Thompson Encore Basics (SBR, pistol, rifle options)

[WhiteKnight]

Could someone explain the basics of the Thompson Encore?

From what I understand,

Pistol frame: shoulder stocks are illegal, any barrel length is okay
Rifle frame: shoulder stocks okay, no barrels under 16 inches
SBR: you must pay the tax on either a pistol frame or a rifle frame in order to have either a stock on a pistol or a short barrel on a rifle. Once you SBR the frame, you can turn it into a normal rifle (16+ barrel and stock) or a pistol (any length barrel and pistol grip).

Does this make sense?

 

[WhiteKnight]

bump

 

[wdlsguy]

The only thing I would add is that you can attach a rifle stock and a rifle-length barrel to a pistol receiver.

 

[Josh Aston]

You can take your Pistol (Encore or otherwise) and 1) add a 16"+ barrel and then 2) a shoulder stock and be perfectly legal. The rifle that you just made out of your pistol is still legally originally a pistol and can be converted back. So to convert it back to a pistol all you have to do is 1) take off the stock and then 2) take off the 16"+ barrel. There is no minimum or maximum length barrel for pistols (certain jursidictions may differ).

If the receiver of the weapon was originally configured as a rifle it may not be converted to a pistol without first registering it as an SBR. So if you take your Encore Rifle that you bought brand new as a rifle and you didn't register it as an SBR and you shorten the barrel to less than 16" then you have committed a federal crime. You can take the stock off and put a pistol grip on with that short barrel and it still doesn't matter, it's still a rifle and has to be registered as an SBR for the barrel to be less than 16".

 

[WhiteKnight]

But a shoulder stock on a pistol frame/pistol barrel would be bad, right?

 

[Gator]

The rifle that you just made out of your pistol is still legally originally a pistol and can be converted back.

FYI, Here is what the ATF recently said about that:

"In the situation you present, the attachment of a folding shoulder stock to a pistol having a barrel length of 16 inches or greater would be lawful as long as the overall length of the resulting firearm is at least 26 inches with the stock fully extended. We caution that, because the configuration you have specified results in the manufacture of a rifle, a subsequent reconfiguration of the firearm to a pistol configuration would result in a weapon made from a rifle, which is a weapon controlled by the National Firearms Act (NFA)."

From this thread. It makes no sense to me, but..........

 

[trickyasafox]

It was explained to me by my local authorities that pistol to rifle and back was okay- rifle to pistol. . . they'll come knock on your door.

can't mix and match- its either a rifle or a pistol. no pistol length barrels with shoulder stocks. they usually won't make minimum requirements to be a rifle.

 

[Josh Aston]

But a shoulder stock on a pistol frame/pistol barrel would be bad, right?

Correct, shoulder stock and barrel less than 16" = bad juju.

FYI, Here is what the ATF recently said about that:

Thompson Center took the ATF up on that, not sure if it went to court or not, but in the end the ruling ended up being that if the gun was originally a pistol, it could be converted back to a pistol. There's others on this board with a lot more knowledge on that case than me.

 

[Gator]

Josh, the TC case was in 1992, the passage I quoted was from this year.