SSE AR pistol question

[wireless]

I called a shop today to see if I could SSE a stripped AR lower as a pistol so I could build my own. He said that's illegal and they couldn't do it, yet they sold complete AR pistols. Is this true? Doesn't make sense to me and I said okay and hung up.

[NiteQwill]

Unless you are LEO, you cannot DROS bare lower receiver as a pistol.

You have several options:
Buy a complete AR pistol
Mill and 80% receiver
Buy one PPT

Remember, SSE involves the single shot conversion of a COMPLETE gun. Not just a receiver. It must be functionally complete.

[wireless]

Ah okay, makes sense. So I have to buy a complete gun. Bummer.

[cosmos7]

Or build from an 80% receiver...

[james758]

OR.....................
Get a Sig 556 pistol. Much nicer and lives longer. You can add a pistol buffer to get sort of a cheek weld, or keep it as is to keep the length down.
Plus they are generally less expensive than an AR pistol.
Just another option.

[KGenter]

Franklin Armory as complete AR pistol, they are even in CA

[SC_SD]

I called a shop today to see if I could SSE a stripped AR lower as a pistol so I could build my own. He said that's illegal and they couldn't do it, yet they sold complete AR pistols. Is this true?

Firearms through form 4473 are typically listed as "rifle", "pistol", or "other".

When you put in a stripped lower through form 4473 in, say, AZ, you can list it as "other", allowing you to hand build it as a pistol. In CA, however, when you DROS a stripped lower, the only available option in the DROS software that CA FFLs use is "rifle".

That obviously precludes it from being built as a pistol. You also can't force the software to accept it as "pistol" because a stripped lower is off-roster.

That is the actual mechanics of why it won't work.

Remember, SSE involves the single shot conversion of a COMPLETE gun. Not just a receiver. It must be functionally complete.

Everything in niteQwill's comment is correct. RE the part I quoted, since I had this the same question at one time, the reason why you can't buy an AR pistol upper, let's say 10", and bring it to your FFL and have them slap it on a completed lower received then DROS it as a pistol through SSE is that that constitutes manufacturing in the eyes of the ATF.

For that they would need an 07 FFL which is less common, and the FFL would have to be willing to give up one of their allowable manufactures for what in the end would be a low margin sale (they have limits, etc max 50 manufactures / yr). If they primarily are a gun shop, they are unlikely to want to "waste" one on a low margin use.

All in all, your best bet is buy completed pistol and SSE, buy PPT, or build your own via 80% route.

It's hard to "buy cheap" because if you buy a completed pistol via SSE, then you may end up replacing a lot of low quality parts, and the liquidity of random handguards and BCGs is very low. If you replace those parts for higher quality you end up double paying, ie, $950 for complete pistol, then another $500 for quality parts.

If you PPT, then yes you may get a nice build, but also is used and possibly customized in a way that is not to your liking (plus sellers often want top $, ~1500 and up).

If you go 80%, then you get the best ability to buy what you want, but have to learn what to do / get the right tools for the job.

Hope that helps.