Legal way to build this as 9mm AR?

[Starslinger]

I think I understand most of the crazy CA gun laws, but I'm not quite sure about pistol braces and magazine compliance devices. I'd like to create an 9mm pistol with a brace that looks like the Battle Arms Development CCS/PDW as in the picture link. If I found an AR9 pistol or AR9 lower receiver for sale, could I build something like this? If I built it, I would need a device that opens the action of the firearm to drop the magazine in order to be legal, right? Thanks for any information on this.

https://imgur.com/a/uqKrCui

[LateBraking]

AR9 pistol/pistol-registered lower yes. Generic AR9 lower, no, since that's considered a long gun receiver. Cannot take a long gun receiver and make a pistol out of it, or change a long gun into a pistol.

You can always consider getting a 9mm pistol upper, any standard AR-pistol/AR-pistol-registered lower, and getting EndoMags. Will be a lot easier than finding a AR9 Pistol or AR9 Pistol-registered lower. Won't 100% fit your aesthetic, but you may be searching for a very long time if you're insistent on obtaining an AR9 pistol-registered lower.

https://www.meanarms.com/products/detail/endomag-9mm

https://www.meanarms.com/products/detail/endomag-9mm-restrictive-states

Yep you're gonna have to be mag locked.

[Starslinger]

Okay so it's a registered lower I would need. Thank you.

[plumbum]

Okay so it's a registered lower I would need. Thank you.

[EsotericEpsilon]

PISTOL lower, not just any lower, as LateBreaking mentioned above. If not then you'd be making an SBR.

[LateBraking]

Okay so it's a registered lower I would need. Thank you.

Just for clarity - a “registered” lower, is generally meant as a “registered assault weapon”, and cannot be transferred. What you want to find is someone who has a Glock mag compatible AR pistol lower for sale in a private party transfer.

PISTOL lower, not just any lower, as LateBreaking mentioned above. If not then you'd be making an SBR.

I mean technically everything is registered in some way now since 2018-ish, but yeah, I don't mean a registered AW. I mean an AR9 lower receiver or complete AR9 pistol that was originally DROSed as a pistol, and not a generic long gun receiver like basically 99.9% of all lowers in CA. Slapping on a short barrel upper on a generic AR9 lower = SBR like Esoteric said.

Short real-life answer, and not to burst your bubble, but it's probably not gonna realistically happen in this state. Easier to move to a different state.

[Starslinger]

Okay. Thanks for the clarifications folks.

[Quiet]

How the factory virgin receiver was DROS'd or registered determines how and if it can legally be utilized to make a CA legal handgun.

If the factory (07-FFL created) virgin (never used to make a functional firearm) receiver was DROS'd or registered as a "long gun, rifle, receiver"; then it can not be legally used to make a "handgun" and doing so, would result in an illegal SBR and not a "handgun".

If the factory (07-FFL created) virgin receiver was DROS'd or registered as a "handgun, pistol, receiver/frame"; then it can legally be used to only make a dimensionally compliant bolt-action single-shot pistol or dimensionally compliant break-open single-shot pistol.
Per CA DOJ, a handgun that is made as a a dimensionally compliant bolt-action single-shot pistol or dimensionally compliant break-open single-shot pistol, needs to remain configured as such in order to remain CA legal.

If the factory (07-FFL created) virgin receiver was DROS'd or registered as a "handgun, pistol, semi-auto" or "handgun, pistol, semi-auto, receiver/frame"; then it can be used to make a semi-auto pistol that does not violate CA assault weapons laws and CA prohibited weapons laws.

[naz]

[Milsurp1]

Easiest way to build an AR pistol in California is to rent a U Haul and move to Arizona.

[tigerpan]

Good luck that. Just get 80% Lower and play with it.

[jsigone]

move or embrace the ***** laws




aka live w/ 16"-17" barrel+brake

PCC is only fun w/ those freedom mags of 2019...10rounds goes way to fast. It's a bullet hose and eat 9mm ammo like a buffet table.

[Mr. Blue]

Granted your tastes in aesthetics are far different than mine, the Ruger PC with free float M Lok rail is super fun. I held off on it for a few years because I wanted a more traditional AR Pistol. I think the laws prior to 2019 allowed for a CA resident to obtain a pistol lower, register and build accordingly. Now AR Pistol lowers seem to be similar to auto sears and the like. There are only a limited supply left in the state. Of course you can buy a pistol from franklin armory, but I just don’t know about swapping those into semi-auto.

[edgerly779]

Cannot make semi auto pistol from 80% in Ca. That ship sailed years ago.

[LateBraking]

Granted your tastes in aesthetics are far different than mine, the Ruger PC with free float M Lok rail is super fun. I held off on it for a few years because I wanted a more traditional AR Pistol. I think the laws prior to 2019 allowed for a CA resident to obtain a pistol lower, register and build accordingly. Now AR Pistol lowers seem to be similar to auto sears and the like. There are only a limited supply left in the state. Of course you can buy a pistol from franklin armory, but I just don’t know about swapping those into semi-auto.

I mean there is an AR-15 pistol on the roster right now. Franklin Armory's bolt-action repeater pistol that was added to the roster/approved by CADOJ.

The problem is that he wants an AR-9 with 9mm magazine cosmetics/looks instead of using an EndoMag 9mm magazine insert in a standard Magpul Pmag, and that there is not a single legal AR9 pistol on roster (nor was there ever). Baaaaack in the day, some people got them via the SSE exemption, but that ended like 6 or 7(?, something like that) years ago. AR9 is a bit of a recent fad as well, and there didn't used to be that many companies making AR9s during the SSE days, so he's working with a shockingly small supply pool, and dependent on someone actually wanting to sell one from said small supply pool.

Good luck that. Just get 80% Lower and play with it.

Cannot make semi auto pistol from 80% in Ca. That ship sailed years ago.

edgerly is correct, it's scary how many people are probably misled by old information when Googling though, which isn't their fault. CA laws regarding firearms change at a mind-spinning pace. Or as Judge Benitez said, our laws are “filled with criminal law traps for people of common intelligence who desire to obey the law.”