Building a 300BO pistol, a little help please

fieldgrade

fieldgrade

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As posted a few days ago, I came into an Anderson 10.5” 300BO upper in a small lot of long guns I bought to help out a friend.

I’m not planning to dump much money in this thing.

Here’s my question, for a legal pistol build can I put this thing on an AR rifle lower in my current inventory if I just change the butt stock to a pistol brace? School me.

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My understanding is:

If the lower started its life as a rifle, or was initially built from a stripped lower into a rifle, you can’t go back to pistol.

If it started its life as a pistol, or was initially built from a stripped lower as a pistol, you can go back and forth from pistol to long gun all you want.

So to answer you question, no, you can’t.
 
Is it an unused lower? I bleeves if it was purchased as a lower or pistol, you're good to go. If it was purchased as a rifle, that's a no go.
 
yeah, as Rip said, if it was bought as a rifle lower, then no, otherwise there is no documentation as to whether or not it was ever one or the other.
 
to be fully legal, you can put it on a lower that was originally built out as a pistol. or get a stripped lower and build it out as a new pistol.
if you put it on a lower was first built out as a rifle, you'll be making a short barrel rifle, even if you swap out the stock/tube for a pistol setup.

You are never able to do rifle, then pistol.
BUT, you are able to do pistol, then rifle, then back to pistol IF you never have it in an NFA configuration along the way.

it makes total sense.

As B00ger said, if you've built your own lower from a stripped setup, there's no tracking that it was ever a rifle - so you're on the honor system...
I tend to build lowers, screw on a pistol tube and buffer, toss on one of my many pistol uppers, and then decide if I want to keep it as a pistol or rebuild as a rifle - better safe than sorry.
 
Okay, thanks guys.

That rules out the “donor” lower I was thinking of using.
 
I did some homework and the lower I was thinking of using was purchased as an assembled lower, which was for a rifle, so that’s out.

Guess I’ll buy a stripped lower and some parts.
 
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Anybody able to shed light on the “Any other weapon” registered lower?
 
fieldgrade said:
I did some homework and the lower I was thinking of using was purchased as an assembled lower, which was for a rifle, so that’s out.
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Even though the term “rifle lower” has been used a couple times in this thread, there’s no such thing when buying a complete lower. There are lowers with stocks and lowers with braces...but not rifle lowers and pistol lowers. ;)

You’re 100% legal to buy a complete lower, with a stock, remove the stock and build a pistol. Without a barrel, you can’t have a rifle. So if it’s never had an upper attached, it’s still just an “other firearm” and can be initially made into a pistol.
 
This makes my head hurt.

Mother, may I?
 
Ikarus1 said:
let us know how much you find a stripped lower for. I quit looking about 30 days ago.
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Fuquay Gun had them four days ago. Guess I need to check again.
 
bigfelipe said:
If you can't find one let me know buddy. I have a few spares...
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Thanks sir. I’m not in a rush. One of these “cast off” AR's I bought I thought I might repurpose into a pistol, but that doesn’t seem to be a good idea. I was going to try to avoid sinking any actual money into that 10.5 barrel with weird handguard, other than for the brace.
 
ACP said:
Anybody able to shed light on the “Any other weapon” registered lower?
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Depends. do you mean the "Other Firearm (frame, receiver, etc...)" on the 4473, sending $200 to the atf to register a lower as an AOW, or having a "pistol" with a vertical foregrip?
 
fieldgrade said:
Thanks sir. I’m not in a rush. One of these “cast off” AR's I bought I thought I might repurpose into a pistol, but that doesn’t seem to be a good idea. I was going to try to avoid sinking any actual money into that 10.5 barrel with weird handguard, other than for the brace.
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In that case, see if anybody near you is able to part with an anderson lower and take all the parts out of your rifle... You won't be out much money.
 
To take one from the BoB playbook...has anyone ever heard of someone actually getting in trouble for this? I get the “stock in a short barrel” thing...but as long as it’s a brace, who would ever know?


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DrScaryGuy said:
Depends. do you mean the "Other Firearm (frame, receiver, etc...)" on the 4473, sending $200 to the atf to register a lower as an AOW, or having a "pistol" with a vertical foregrip?
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Other on the 4473
 
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B00ger said:
To take one from the BoB playbook...has anyone ever heard of someone actually getting in trouble for this? I get the “stock in a short barrel” thing...but as long as it’s a brace, who would ever know?


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Unless it was marked as a rifle on the 4473. If sold as other then it's fine.
 
"other firearm" is not the same as an NFA "any other weapon".
"other firearm" means it is transferred as a receiver. Technically, every "complete lower" that comes assembled with a stock on it should be "other firearm" because as BigWaylon, resident NFA expert stated, a lower is not a pistol or a rifle until it is built into a fireable firearm.
There were many years where many FFLs were screwing this up, and probably still are. If there is any question, you can call the manufacturer and have them see how it was shipped from the factory to the ffl.

In a related story, the shotguns that shipped from the factory as pistol-grip-only firearms ALSO fit into the "other firearm" category, which means they can be cut down to 14" barrels and made into a "shockwave" sort of gun as long as it's over 26" in overall length. One mossberg 500 I bought used from a dude supposedly came as a PGO and he put a folding stock on it... no big deal, wouldn't change what I could do with it. Out of precaution, I called mossberg with my serial number and they said they didn't know the shotgun's full history, but when it left THEIR factory, it was recorded as a shotgun and had a stock. Making it into a shockwave would be a felony.
 
Rob01 said:
Unless it was marked as a rifle on the 4473. If sold as other then it's fine.
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not quite correct. It doesn't matter which box they marked. it matters what it really WAS.
Let's say they received a stripped lower an sold it with the "rifle" box checked - do they have a manufacturer license to convert it to a functioning firearm instead of a naked frame? did they register it with the ATF when they built it up?
or did they just make a documentation error and check the wrong box?
Either way, that's their mistake. you may pay a lot of money in court demonstrating that fact, but it wasn't your mistake.
 
Doesn't matter who's mistake it was it will be your problem in the end trying to prove in court so it's something to make sure when you get it transferred and if it was marked rifle then no way I would make it a pistol whether no matter who's mistake it was. Cheaper to buy another lower.

This is the reason I make all my stripped lowers pistols to begin with and then change from there.
 
What they mark on the 4473 doesn’t change what it is. If I bought a Rem 870 and some clueless LGS employee checked the Handgun box (and I didn’t catch it)...I still bought a Long Gun.

If I had a receipt that said lower, whether stripped or complete, I can still build a rifle or pistol.

And as mentioned earlier, Any Other Weapon and Other Firearm are completely different topics. :D

It would do a lot of you some good to read the instructions on a 4473, especially Question 16 in Section B.
 
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