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What were the limitations that the last AWB had on guns like AR-15's? I seem to remember 10 round mags, no bayonet lugs, fixed stocks. Was there more than that?

Could you build your own AR and get around the AWB? If you just bought an upper was that considered a part of the AWB?
 
no ars...no aks... Nothing with a detachable mag and pistol grip.
This is incorrect. The correct nformation can be found here: Federal Assault Weapons Ban - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Semi-automatic rifles able to accept detachable magazines and two or more of the following:

Folding or telescoping stock
Pistol grip
Bayonet mount
Flash suppressor, or threaded barrel designed to accommodate one
Grenade launcher (more precisely, a muzzle device that enables launching or firing rifle grenades, though this applies only to muzzle mounted grenade launchers and not those mounted externally).

You could get around the ban by purchasing a rifle with only one feature from the list. That typically meant that your AR-15 had a pistol grip and a FIXED stock, no bayonet mount, no flash suppressor, and no grenade launcher.
 
I had a ban Bushmaster once, it had detachable mag, pistol grip, A2 stock, bayonet lug removed, non-threaded barrel. If I remember correctly muzzle brakes were okay so long as they were permanently attached. The date of the lower was the key, putting a pre-ban config. upper on a ban lower was a no-no.
 
As memory serves I bought a Ruger Mini 14 and 30 round mags back during the first AWB. It didn't have the lug or the threaded barrel or pistol grip but I thought then and still do today that it would've been just as bad as an AK or AR in a mass shooting incident.

I can't remember if I bought my AR during the ban or immediately after. I remember it shipped with a permanently attached AK style brake and no lug and a 10 round mag so I am thinking I bought it during the ban. Funny thing is I think I bought 3 30 round Thermold's for it then.
 
I can't remember if I bought my AR during the ban or immediately after. I remember it shipped with a permanently attached AK style brake and no lug and a 10 round mag so I am thinking I bought it during the ban. Funny thing is I think I bought 3 30 round Thermold's for it then.

I never had much luck with the Thermolds... You could still buy all the high capacity magazines you wanted during the ban years, it was just that new production for civilian sale was prohibited - and there was no law against using them in a ban config. weapon. If I recall correctly the price of 30rnd AR mags stabilized at around $30 a piece and they were never in short supply. A lot of them were probably purloined military property.
 
I never had much luck with the Thermolds... You could still buy all the high capacity magazines you wanted during the ban years, it was just that new production for civilian sale was prohibited - and there was no law against using them in a ban config. weapon. If I recall correctly the price of 30rnd AR mags stabilized at around $30 a piece and they were never in short supply. A lot of them were probably purloined military property.

My Thermolds still work fine but I have to admit that once the PMAG's came out I rarely use the Thermolds anymore. Could a PMAG or other reliable follower be installed in a Thermold or other mag? Kind of ironic that there was a hi cap mag ban back then and yet you could still get them. Makes one wonder about the logic of the ban back in the day.
 
I never had much luck with the Thermolds... You could still buy all the high capacity magazines you wanted during the ban years, it was just that new production for civilian sale was prohibited - and there was no law against using them in a ban config. weapon. If I recall correctly the price of 30rnd AR mags stabilized at around $30 a piece and they were never in short supply. A lot of them were probably purloined military property.

My Thermolds still work fine but I have to admit that once the PMAG's came out I rarely use the Thermolds anymore. Could a PMAG or other reliable follower be installed in a Thermold or other mag? Kind of ironic that there was a hi cap mag ban back then and yet you could still get them. Makes one wonder about the logic of the ban back in the day.

Not sure about follower compatibility with the Thermolds, I gave up on them and just bought a crap ton of GI mags when I saw the ban coming. In fact I have so many GI mags laying around I never got around to picking up any Pmags. I was going to try some of the 20rnd Pmags since I like to play with my scoped SPR these days and don't have as many 20's but looks like I procrastinated just a bit too long. Oh well, life will go on. With the Republicans firmly in control of the House there is a good chance that a new ban will never even make it to a floor vote anyhow.
 
Not sure about follower compatibility with the Thermolds, I gave up on them and just bought a crap ton of GI mags when I saw the ban coming. In fact I have so many GI mags laying around I never got around to picking up any Pmags. I was going to try some of the 20rnd Pmags since I like to play with my scoped SPR these days and don't have as many 20's but looks like I procrastinated just a bit too long. Oh well, life will go on. With the Republicans firmly in control of the House there is a good chance that a new ban will never even make it to a floor vote anyhow.

Sure hope you are right. No doubt some changes will be coming down as the political pressures are probably huge right now on some folks.
 
Sure hope you are right. No doubt some changes will be coming down as the political pressures are probably huge right now on some folks.

I hope so too. As a political science major I have a few insights on the functioning (or lack there of) of Congress that most people aren't up on. For example once a bill is written and placed in the hopper the Speaker pretty much has the power to do what he wants with it. He gets to decide which committee it goes to or he can pretty much just pretend it isn't there. If the bill makes it to a committee then the committee chair can delay it and play all kinds of games with it. It could get voted down in committee and that would be the end of it right there. If it gets reported out of committee then it goes to rules committee where more fun and games occur. Once it makes it out of that mess then the Speaker is again in control. You're probably getting the point by now that there are like a hundred ways to kill a bill. My thought is that the Republicans (who control the House and that means leadership, agenda, rules etc.) have not cooperated one bit with the Obama administration over the last 4 years so why would they hand him a victory now?
 
A Friend of mine got "into firearms" in 2002. That was during the AWB. He purchased a Bushmaster AR-15 that lacked a bayonet lug, grenade launcher, flash hider, or collapsible stock. It was nearly indistinguishable from other friend's ARs that were pre-ban, and cost 3x as much. My "Post-Ban" friend bought all the 30 rd magazines that he wanted, for less than what 25rd ruger 10/22 mags cost. Other than the collapsible stock, I don't think that my friend missed anything with his post-ban AR that my "pre-ban" friends enjoyed. Come to think of it, my "post-ban" friend still owns his "post-ban" AR, and looking at it, you'd never know the difference. Except the muzzle-break; makes it loud as F.

I had another friend that had a "post-ban" lower, and bought a "pre-ban" config upper (ie. bayonet lug & flash hider). When he put them together, he was expecting sirens to go off and the goon-squad to bust in the doors. As far as I know, he took that setup to the range about 100 times. Shot next to alot of cops too. Nobody ever asked him for documentation about a date of manufacture. I am not an advocate of breaking the law, just reporting what I saw. Happy Hoarding. Don't forget to write your representatives and congresspeople and let em know how you feel.
 
In the eyes of the goverment it is anything that has military characteristics. Like everything said before. And it wasn't banning ownership of them, It was banning new sales of them made after the date it was set for. That's why you hear a lot of "pre-ban and post-ban". And even a high cap mag ban would just be banning new sales of them... not ownership of them. Let me know if i'm incorrect on any of this, but i don't believe i am.
 
In the eyes of the goverment it is anything that has military characteristics. Like everything said before. And it wasn't banning ownership of them, It was banning new sales of them made after the date it was set for. That's why you hear a lot of "pre-ban and post-ban". And even a high cap mag ban would just be banning new sales of them... not ownership of them. Let me know if i'm incorrect on any of this, but i don't believe i am.

Ya it was just a ban on the bayonet lug & few other characteristics. I remember a mak 91 i got somewhere around the timing of the ban it had the threading on the barrel removed before they imported them. I think they also changed the stock from what was originally gonna be a pistol grip, to a druganov thumb hole stock. & like you said it just banned the new manufacture and sales of high cap mags.
 
My thought is that the Republicans (who control the House and that means leadership, agenda, rules etc.) have not cooperated one bit with the Obama administration over the last 4 years so why would they hand him a victory now?

Like I mentioned before I hope you are right but I think the pressures are HUGE right now and I predict that some new gun reg's will be coming before the fiscal cliff gets figured out.
 

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