Rifle to pistol?

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I cannot remember if you can make a pistol from a rifle or vice versa, I know one is legal and the other isn't.

Basically I'm wondering if I can take a pistol carbine that uses an AR buffer assembly, replace the stock with a pistol brace and then chop the barrel. Anyone?
 
once the lower has been transferred as a rifle, it will ALWAYS be a rifle.... you can alter it and pay the stamp fee to make it a SBR, but that is it...

you can put a rifle upper on a pistol lower and put a shoulder stock on it with the barrel over 16 inches all day long.
 
If initially configured as a pistol, it can be made into a rifle and back to a pistol.

If initially configured as a rifle, configuring it as a pistol constitutes the making of an SBR (assuming a short barrel), even without a stock. That's because it meets the definition of SBR by being "a weapon made from a rifle".

once the lower has been transferred as a rifle, it will ALWAYS be a rifle.... you can alter it and pay the stamp fee to make it a SBR, but that is it...

you can put a rifle upper on a pistol lower and put a shoulder stock on it with the barrel over 16 inches all day long.
Gonna have to nitpick that answer just a bit...

A lower should never transfer as a rifle.
 
Thanks to both of you. Looks like I need to buy the pistol version of this thing. With the lower being a pistol could I throw a rifle length barrel and rifle stock on it and switch back and forth as long as I never have the short barrel and rifle stock mounted together?
 
Thanks to both of you. Looks like I need to buy the pistol version of this thing. With the lower being a pistol could I throw a rifle length barrel and rifle stock on it and switch back and forth as long as I never have the short barrel and rifle stock mounted together?
Are you buying just a lower? (Stripped or complete doesn't matter).

Curious what exactly you mean by "pistol version of this thing"?
 
A pistol caliber carbine. In this case a TNW ASR. Comes in both rifle and pistol versions. I was looking at a used rifle version and was wondering if I could at some point turn it into a pistol, and it sounds like the answer is no. An interesting thing about this design though is that it's the upper that is serialized.
 
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Gotcha. I saw the "AR buffer assembly" and wasn't sure.

Yep, can't turn a firearm that was manufacturered as a rifle into a pistol.
 
If initially configured as a pistol, it can be made into a rifle and back to a pistol.

If initially configured as a rifle, configuring it as a pistol constitutes the making of an SBR (assuming a short barrel), even without a stock. That's because it meets the definition of SBR by being "a weapon made from a rifle".


Gonna have to nitpick that answer just a bit...

A lower should never transfer as a rifle.

I did misword that a bit. thanks for the cleanup on aisle 2.
 
Thanks to both of you. Looks like I need to buy the pistol version of this thing. With the lower being a pistol could I throw a rifle length barrel and rifle stock on it and switch back and forth as long as I never have the short barrel and rifle stock mounted together?
Be sure to pay attention to the buffer tube when switching out... I believe the pistol buffer tube/spring is different from the carbine that is different from the rifle...
 
Be sure to pay attention to the buffer tube when switching out... I believe the pistol buffer tube/spring is different from the carbine that is different from the rifle...

I know the tubes are different (no adjustable stock detents) but how is the spring different? I have never noticed AR pistol springs for sale.
 
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