Pistol to carbine conversion legality

[AJAX22]

If a pistol is converted to a carbine (featureless build with a sharkfin grip or something) is it bound by the pistol AW laws or is it regulated by the rifle AW laws?

can it be 26 inches long? can it have a threaded barrel? can it have a detachable magazine outside of the grip?

how does the law apply to these? which regulations are they subject to?

[gose]

If a pistol is converted to a carbine (featureless build with a sharkfin grip or something) is it bound by the pistol AW laws or is it regulated by the rifle AW laws?
can it be 26 inches long? can it have a threaded barrel? can it have a detachable magazine outside of the grip?
how does the law apply to these? which regulations are they subject to?

A rifle converted to a pistol must be registered with ATF as a pistol, SBR or AOW, depending on your setup, not really sure how it applies from pistol to rifle.

A pistol with rifle "features" might venture you into AW laws on a state level and NFA laws on federal, so make sure you know what you're doing.

[ts]

I believe what ever the receiver is registered as it has to stay that way. It's not like humans - we can't be born a man and decide we want a sex change when we're 40 and pay a few bucks.

[soopafly]

If a pistol is converted to a carbine (featureless build with a sharkfin grip or something) is it bound by the pistol AW laws or is it regulated by the rifle AW laws?

can it be 26 inches long? can it have a threaded barrel? can it have a detachable magazine outside of the grip?

how does the law apply to these? which regulations are they subject to?

A pistol converted to a carbine would bring it into "rifle" status, legally speaking. Make the resulting firearm SB23 compliant.

[hoffmang]

We've hashed on this a bit before, but I don't think you can escape the "assault pistol" definitions in California.

-Gene

[dfletcher]

If we use the Mech Tech carbine as example, slapping a 1911 frame on it turns it into an AW (rifle) because it has a greater than 16" bbl, pistol grip & detachable mag - correct?

Now, Mech Tech also sells the unit with a collapsible (and easily removeable) wire stock. I'd bet you can buy the unit without the wire stock & in most states you'd have just a very long barreled pistol. In CA you'd have an AW (pistol) because it has a barrel shroud - correct?

Would anyone want to make the case here that a Mech Tech unit without the stock would be OK in CA as a pistol? Is there anyway to interpret what at 1st review is a barrel shroud as instead simply part of the action?

[hoffmang]

It does look like you can pin a magazine and avoid SB-23 though that doesn't seem very practical.

(4) A semiautomatic pistol that has the capacity to accept a
detachable magazine and any one of the following:
(A) A threaded barrel, capable of accepting a flash suppressor,
forward handgrip, or silencer.
(B) A second handgrip.
(C) A shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely
encircles, the barrel that allows the bearer to fire the weapon
without burning his or her hand, except a slide that encloses the
barrel.
(D) The capacity to accept a detachable magazine at some location
outside of the pistol grip.
(5) A semiautomatic pistol with a fixed magazine that has the
capacity to accept more than 10 rounds.

-Gene

[dfletcher]

I think "C" is the one that causes the problem re a Mech Tech pistol. Of course I'd bet that a mag release on a 1911 lends itself pretty well to some type of bullet button arrangement and that would apply to Mech Tech rifles also. Probably not worth it, I doubt there's a big market in Mech Techs.