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CA complaint AR15

5mmgunguy
Can you put a legally owned 30 round magazine into one of the new CA complaint AR15s or can you only put a 10 rounder in it?
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10 comments

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  • dfletcher
    You may want to bounce over to the Calguns forum for lots of CA specific info. I'm in CA, have quite a few ARs and other semi autos which, if not properly configured, are AWs in CA.

    You can not attach a legally owned hi cap to an AR 15 that has a fixed magazine - you are restricted to no greater than 10 round magazines. The method of fixing is commonly called a "bullet button" and only a no greater than 10 round mag is legally allowed.

    You can put a legally owned greater than 10 round magazine on an otherwise CA legal AR 15 IF the AR doesn't have a pistol grip or a flash hider. Taking care of th FH is easy, just remove it and screw on a brake or compensator. The pistol grip is more of a challenge, but there are ways to mitigate the pistol grip issue by using a different stock or wrapping the pistol grip with a Kydex wing.

    But basically, fixed mags must be less than 10 on centerfire semi auto rifles.
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  • Emmett Dunham
    If you live near Cerritos in La County, Ammo Bros has an assortment of rifles to look at and also have lowers that can be built into a complete rifle using their parts or parts you find else where. The also have good ammo prices and if you get there the right day they have an assortment. You may see someone skirting the law with a hi-capacity magazine in their rifle, the law says 10 round capicity on any rifle or hand gun.

    thttp://www.ammobros.com/

    Emmett
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  • dfletcher
    quote:Originally posted by Emmett Dunham
    If you live near Cerritos in La County, Ammo Bros has an assortment of rifles to look at and also have lowers that can be built into a complete rifle using their parts or parts you find else where. The also have good ammo prices and if you get there the right day they have an assortment. You may see someone skirting the law with a hi-capacity magazine in their rifle, the law says 10 round capicity on any rifle or hand gun.

    thttp://www.ammobros.com/

    Emmett


    While the 10 round limit applies to fixed magazines on semi auto centerfire rifles, it is not illegal to own or use hi cap magazines in CA. As of Jan 2001 it became illegal to import (sell, loan, manufacture, expose for sale) greater than 10 round mags into the state, but there are alot of folks with legally owned (preban) hi cap magazines in their Mini 14s & M1As, Browning Hi Powers and 10/22s, etc and using them is legal.

    I have a Volquartsen Evolution & it takes AR 15 magazines, although I bought them years ago for use in AR 15s I now use them in the Evolution and that is legal. Just can't sell the darn things in CA.
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  • Emmett Dunham
    I have a lot of high capacity magazines and they are grand fathered in with the rifles I own and can not be passed on or sold. His question was is it legal to put a hi capacity magazine in a new rifle and the statement was its illegal. Unless he can get in a time machine he is stuck with a 10 round capicity unless he want to explain how a 30 round magazine on a new rifle to a police office. I just read a story in that a Orange county police office made a driver open his trunk and found one of these new AR modified rifles and took it. He had to jump through hoops to get it back and if it would have had an old magazine in a new rifle it a toss up to how much time he would spend in jail. Go ahead, do it, put it in the rifle they are grand fathered in on an older rifle prior to the ban.
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  • dfletcher
    quote:Originally posted by Emmett Dunham
    I have a lot of high capacity magazines and they are grand fathered in with the rifles I own and can not be passed on or sold. His question was is it legal to put a hi capacity magazine in a new rifle and the statement was its illegal. Unless he can get in a time machine he is stuck with a 10 round capicity unless he want to explain how a 30 round magazine on a new rifle to a police office. I just read a story in that a Orange county police office made a driver open his trunk and found one of these new AR modified rifles and took it. He had to jump through hoops to get it back and if it would have had an old magazine in a new rifle it a toss up to how much time he would spend in jail. Go ahead, do it, put it in the rifle they are grand fathered in on an older rifle prior to the ban.


    Restricting magazines to the gun for which they were originally purchased is not CA law. You are legally permitted to put your legally owned preban mags in an M1 carbine you've had for 30 years or one you've purchased last week - they are not granfathered in with specific rifles. I do agree with you, those hi caps - legally owned by you - can not be passed on to a son or sold. But with respect to them being legally used in a specific gun, that is simply not accurate.

    If I purchased an M1A 30 years ago, sold it but kept the hi caps and last week bought another M1A - I am legally permitted to use those hi caps in my new M1A.

    I've attached CA law, to include 12020, which speaks to the CA hi cap issue. http://ag.ca.gov/firearms/dwcl/ I've also included the AW information as that mey be helpful to the OP.

    I appreciate that some folks prefer to be very, very cautious and am familiar with anecdotal information regarding detentions and arrest. However, law is law and CA law does not restict hi cap magazine use to the guns, for lack of a better phrase, with which they originally came.
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  • Emmett Dunham
    I don't think he has a pre-ban AR to get the magazine from to use in the new rifle. The question was can I put a thirty round magazine in a new California compliant rifle. "Even if he had an old magazine and put it into the compliant rifle it would make the rifle illegal with the magazine new or old". So even you owning an old magazine for an M1A and putting it into a new rifle does no work in this case. The question was can I put a 30 round magazine in a California compliant rifle the answer is new or old magazine is no!


    Emmett
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  • dfletcher
    quote:Originally posted by Emmett Dunham
    I don't think he has a pre-ban AR to get the magazine from to use in the new rifle. The question was can I put a thirty round magazine in a new California compliant rifle. "Even if he had an old magazine and put it into the compliant rifle it would make the rifle illegal with the magazine new or old". So even you owning an old magazine for an M1A and putting it into a new rifle does no work in this case. The question was can I put a 30 round magazine in a California compliant rifle the answer is new or old magazine is no!


    Emmett


    He doesn't have to have a registered AR AW from which to use the magazines - he could have owned an AR and sold it years ago and kept the magazines. Owning hi caps and not the gun to which they fit is not prohibited.

    I agree he can not put a 30 round magazine in a CA compliant AR with a pistol grip and posted that in my answer, we agree on that. Your answer expanded to include that all new rifles and handguns are restricted to 10 rounds, that one can not use legally owned hi caps in newly bought rifles and that is not CA law. I have posted the hi cap magazine law and AW law, if you see anything in there which states legally owned hi caps can not be used in newly bought rifles please feel free to point out.

    Here is CA law 12020 in part:

    ARTICLE 2. UNLAWFUL CARRYING AND POSSESSION OF WEAPONS
    12020. (a) Any person in this state who does any of the following is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison:

    (2) Commencing January 1, 2000, manufactures or causes to be manufactured, imports into the state, keeps for sale, or offers or exposes for sale, or who gives, or lends, any large-capacity magazine.

    I do agree that if he buys the AR (or any other firearm) and is stopped by LE and pulls out a hi cap and announces "look what I just bought" that would be illegal.
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  • Emmett Dunham
    The rifle he is talking about is compliant with a 10 round fixed magazine when he installs the 30 round magazine the rifle becomes a 30 round fix magazine rifle and is illegal.


    Emmett
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  • dfletcher
    quote:Originally posted by Emmett Dunham
    The rifle he is talking about is compliant with a 10 round fixed magazine when he installs the 30 round magazine the rifle becomes a 30 round fix magazine rifle and is illegal.


    Emmett


    Agree on that - 100%
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  • ke6guj
    quote:Originally posted by Emmett Dunham
    The rifle he is talking about is compliant with a 10 round fixed magazine when he installs the 30 round magazine the rifle becomes a 30 round fix magazine rifle and is illegal.


    Emmett
    you assume that the rifle in question is configured with fixed-magazine release. Yes, if it is a fixed-mag semi-automatic centerfire rifle, it can't have an 11+ round magazine.

    But, it could be a featureless CA-legal AR rifle that has a standard magazine release. In that case, he could use his 30-round magazines in it legally. Just like a person with a brand new Mini-14, SU-16, or M1a could use large-capacity magazines in it.
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