Dumb AR-15 question

Josey1

I have an RRA AR-15 complete lower in my safe. Can I marry a
DPMS .308 upper to it?

Josey1

This may be a dumb question but I have the opportunity to buy a pre-ban complete lower for a Colt AR-15,real cheap too,but what I want to know is that if I have a pre-ban lower can I put a post ban upper on it and add a flash supressor or does it have to be a pre-ban upper as well.Also,if you have an AR-15 A2 which is a pre-ban,can you remove the full stock and replace it with an M-4 collapsable as well as put a 16" barrel pre or post ban.I thought I had the answers to these ?'s but I heard somewhere different so I would like to hear some other opinions.BTW,I am talking about the Federal Assault weapon ban not state as anything legal federally is legal in my state.Thanks to any and all help,Josey.

"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

cpermd

There are a gob of opinions on this.
BATF opinion letter says if it ever loses its preban features then it is Postban.
Does that mean if you take the upper off to clean it it is now Postban??
My advice is to do what you want with it.
I like the FH and Telestocks on my Prebans.

JudgeColt

Doc is right. Once it loses it "pre-ban" features by being separated from the qualifying parts, it becomes post-ban. Therefore, no "forbidden" features may be added now. Merely disassembling an "assault weapon," as long as all the parts are still under the control of the owner, does not remove it from "pre-ban" status.

As a practical matter, there appear to be thousands of pre-ban lowers that have been assembled into pre-ban configuration "asasault weapons" after 9-13-94, many unintentionally and probably more intentionally. How can anyone tell? It would be difficult to prove when the unit was assembled, unless there is a paper trail of parts, etc..

If a rifle is a true "pre-ban," you can make any modifications to it you want that do not themselves viollate the law. (You cannot legally convert one to full-auto, for instance.)

You might see if your seller still has the original parts that made this lower a complete rifle at one time, buy the whole rifle with the upper, buy the new upper pre-ban you want, and then finally sell the first upper back to the original seller. All legal, and you have what you want, a legal pre-ban.

Good luck.

JustC

been doing a lot of research on this topic lately myself. From what I have learned, all of the above information is very good/correct. To answer one more of your questions, which JudgeColt may have already done, is, yes, I beleive you can buy a post ban upper and have it threaded for the suppressor. Be sure to follow the advice on buying the entire rifle so as to have no confusion with the ATF as to what you purchased. Once that is done, you are free to swap parts/uppers/ etc.

BATF main office (202) 927-7910

A great rifle with a junk scope,....is junk.