80% build legality

[bullitt3123]

I have searched for the answer but I have not been able to find it so I know that when building an ar pistol certain steps must be followed for it to be legal although that in itself is still a grey area. So my question is, is it legal to finish a 1911 80% lower and assemble it since its not on the roster?

[Bullets&Whitewalls]

I was wondering about this myself

[PseudoTsuga]

Build it as a single shot, straight pull bolt action by putting in a 50 lb recoil spring (BUT DON'T FIRE IT THIS WAY) with a wooden or plastic mag blank and no mag release catch. Theoretically, firing a single shot would not move the slide to the rear and so it would not reciprocate.
Then, having built it as a single shot, put in a standard recoil spring and a mag catch?

[bullitt3123]

So same process as a ar pistol?

[Quiet]

I have searched for the answer but I have not been able to find it so I know that when building an ar pistol certain steps must be followed for it to be legal although that in itself is still a grey area. So my question is, is it legal to finish a 1911 80% lower and assemble it since its not on the roster?

Needs to be made to comply with CA unsafe handgun laws, CA dangerous weapons laws, and CA zip gun laws.

Unless you will be making it into a semi-auto pistol with a chamber load indicator (CLI), magazine disconnect mechanism (MDM), microstamping array, and submitting it to CA DOJ to be tested, it will need to be made as a dimensionally compliant single-shot break-top or bolt-action pistol.

Therefore, when completed your "80% receiver" will need to have:
1. a minimum 6" barrel length
2. a minimum 10.5" overall length
3. a break-top action or a bolt-action
4. a maglock + 0 round magazines/sled

[bullitt3123]

Needs to be made to comply with CA unsafe handgun laws, CA dangerous weapons laws, and CA zip gun laws.

Unless you will be making it into a semi-auto pistol with a chamber load indicator (CLI), magazine disconnect mechanism (MDM), microstamping array, and submitting it to CA DOJ to be tested, it will need to be made as a dimensionally compliant single-shot break-top or bolt-action pistol.

Therefore, when completed your "80% receiver" will need to have:
1. a minimum 6" barrel length
2. a minimum 10.5" overall length
3. a break-top action or a bolt-action
4. a maglock + 0 round magazines/sled

So then it cant be converted to semi after its made as a single shot?

[Merc1138]

So then it cant be converted to semi after its made as a single shot?

He didn't say that at all. It needs to be built as he described, once that is done then you can convert it.

[bullitt3123]

so then I could finish the 80% lower, attach the limited-10 break top upper and have it assembled by me to be within the law and not "manufactured" which I could then later remove the break top upper and add a regular slide to it.
the problem here is would the DOJ see this a manufacturing an unsafe handgun or and illegal handgun?

[Merc1138]

wth are you talking about not manufacturing something?

Build the thing as Quiet explained, you will have legally manufactured a handgun in CA. Since CA has no laws preventing you from altering a handgun from it's original configuration, you can reconfigure it as a semiauto handgun.

[M1NM]

Since there is no longer a SSE is it possible to build one?

[Merc1138]

Since there is no longer a SSE is it possible to build one?

SSE still exists, it's even explained in this thread

[bullitt3123]

So then if I do the mentioned steps above do I need to register it? Or how am I supposed to prove that I followed the correct process when/if asked by LEO

[Merc1138]

It's up to the state to prove that you didn't. If a LEO is asking you questions, it's time to get quiet because you're probably not going to talk yourself out of going to jail and will need to have a conversation with a lawyer.

[DazedandConfuzed]

Go to the gunsmithing threads and do a search. Vaderspade (a vendor on Calguns) has done a few. Also provides the service of engraving 80%ers.

[Bullets&Whitewalls]

Do any of those single shot tops for 1911's give you the correct overall length? I know I have seen them I just can't remember who makes them.