AR as Short Barreled Rifle
I’ve been pondering registering an AR-15 lower as a short barreled rifle because they look neat. See:
I discovered here that not only do I have to go through the NFA process, get law enforcement sign off, and pay a $200 tax, I also have to engrave my name, town and state on the receiver. If I build my own lower (which I’m doing), I also have to give it a serial number. If I buy an AR receiver made by another company, when I fill out the paperwork to register it as an SBR, I become the manufacturer. So, even though I may have a Rock River Arms lower receiver, I have to conspicuously engrave my name, city and state somewhere on it because I want the barrel to be shorter than 16 inches.
Man, that seems arbitrary.
January 25th, 2006 at 8:52 am
So order it from the manufacturer as an SBR. I had my dealer order mine direct from Bushmaster. It will only have the Bushmaster markings on it.
Then again, I ordered it in March… It took more than 6 months to manufacture and now I’m waiting to take possession of it…
January 25th, 2006 at 10:07 am
I think the theory on the restrictions on SBR’s, handguns with some sort of butt-stock, and sawed-off shotguns was that criminals would favor them because they are almost as easy to conceal as a handgun, but with the stock some such weapons can fire cartridges far more powerful than most people can keep control of in a handgun. The reality is that crime doesn’t pay, so much so that most criminals live with their mothers and can barely afford a cheap pistol, so the NFA restrictions mostly affect law-abiding citizens with a decent income…
January 25th, 2006 at 10:57 am
But ravenwood, that’s not as fun as making my own 😉
January 25th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
Make it your 9mm lower- the .223 ones are loud, spit fire and powder residue and are generally all-around damn-near useless. Whereas the 9mm ones are just as quiet and controllable at 9″ as at 16, looks cute, and best of all, utilize nearly the full velocity potential of the 9mm around 10″ – after 10″ they actually start to slow down again.
January 25th, 2006 at 4:15 pm
Alston, I am planning on doing the 9mm instead of the 5.56.
January 25th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
I had hoped so, but figered I’d chime in to be sure -good deal then.
February 27th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
[…] The guys at Uzi Talk asked the ATF if, as reported by everyone including me, an SBR was required to be engraved when made my an individual on an existing firearm. They ATF said it was not required. Cool. They have a scan of the letter. […]