wrong. Only thing different between a rifle and pistol is the buttstock. You can have a LONG barrel on a pistol, although I don't see why anyone would...

I'm not wrong. What I was saying.....

People who want a SBR often times start with a pistol receiver so they can go ahead and acquire and use their short barreled upper while waiting for the Form 1 approval before adding the shoulder stock.

Sorry.. yes, you can...

The debate revolves around if you really can go from pistol to rifle then back to pistol again.

As Zack says, conventional wisdome says yes you can. Others say no you cannot. These same people point to the fact that TC got a special ruling that says theirs can. Some peopel say that ruling sets precedent for all to follow. Others say it grants TC a special variance relating only to them.

Your statements I quoted were wrong.

You're right.. When I went back to read them, I see what you mean. You can use a long upper on a pistol lower.

The point I was trying to make (not very successfully) was about the debate around being able to return a rifle, which was made from a pistol, back into a pistol. It is a much heated debate.

it is a heated debate and i don't get it. if it wasn't legal, there would be a lot of people in hot water, for example all the carbine conversion guys mec tech and whoever else.


some people will actually tell you that when you install that conversion unit, you can't go back to being a pistol


yeah..sure..ok

I agree with you. I also believe that the "variance" that Thompson Center received was to allow their conversions to be barrels seperate from the shoulder stock.

Most other carbine conversions have the shoulder stock and barrel as one unit which makes it impossible to make an unregistered short barrled rifle since the shoulder stock is permanently attached to a 16" or longer barrel.

I did a lot of research when I was building a pistol lower for the Addax 11.5 GPU. The info I got was that if the dealer marked your lower as pistol that you can make a pistol or rifle out of it. The reverse is not true. When I got to the time for transferring my lower the new 4473 forms were out with the "other" portion. If you list it as a receiver or other, the above applies. Make a pistol first, you can "go both ways". If you make a rifle first, it has to stay in a rifle form.



TS