folding stocks...why?

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I can carry my AK w/20-round magazine in a folding camp chair bag, bat bag or large tennis bag with the stock folded. Looks nothing like a gun would be inside. :cool:
 
I've got an M70AB underfolder. If you practice with it folded it's not too bad as long as your not firing beyond 50 meters. Same for the cheekweld problem with the stock extended.

Practice. Adapt.
 
I have a chunky looking choate side folder on my Cetme. I also have a fixed stock too, and its a 10 second job to switch them out. Shootingwise there is not a lot between them, although more flimsy folding stocks can be a pita - I would not personally have anything on my rifles which compromise accuracy.

As the others have said, the number one reason for a folder is transport and/or concealability; not for shooting while folded. I do think a lot of people also have them purely for 'tacticool' reasons though.
 
One provisio to the Michigan law that many overlook is that according to the same law that permits you to do so,....once you register that long gun based folder as a pistol,..it is ALWAYS a pistol from then on. You cannot convert it back and have it legally be a long gun,...and it then falls under both purchase restriction and registration requirments as a handgun. A trade off. Is it worth doing it?? Your call. I registered mine so it COULD be transported in the vehicle as a handgun with a CCW. I always carry the inspection certificate designating it as a pistol as well. (Just in case there's any doubt from the officer questioning its status.) Another side note,...this being generated from a couple other peculiar Michigan gun laws,....it can be carried openly afield during non-hunting seasons as a handgun if I chose to do so,...or concealed with my CCW if I cared to try to. YMMV
 
I've been on this AK-74 researching kick for about a week now reading everything I can about all the different makers and variants currently available. I've looked at lots of awesome pictures and read lots of useful opinions. One thing I just don't get is the whole folding stock thing.
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As far as the folders on Ak's go, remmenber the origional plan for them. Thousands of tropps pouring out of the back of APV's firing full auto AK"s as they rush the enemy. Most of the old trainning footage of Russian troops showed them doing this and firing from the hip.Having the folders made it easier to get in and out of the APV's.
 
One provisio to the Michigan law that many overlook is that according to the same law that permits you to do so,....once you register that long gun based folder as a pistol,..it is ALWAYS a pistol from then on. You cannot convert it back and have it legally be a long gun,...and it then falls under both purchase restriction and registration requirments as a handgun. A trade off. Is it worth doing it?? Your call. I registered mine so it COULD be transported in the vehicle as a handgun with a CCW. I always carry the inspection certificate designating it as a pistol as well. (Just in case there's any doubt from the officer questioning its status.) Another side note,...this being generated from a couple other peculiar Michigan gun laws,....it can be carried openly afield during non-hunting seasons as a handgun if I chose to do so,...or concealed with my CCW if I cared to try to. YMMV
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Does that have any impact on NFA status?
 
...once you register that long gun based folder as a pistol,..it is ALWAYS a pistol from then on. You cannot convert it back and have it legally be a long gun...
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I thought that you couldn't create a pistol from a long gun, but could do the reverse. Also thought it was illegal to stock a pistol regardless of the state. :confused:
 
^ Welcome to Michigan!

That's federal law. MI state law defines a pistol as any firearm with a [shortest config] fire-able OAL under 30". So, say I wanted to buy a MSAR AUG clone (or AKU, or ect.). I would have to go and get a pistol purchase permit in order to buy said weapon.

However, if my source isn't wrong, one may take, for example, a normal-stocked AK and affix a folding stock to it. (OR mod the receiver to take an underfolder) and one would not have to register it as a pistol.
 
Not a lawyer,...but I played one in a school play once about 50 years ago,....

Answer to the NFA question,...not sure. Interesting dilema though. I took the carbine to the Sheriff's dept,...with the origional stock on it,..and a Choate folder. Proposed the question to them well in advance to give them time to research and render their opinion/determination. Removed the stock, and had the county undersheriff put the stock on it,...and HE measure it to make certain it complied with it being 26" or longer folded. It did. The carbine was promptly registered in the state of Michigan under what I presume to be appropriate legal authority as a pistol. AFAIAC,...end of story. I have a Michigan legal "pistol".

As to the NFA issue,..I would think not,..( again,...I am not a lawyer!).....as there were no other mods. I guess would have to defer to other more learned folks to make the call on that one. I don't plan on taking it out of Michigan...nor sell it though,...so,...I don't really give a care. If I am in the wrong,...I guess there be a whole bunch of us in that same boat, ....including a couple of elected officials,..and a few local LEO's. If and when the ATF folks show up,...I sure hope they bring their own beer and smokes. It could turn out to be a very long day.
 
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I thought that you couldn't create a pistol from a long gun, but could do the reverse. Also thought it was illegal to stock a pistol regardless of the state.
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The rule is you may make a PISTOL into a RIFLE. That is totally legal. You may NOT make any firearm "made from a rifle" that is less than 16" barrel and 26" over all length without first registering it under Title II of the NFA'34. That's directly from the wording of the National Firearms Act of 1934.

You also may not add a buttstock to a pistol without adding a 16"+ barrel or you'll have created an unregistered Title II "Short Barreled Rifle."

The present point of debate is that, since the reinterpretation of Thompson vs. US by the BATFE a couple of years ago, once a rifle is created -- even by simply adding a buttstock and longer barrel to a pistol -- it is a RIFLE, period, in the eyes of the BATFE. What that means is if you buy a Glock or 1911 and install the pistol frame into a Mech-Tech carbine kit, for example, you have now made a rifle. You cannot convert it back to a pistol form without violating the wording of NFA '34. Even putting the factory barrel back in would be considered making an unregistered Title II firearm. (This also applies to T/C Contender and Encore pistols.)

Still waiting for someone to get nailed and be a test case on this ... but it 'aint gonna be ME.
 
Thanx Sam1911.

Mine's a Marlin Camp 9 Carbine. It has a 16 inch barrel, and is EXACTLEY 26 1/16 inches overall length with a Choate folder on it,..as measured by the Sheriff's deptartment.

THEY registered it as a pistol under MICHIGAN law...... I am satisfied with that.

In that the barrel is NOT less than 16 inches,..and it is MORE than 26 inches overall folded,...I would have to presume NFA doesn't apply here.

I guess I have a pistol in Michigan,...and a carbine with a folding stock outside of Michigan. Again,...I'm satisfied.

What about the rest of you Michiganders with folders. You care to weigh in here?
 
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