registering a lower into a pistol lower

[nowhere]

i have a friend that's an leo. I'm giving him my lower. But he wants to make it a pistol lower. Can he register it as a pistol lower when we go and do the tranfer?

[ke6guj]

i have a friend that's an leo. I'm giving him my lower. But he wants to make it a pistol lower. Can he register it as a pistol lower when we go and do the tranfer?

when you purchased the lower, it would've probably been DROSed as a long gun. It is thought that a long gun DROS forever taints that lower as a "long gun only" lower and any future assembly as a pistol would make it an illegal SBR in CA.

So, if it was tainted as a long gun when you bought it, just reDROSing it as a pistol later wouldn't be OK. Otherwise you'd be hearing of people trying to launder a long gun DROSed lower into a pistol lower through PPTs all the time.

[franklinarmory]

when you purchased the lower, it would've probably been DROSed as a long gun. It is thought that a long gun DROS forever taints that lower as a "long gun only" lower and any future assembly as a pistol would make it an illegal SBR in CA.

So, if it was tainted as a long gun when you bought it, just reDROSing it as a pistol later wouldn't be OK. Otherwise you'd be hearing of people trying to launder a long gun DROSed lower into a pistol lower through PPTs all the time.

The original post did not say whether it was originally a complete firearm or not, but if it was simply a stripped receiver, I thought the lower receivers were sold as "frame only." Forgive me if I'm clouding the waters since we do not do DROS paperwork. (We only sell to dealerships so we don't have to deal with that headache.) But do dealerships have to indicate "long gun" on the DROS paperwork? They can't just indicate "frame only" just like the 4473?

[OCArmory]

There is no frame option on the DROS, only long gun and handgun. You can't DROS it as a handgun because it doesn't conform with the safe handguns roster.
Mike

[jdberger]

However - I think that you can vol-reg it as a handgun as long as it wasn't transferred as a rifle on the 4473.

I've seen (with my own eyes) such an approval from the BOF. I've also heard of such a rejection.

[nowhere]

There is no frame option on the DROS, only long gun and handgun. You can't DROS it as a handgun because it doesn't conform with the safe handguns roster.
Mike

thank you guys. someone was giving me false info so i had to make sure.

If he was to buy a new lower from a dealer, would he be able to dros it as a pistol then? since it's not a ppt and the lower isn't drosed yet.

[ke6guj]

since he is an LEO, he can purchase non-rostered handguns, so he should be able to DROS that lower as a pistol. I have heard issues with trying to DROS it as a pistol when there are no caliber and barrel dimensions, even as an LEO, but that might be FUD that an FFL should be able to clarify.

[thedrickel]

The big ambiguity is . . . does the long gun DROS *REALLY* taint the receiver's status as a frame/receiver only? Does anybody have anything to back up their opinion one way or the other?

(THE REST OF THIS POST IS A big "IMHO" . . . )


I don't think the long gun DROS taints the status of the receiver if no buttstock or 16" bbl are attached. It doesn't magically become a long gun just because the CA DOJ says it is. (And if they claim that it does, it is an underground regulation IMO.)

Get the thing registered as a pistol either by a volreg or PPT. No cop will look beyond that listing on your AFS (assuming they have a general handle on the whole OLL/BB phenomenon).