun, but can in fact become a rifle as long as it abides for rules as such, or goes NFA with proper stamps paid.
That's why you can see a Remington XP-100 receiver at a benchrest match, made into a bughole bolt rifle.
That's also why you can have an AR pistol converted into a rifle. No big deal, as long as it abides by the rules concerning rifles, no NFA configurations unless you want to do the paperwork.
However, and here's the sticky part, if that receiver left the factory and was logged as rifle-worthy, then it stays a rifle, or you go NFA again with proper SBR paperwork, etc. No handgun conversions allowed.
Handgun>Rifle>Handgun = OK.
Rifle>Handgun = Not OK.
Thompson-Center ran into this wicket with their Contenders some years back. They won.
However, the bubba who shows pictures on Intarweb forums of Mausers or Mosin-Nagants made into handguns? He's in a veritable pile of doo-doo.
Mech-Tech carbines began life as pistols, and are converted to less-concealable rifles and back again, no problem.
Regarding your other post about Kalifornia not allowing Mech-Tech carbines, that's a Kalifornia thang...
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and in Maryland TC contenders in black powder rifle form, transfer as a pistol
yip, I was wondering about that and asked...
the gun laws are created as a sieve to winnow the possible intent
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The whole short barreled rifle and shotgun portions of the NFA stem from the fact that the original draft of the '34 NFA had all handguns being NFA registered items as well. When it was realized that was too extreme and would kill the bill, it was dropped. The SBR and SBS provisions were there to close the "loophole" of people making handguns by cutting down non-NFA rifles and shotguns.
When the handguns were dropped from the NFA, the SBR and SBS portions stayed. Either from oversight, or from the fact that the Bonnie & Clyde types of the day liked them, and that was deemed good enough.