NFA Questions

[txfireguy2003]

Hi guys, been a while since I posted here. Texas Whitetail season took up a lot of my time this year. Anyway, I have a few questions about SBR’s.

For a little background, I currently have a Bushmaster carbine with 16" bbl. I am considering building another rifle with top notch parts from LMT, BCM, Larue etc, it will be a long process as I’ll have to buy one piece at a time. I want to make an SBR out of it, and I understand the registration process and all that, $200 etc, but I have a few questions about multiple rifles and SBR regulations.

1. I have read that if you have a SBR and a non SBR, you had better only have one SBR upper, or an equal number of SBR uppers and lowers. In other words, if I have one of each lower, and a non-SBR upper for my non-SBR lower, but have two SBR uppers, then I have constructive possession of two SBR rifles and could be in deep doo-doo. Is that true?
2. If I have an SBR lower, can I then put a non-SBR upper on it and still be legal?
3. I guess, what it comes down to, is should I register my Bushmaster lower as an SBR, or would that preclude me from being able to put a 16", 20" or 24" upper on it for hunting purposes?

What if I just bought a stripped pistol lower to keep around, so that if anyone asked, that extra SBR upper is actually for the pistol lower that is still under construction? Would that fly or does it have to be a complete pistol lower?

Thanks in advance guys.

[dbrowne1]

@txfireguy2003

Hi guys, been a while since I posted here. Texas Whitetail season took up a lot of my time this year. Anyway, I have a few questions about SBR’s.

For a little background, I currently have a Bushmaster carbine with 16" bbl. I am considering building another rifle with top notch parts from LMT, BCM, Larue etc, it will be a long process as I’ll have to buy one piece at a time. I want to make an SBR out of it, and I understand the registration process and all that, $200 etc, but I have a few questions about multiple rifles and SBR regulations.

1. I have read that if you have a SBR and a non SBR, you had better only have one SBR upper, or an equal number of SBR uppers and lowers. In other words, if I have one of each lower, and a non-SBR upper for my non-SBR lower, but have two SBR uppers, then I have constructive possession of two SBR rifles and could be in deep doo-doo. Is that true?
2. If I have an SBR lower, can I then put a non-SBR upper on it and still be legal?
3. I guess, what it comes down to, is should I register my Bushmaster lower as an SBR, or would that preclude me from being able to put a 16", 20" or 24" upper on it for hunting purposes?

What if I just bought a stripped pistol lower to keep around, so that if anyone asked, that extra SBR upper is actually for the pistol lower that is still under construction? Would that fly or does it have to be a complete pistol lower?

Thanks in advance guys.

1. Having no more than one short upper per SBR lower would be the conservative approach, but I have not seen any authority (i.e., case law or even an ATF letter) that says you cannot have more than one short upper per lower. Many folks do it and don’t seem to end up in jail, but you can decide for yourself.

2. Yes, you can put a 16"+ upper on your SBR lower - however, it is still a registered SBR and must be treated as such in all regards. That means no loaning it out to people, no transporting it across state lines w/o the approved paperwork, etc.

3. That’s entirely up to you. Personally, I’d buy a new lower for any number of reasons and make it a dedicated SBR.

[txfireguy2003]

Thanks dbrown1, that’s the info I needed. I was just worried about having more SBR uppers than SBR lowers AND another lower that is not SBR registered. I doubt it will turn out to be a problem, but you never know.