Is it legal?

[748]

I would like to get a Ruger 10/22 and put choped stock on it to make a pistol grip. Leaving the rest of the stock (fore arm) intact.
The barrel will most likely be 18" depending on the model (there are some 16" models).
OAL will be over 28" long, I measured a 16" youth model at the gun shop with a tape measure and a "choped" pistol grip would make it about 28.5" to 29", an 18" barrel would be +2".
Now that the brady bill is up it is legal to get a pistol with a mag forward of the trigger.
The ATF def of a pistol dosen't have a barrel lenght for pistols. Has to be griped by one hand, be designed as a pistol and have a rifled bore. That was about it.
It wouldn't be a SBR, that's for sure.
AOW's are sawed off shot guns and pistols with a second grip for your other hand to hold the gun with (grasped by 2 hands = not a pistol).
Now because I want to leave the fore arm would that make it an AOW?
But I'm sure it could be held by one hand.
Would I have to cut back the fore arm to keep non NFA weapon status?
That makes me ask Are the AR pistols really just pistols?
Would a choped pistol stock 10/22 with 16"+ barrel and 28"+ OAL just make some kind of strange rifle?
It works for shot guns, buy a pistol grip, use both hands to hold it and your ready to rock. So can the same things be done for rifles?

 

[griz]

It is illegal to make a pistol out of a rifle, although it is legal to make a rifle out of a pistol. Your example would only be putting on a different stock. It still has a barrel over 16 inches long and a total length of over 26 or 28 inches (I forget which is required) so it is still a legal rifle according to the feds. It is possible that local or state laws would frown on it.

It works for shot guns, buy a pistol grip, use both hands to hold it and your ready to rock. So can the same things be done for rifles?

Ready to miss is more like it. Legal or not, pistol grip long guns are hard to aim.

 

[Hkmp5sd]

As long as you keep overall length >26" and barrel length >16", it will be a non-NFA rifle. It does not have to have a stock and it can have a vertical foregrip. It remains a mere rifle.

If you take it under those two measurements, it must be registered a SBR.

As the receiver started life as a rifle, it can never become an AOW.