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ar upper/lower ??

remington nut
What are the laws on matching uppers and lowers, i've heard numerous rumors... long story short the lowers are stamped PISTOL... MULTI CAL
or a specific caliber? what uppers can you interchange with these different calibers... can you put a different caliber on a 5.56 stamped lower?
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3 comments

Date Votes
  • Nwcid
    Wow you are all over the place there.

    Assuming they are all mil spec parts any AR-15 part should interchange, there are a few exceptions. The caliber on the side of the lower means nothing, it is what the barrel is actually chambered for.

    Now here are a couple of exceptions. IF the lower is a rifle (has or has ever had a stock on it) then unless you fill out paperwork you can not legally put a barrel less then 16" on it ever.

    If the lower was somehow a pistol marked lower or has never had a stock on it then you can legally put any length barrel on it you choose. You can also add a stock IF you also add a 16" barrel. According to the ATF's opinion at the moment if you ever add a stock and 16" barrel to a pistol then you have to fill out NFA paperwork to make it into a "pistol" again.

    That is the super short version, what part needs cleared up?
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  • remington nut
    that pretty much is what i thought, regardless of the caliber stamping on the lower, as long as it begins in rifle form and remains in rifle form there are no restrictions of caliber interchanging. As far as the pistol stamped lowers i'm not sure how the ATF would know if you swap your stocks and lowers every other week if you wanted to. Not that it's an issue for me since i dont have a pistol stamped lower but i was just adding my .02
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  • dfletcher
    There are two size of AR uppers & lowers - those based on 5.56 (AR 15)and those based on 7.62 NATO (AR 10/AR 10 type). Sometimes confusing, the 7.62X39 (Russian) can be used on the 5.56 sized receiver. As an aside, I really like using a shorty AR 15 in the 7.62X39 cartridge - satisfying little round in a compact package. That was easy the easy part. [;)]

    Whether the lower is marked multi-caliber or pistol is legally meaningless.

    When a stripped lower is sold it is documented on a 4473 as a receiver only - neither rifle nor pistol, that's why as of Nov 2009 the legal age to purchase a stripped AR receiver went from 18 to 21.

    If the receiver is built up as a rifle, it must remain as a rifle. If the receiver is stamped "Pistol Only" and was built as a rifle it must remain as a rifle.

    If a receiver is built up as a pistol it can be reconfigured as a rifle, but once done so must remain that way. A stripped receiver stamped "rifle only" may be configured as a pistol - again, so long as it was never configured as a rifle.

    If you recall the T/C case in 1992, SCOTUS decided that a kit which consisted of a single receiver (the "gun" part) AND parts included which would allow the gun to be assembled as a legally configured rifle OR a legally configured handgun, that gun in that kit may be legally reconfigured from handgun to rifle and back to handgun. ATF late last year issued a letter which extends that ability to all stripped receivers. So, a kit which contains a single AR receiver and the parts required to assemble either a legally configured rifle or a legally configured pistol may reconfigure from handgun to rifle and back to handgun; except that one can not assemble an SBR by mounting a fewer than 16" bbl to the receiver with a shoulder stock attached without completing the proper ATF forms.

    There are all sorts of "what ifs?" - for example, what if you buy a 2nd hand AR pistol that, unknown to you, started life as a rifle? Are you in possession of an illegally configured gun? And if you buy the AR as a pistol, slap a buttstock and rifle barrel on it for a while, then switch back, will anyone know or care? Probably not unless you happen to do it at a public range in front of an ATF agent.

    I think guns like the AR & the Thompson/Center and gun owners' creativity have outsripped some of our gun laws, they should be changed to reflect that.
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