Buffer tube only?

[Rambler1]

As long as I have my AR with an overall length of 31" and barrel length of 16" do I have to have a butt stock or can I just leave it with a buffer tube only?

[ir0nclash86]

Now I could be wrong but I believe overall length is 30" minimum and you can just use the buffer tube if you want for your rifle.

[Rambler1]

Well, that is what I was thinking but you never know...
Thanks

[19K]

Is 1.5inches too long to add a stock?

With a stock I think it’s 32inches.

[ar15barrels]

As long as I have my AR with an overall length of 31" and barrel length of 16" do I have to have a butt stock or can I just leave it with a buffer tube only?

Not having a stock changes the firearm from a rifle to an "other" so the laws which apply are different.
Having a stock makes it a rifle so then the rifle law applies instead of the "other" law.

As long as you stay within these confines, you should be fine without a stock on your "other" firearm:

30515.
(a) Notwithstanding Section 30510, ?assault weapon? also means any of the following:

(9) A semiautomatic centerfire firearm that is not a rifle, pistol, or shotgun, that does not have a fixed magazine, but that has any one of the following:

(A) A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon.

(B) A thumbhole stock.

(C) A folding or telescoping stock.

(D) A grenade launcher or flare launcher.

(E) A flash suppressor.

(F) A forward pistol grip.

(G) A threaded barrel, capable of accepting a flash suppressor, forward handgrip, or silencer.

(H) A second handgrip.

(I) A shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles, the barrel that allows the bearer to fire the weapon without burning the bearer?s hand, except a slide that encloses the barrel.

(J) The capacity to accept a detachable magazine at some location outside of the pistol grip.

So as you can see, it's not possible to have a featureless "other' AR as the magazine well is outside of the pistol grip.
If you have a fixed magazine, then none of the features matter.

[Rambler1]

what if I remove the gas tube. plug the port, and make it a single shot

[ar15barrels]

what if I remove the gas tube. plug the port, and make it a single shot

If it?s not semi-auto, it can?t be an assault weapon.

[ldsnet]

what if I remove the gas tube. plug the port, and make it a single shot

Instead of modifying the upper, get a Kalikey ... keeps the gas tube in place, but no gas system within the BCG (makes the gun a bolt-action repeater)

[jimbo74]

If it?s not semi-auto, it can?t be an assault weapon.

There are people that say that is a broken assualt weapon... so.... to each their own I guess

[ar15barrels]

There are people that say that is a broken assualt weapon... so.... to each their own I guess

That mostly depends on if you are also a prohibited person or not.

If you are a prohibited person, simply having a firearm of ANY type is problematic and the charges for disassembled assault weapons are add-ons to the simple possession by a prohibited person since just the disassembled receiver is still a firearm even though its not semiautomatic.

https://casetext.com/case/people-v-nguyen-85

[bwiese]

There are people that say that is a broken assualt weapon... so.... to each their own I guess

You're conflating 'broken' with intentional reconfiguration.

The Chaker case (trial court, nonprecedential) in SoCal a coupla decades
ago involved a dude with an off-list FAL clone who removed the bolt
carrier [approximate events description]. He was still busted for AW
possession. It was a bit constructive possessiony but there was no other
real outcome for that gun with what he had. There IIRC was also other
'color' in the case involving illegal acquisition - might not have been able
to testify in his own behalf.

The current regulatory code even allows split-apart separated ARs as
non-AWs!!! (Don't count on this keeping you from being arrested or
applying to different architecture guns).

And remember, a gun like a FAL clone has an adjustable gas port. Just
closing it to manual cycling doesn't make it a non-AW!!

But a gun configured intentionally to NOT be semiauto (gas port blocked
with a 1/2" stub + full gas tube removed, maybe gas key removed on
carrier, etc.) is readily defendable as a manually cycled rifle.

Otherwise every gun could be regarded as illegal - including a single action
revolver (all you need is installing a gas port/gas tube and welding a bit of
a piston like thingy on the hammmer and it'll cycle thru all rounds FA if
you hold the trigger down) - etc etc.