Please help me understand the status of my stripped lower receivers.

[Gun]

I was just having this conversation with a local gun shop and was also confused.

Question- there is an online retailer selling Colt Lower receivers in two versions - “virgin” and non virgin. The Virgin is about $30 more. I’m assuming that the other lowers may be taken off complete rifles. As a PA resident does it make any difference which one I would get and have an FFL transfer?

Thanks

The online retailer would be an FFL, so either lower would require an FFL transfer, even if the retailer was in PA.

IANAL.

[Oldstate]

The online retailer would be an FFL, so either lower would require an FFL transfer, even if the retailer was in PA.

IANAL.

I got that part. What I’m wondering is if I could transfer it as a pistol instead of a rifle

[JustinR]

Non-virgin receivers depend on how they were built - but for safety sake I'd assume non-virgin = rifle from factory, therefore an SBR if built into "pistol" configuration.

Virgin receiver = "other", so those would be safe for a pistol build, that then later gets converted to a +16" rifle with buttstock.

Just don't build it as a rifle first, and then swap parts to make it a pistol, and don't put your pistol upper on your stocked lower without a tax stamp.

[Emptymag]

I got that part. What I’m wondering is if I could transfer it as a pistol instead of a rifle

Why would you want it documented as anything other than "other"?

We spent a few years trying to STOP FFLs from requiring people to fill out paperwork that should not have been filled out.

[Gun]

I got that part. What I’m wondering is if I could transfer it as a pistol instead of a rifle

The part you got, was what you were asking about.

The FFL would have to transfer the lower as he had it in his books.


IANAL.

[marinville]

Why would you want it documented as anything other than "other"?

We spent a few years trying to STOP FFLs from requiring people to fill out paperwork that should not have been filled out.

I'm speculating here, but it sounds like he is planning a pistol build, but wants to use the stripped receiver, probably because it is cheaper than the virgin. So he wants to have the receiver documented as a pistol in an attempt to validate using it for a pistol build, which is likely not kosher anyway, since the odds are good that the stripped receiver was originally a rifle.

He should probably just spend the extra $30.

[Oldstate]

Depends on whether you're concerned about Federal or PA laws.

You can transfer a stripped lower as a non-firearm within PA. But you can't make a pistol from a lower that was part of a rifle in the past, that's an NFA SBR.

This is basically what I'm worried about. The impitus for my question came from a conversation I had with a gun store manager. When I mentioned buying a pistol lower to build a pistol AR he said "we don't transfer lowers with any designation in PA" implying that it didnt matter what the lower was originally if it was being transfered from out of state to a new owner. My question then was "if the lower was original made at a factory as a rifle then what?" He again said that in PA they just transfer the lower. There is no desgnation as to what it is.

Is there a Federal record or if it is stripped and sold does it just become an "other" in PA? I came away thinking that is what he was tyring to say but he wasnt very convincing. Hence why I am asking here.

[marinville]

This is basically what I'm worried about. The impitus for my question came from a conversation I had with a gun store manager. When I mentioned buying a pistol lower to build a pistol AR he said "we don't transfer lowers with any designation in PA" implying that it didnt matter what the lower was originally if it was being transfered from out of state to a new owner. My question then was "if the lower was original made at a factory as a rifle then what?" He again said that in PA they just transfer the lower. There is no desgnation as to what it is.

Is there a Federal record or if it is stripped and sold does it just become an "other" in PA? I came away thinking that is what he was tyring to say but he wasnt very convincing. Hence why I am asking here.

On his end, both stripped and virgin lowers are transferred as other. For his purposes, the history of the receiver does not matter.

On your end, wanting to build a pistol, it matters if it was originally a rifle, and there is documentation from the original manufacturer regarding this. The ATF either has or can access this information. Similar to the trace they run when a firearm is found at a crime scene.

I am not a lawyer, and have been incorrect once before.

Buy the virgin lower.