I read the Newbies' Guide® For Making an AR Pistol & Staying Legal but what about...

[ENTHUSIAST]

80% Lowers? How do you LEGALLY manufacture an AR pistol from a forging?

What should you mark on the lower other than "Pistol" and serial number?

Can I make up my own mfg name if I complete an 80% lower kit?

Can I make up my own serial number?

And when if ever, MUST I register my 80% lower and if I mfg it do I still have to go through the Single Shot business or can I skip this step if its from an 80% lower?

Is there a limit of 5 homebuilds a year or is it you can only sell 5 homebuilds a year?

I have read this entire thread:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=115364

And I checked here to:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=110703

*oaklander,technique, uclaplinker HELP!!!* -THANKS

[bwiese]

I'll put aside the "80% crap" for a second....

You shouldn't make an 'unsafe' handgun - thus you should go thru the single-shot transition (cheap enough, all it takes is a mag lock & a sled and closing off the gas port with an upside-down 1/2" stub of gas tube). You should ensure the bbl is 6" min length and overall length is min. 10.5".

After it exists in that form you should file handgun registration form with DOJ.

Your gun can say anything on it - "Billybob's Firearms Model# 000001" etc.
You might have to use, as Oaklander writes, "Made in USA" for the manufacturer given the screwy way DOJ BoF does its database.

Once filed, you can transition your gun into whatever legal non-AW configuration you'd like.

About "80%": there is no friggin' such thing as "80%" firearm and I keep warning people and they still don't get it (look what happened to the bozos over at KT Ordnance). It is not codified anywhere in Fed or state law or regulation. One idiot's 53% is perhaps a skilled machinist's 91% - thus it all varies with skill, experience & tooling. If you ordered a "80%" item that is too close you could get popped for not using an FFL across state lines, etc. If you have a blank forging and are gonna mill/drill/broach all the openings, that's a pretty safe place to start, as are AK flats from Ewbanks etc. The idea is it should take you quite a bit of work to get there.


That said, it seems to be easier just to order/DROS a single-shot AR pistol.

[aplinker]

That said, it seems to be easier just to order/DROS a single-shot AR pistol.

Not to mention 80% lowers aren't cheap, and everyone I know who's done a raw forging has spent more on labor/bits/etc. to get it done than a commercial lower.

ARs are buy, AKs are build.

[ENTHUSIAST]

ARs are buy, AKs are build.

Cost prohibitive, got it.