Least Expensive CA "Compliant" AR Fixed Mag Setup 2025! Less than $10!

[BrokerB]

Freedom fight kit...blah. Im still a armaglock with king pin setup fan. You dont need to drill other holes in your lower, you will have magazine release and the upper is not flopping around. you can use one hand to put a new magazine in and dont have to stand up to "freedom fight". I appreciate their innovation, but its not a better Kali Kommie system.

[xounlistedxox]

Freedom fight kit...blah. Im still a armaglock with king pin setup fan. You dont need to drill other holes in your lower, you will have magazine release and the upper is not flopping around. you can use one hand to put a new magazine in and dont have to stand up to "freedom fight". I appreciate their innovation, but its not a better Kali Kommie system.

One of those kits you mention cost more than outfitting 50+ rifles with the method I shared. I'm not too worried about drilling a single hole in my lower, there are already plenty of holes that were drilled already.

[Ki6vsm]

One of those kits you mention cost more than outfitting 50+ rifles with the method I shared. I'm not too worried about drilling a single hole in my lower, there are already plenty of holes that were drilled already.

I'll admit, I have not read every post in this thread, so I apologize if I'm covering some old ground. But.... playing devil's advocate...

Most of us aren't so strapped for cash that they'd consider such a primitive form of magazine locking. Also, you as much as admit that this is not intended for a rifle that will actually be used while "compliant":

The idea behind this type of setup (for me) is that you have something that keeps you "compliant" for very little investment and you can change it very easily in seconds when you're out of California, then change it back very easily when returning to California.

So it renders an AR pretty much useless while in CA. I remember reading and someone correct my if I'm wrong, that you could just leave the rifle in the safe and separate the Upper from the Lower to achieve a "safe" condition from a legal standpoint. No longer considered a Semi-Auto at that point? That costs nothing. And then you could transport the two haves that way until they're out of state.

Plus, your method requires drilling a hole with some degree of precision. In my lifetime I've drilled hundreds of holes in steel and aluminum with hand-held drills, and I know better than to try doing this with a hand-held LOL. It's never perfect; with what I was doing it didn't need to be or I'd use a press. IMO, this really should be done using a drill press. Most people don't own a drill press and would probably be terrible operators of hand drills. So add the cost of a press, or the time spent to find a friend with one, and this becomes an expensive compliance solution.

[xounlistedxox]

I'll admit, I have not read every post in this thread, so I apologize if I'm covering some old ground. But.... playing devil's advocate...

Most of us aren't so strapped for cash that they'd consider such a primitive form of magazine locking. Also, you as much as admit that this is not intended for a rifle that will actually be used while "compliant":

So it renders an AR pretty much useless while in CA. I remember reading and someone correct my if I'm wrong, that you could just leave the rifle in the safe and separate the Upper from the Lower to achieve a "safe" condition from a legal standpoint. No longer considered a Semi-Auto at that point? That costs nothing. And then you could transport the two haves that way until they're out of state.

Plus, your method requires drilling a hole with some degree of precision. In my lifetime I've drilled hundreds of holes in steel and aluminum with hand-held drills, and I know better than to try doing this with a hand-held LOL. It's never perfect; with what I was doing it didn't need to be or I'd use a press. IMO, this really should be done using a drill press. Most people don't own a drill press and would probably be terrible operators of hand drills. So add the cost of a press, or the time spent to find a friend with one, and this becomes an expensive compliance solution.

This setup is primarily for those that will be using their rifles out of state, or during events that would create a WROL environment. I would never recommend removing the screw while in the state of Commifornistan. They are still just fine for doing transitions drills. Far from useless, primitive how? It's meant to be the least expensive method to make your AR California Compliant, not make it a tactical mall ninja device. I have Mini's, SU's, M14's, shotguns, Featureless builds and all sorts of other things I could use that are more than viable before needing to reach for one of these rifles with this mag lock setup.

It's a means to an end for sure, as I mentioned previously to set up all of my rifles over and over with the newest "fixed mag" gizmo because they banned the one you were just using would have cost a small fortune. The first "Approved" Lowers that I had way way back were the Vulcan "CA Approved" variants that had an epoxied 10/20 mag with a set screw also in the front of the receiver. For the first mag lock setup it was the Prince 50 (around $20), which was the same principle as this from the OP, but that would now be far too much in the gray area since the screw can be removed without disassembly of the action. Then it was on to the Bullet Button or Raddlock setup (both around $40 at the time IIRC), but they banned those. It was at this point that I searched for a more cost effective solution, which is what landed me on this.

I would much rather have the extra money for ammo to shoot rather than spend it on the next gadget for each of my builds. Has nothing to do with being strapped for cash or not. It's the allocation of that cash.

As far as having the two pieces separate, but still configurable as an AW as defined by California? I'm not all up to date on the 98463216546 CA Laws, but IIRC there are likely some Constructive Possession laws either from CA or the Feds that I wouldn't want to find out about the hard way.

These days I use a press, but have done this with a hand drill plenty of times without issue. Even if you factored in the cost of a drill press into this equation, you can get a smaller bench top one brand new for under $100, used for even less. It could still be a valuable method of locking your mag. Plus then you get to keep the drill press for anything else you may need it for down the road, so it's not like you lose that investment.

[Ki6vsm]

This setup is primarily for those that will be using their rifles out of state, or during events that would create a WROL environment. I would never recommend removing the screw while in the state of Commifornistan. They are still just fine for doing transitions drills. Far from useless, primitive how? It's meant to be the least expensive method to make your AR California Compliant, not make it a tactical mall ninja device. I have Mini's, SU's, M14's, shotguns, Featureless builds and all sorts of other things I could use that are more than viable before needing to reach for one of these rifles with this mag lock setup.

Yep. You made that loud and clear---it's for owning a rifle that's only to be used out of state. The concept seems strange to me. I not really in the shooting community, socially, so I don't know what other people do with their ARs. Me, I just head out to the desert. If you say there are people willing to own rifles that must be driven 250 miles away, I cannot argue. Then I guess, this product has a purpose. I'm warming up to it.

Me, I've got one Lower with a paddle grip, couple of Radlock-registered rifles fully kitted out, and a couple of older registered rifles that required no neutering. But your mod wouldn't be a bad thing to do with a spare lower receiver I might have sitting in the safe. And luckily, i already have a HF bench-top drill press. I wouldn't consider it otherwise. I wouldn't want to ding up the receiver. Even in place that can't be seen.

As far as having the two pieces separate, but still configurable as an AW as defined by California? I'm not all up to date on the 98463216546 CA Laws, but IIRC there are likely some Constructive Possession laws either from CA or the Feds that I wouldn't want to find out about the hard way.

Yeah. As said, I'm not up to date either. I'd want to look it up first; no need to at this moment. But I recall something in the law stating that a weapon (with AR15 given as an example) separated into its two main components is not considered a semi-automatic firearm. Don't know if that was ever revised/revoked. And TBH, I personally wouldn't sleep soundly relying on it. Could still end up in an expensive legal situation even if later vindicated.

I also see your method as a way of locking OUT a mag, if yo want an even greater sense/look of CA compliance for some reason. However, that isn't really any more "legal" than just locking the mag in place. With the mag locked in the receiver, if you ever have to grab the rifle in a hurry to head out of state, the mag is right there with the rifle at all times. Can't, oops, be left behind. And you can even tape the needed Allen key to the bottom of the magazine.