Please Educate me on AR Pistols & legalities

[SteveXKR]

Since WA State does not allow SBRs I've been looking at building an AR Pistol Setup.

From what I've gathered so far:
A) you can not convert an existing rifle to a pistol
B) you can convert an AR pistol to a rifle (but then 'a' kicks in so you can't go back) and if your barrel is too short you'd need to register it as an SBR First, or swap barrels to 16"+
C) you can use ANY 'virgin' stripped lower. It is not required for the
lower to be marked 'pistol'. (If so - then what is the point of having that marking
to begin with? Perhaps different state requirements?? Seems useless)

Can someone tell me if the above statements are correct?

Also - digging through posts online it seems people are mentioning (or being paranoid depending on which side you believe) the BATFe coming after people with 'intent to build an unregistered SBR' just by having an existing AR (or parts) and a short barrel and things like that.. Who defines 'intent'?

So I was wondering in the following scenario:

Let's say I already have a few Ar's, and I Buy 2 bare lowers, 2 uppers, a 16" barrel and a 8" barrel. Putting them together I make a 16" rifle with buttstock and a 8" pistol without a buttstock (typical buffer tube setup instead).

Now:
- Keeping these 'as-is' (even though technically there's only a whopping 2x2 push-pins keeping you from swapping the uppers) = no problem right?
- Put the 16" upper on the pistol lower = Turned rifle into Pistol = not allowed
- Put a stock on the pistol lower => made an unregistered SBR = Felony
- Put the short barrel upper on the 'rifle' lower (with stock) => unregistered SBR = Say Hi to Bubba

The wording of some of these regulations seems so bizarre to me where as soon as you click an upper & lower together at your kitchen table it's felony-city if you got distracted by your kids and grabbed the wrong upper/lower.. :nuts: and who would be peeking through your windows anyway to enforce this kind of bureaucracy?? (idiocracy sounds more like it)

Anyway - just wanting to make sure that it's OK to have an AR + AR Pistol in WA and have it not be a cause for 'intent' bs

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[ScorpioMk]

Any stripped lower is good, you CAN go from pistol back to rifle. If the overall length is greater than 26" you can put a vertical grip on it and not be an AOW. You can have a pistol and rifle and not be doing anything wrong, the constructive intent thing seems to basically be made up by gun people being too paraniod, if you are worried just dont have extra rifle parts that fit your pistol lower.

 

[nubus]

First off, you asked for my opinion so here we go...
Secondly, since I am not a judge or a lawyer, this is just my opinion!!!

A) you can not convert an existing rifle to a pistol
B) you can convert an AR pistol to a rifle (but then 'a' kicks in so you can't go back) and if your barrel is too short you'd need to register it as an SBR First, or swap barrels to 16"+
C) you can use ANY 'virgin' stripped lower. It is not required for the
lower to be marked 'pistol'. (If so - then what is the point of having that marking
to begin with? Perhaps different state requirements?? Seems useless)

A) You are correct sir.
B) As of a ruling late last year you CAN go pistol, to rifle to pistol.
Step one start with an AR pistol, step two install a 16" or greater barrel.
Step three now you can add a stock because the barrel is long enough.
Reverse the order to go back, just do it in the right order.
C) Correct and as long as you build a pistol FIRST from a virgin receiver,
you can then do what is described above and go back and forth.

1- Put the 16" upper on the pistol lower = Turned rifle into Pistol = not allowed
2- Put a stock on the pistol lower => made an unregistered SBR = Felony
3- Put the short barrel upper on the 'rifle' lower (with stock) => unregistered SBR

1) actually you have a non-AOW, perfectly legal, not a rifle without a stock.
2) if there is no upper attached you can put a stock on it whenever you like.
3) yeah, absolutely not ok, although it absolutely should be allowed.

My 2 cents...