AR 15 Complete Uppers in Mass

$1384 with optic
....

**EDIT: Just FYI this is for an AR9 build, not 5.56.
Yep, I am well aware. :)
I just finished my x95 build and was curious how a complete ar9 at current prices would compare with a 9mm conversion kit for x95. Latter now goes for a $800 or so.
 
Definitely not. I’m out of the loop it seems. I was thinking neutered was a 5 round fixed mag

The 10 round fixed mag lowers are what they came up with to get around the Healey FAQ, and those can be fitted with any upper - you can put an 8" upper with A2 flash hider on the fixed mag lower if you want. If Mass allowed suppressors, I'd consider one of those for home defense.
 
Just remember, if you have a post ban (after 1994) lower you’ll have to pin a brake onto your upper. Almost all complete uppers will ship with an A2 birdcage screwed on and to be compliant with the MA AWB you’ll need to replace it. Even if it ships with a brake (as my Bushy 450 Bushmaster upper did) you will need to get it pinned/welded.

14.5" uppers often have 1.5" muzzle brakes already pinned on to comply with the NFA rules. I ordered my BCM upper that way.

 
Just received my BCM MK2 upper for a build I was not expecting to make so soon!
My problem with lowers it that being left handed, I'm spoiled with ambidextrous goodies that drive the cost up and up! Ambi charging handle, mag release, safety selector!

You'll find parts from some companies that won't ship to Mass (I'm talking to you Stag, Aero, BCM, PSA) through other dealers, just keep looking!
Good luck!
 
Yep, I am well aware. :)
I just finished my x95 build and was curious how a complete ar9 at current prices would compare with a 9mm conversion kit for x95. Latter now goes for a $800 or so.
Given the cost and complexity of the X95 9mm conversion I decided to go with a separate PCC in 9mm, the Beretta CX4 (since I already had a 92FS). If I had to do it today, I might go with the Ruger PC 9mm instead. In any case, you end up with a complete, separate rifle designed for 9mm for less than the cost of the conversion kit. No need to teardown and rebuild the X95 each time you want to change calibers.

I have done an AR9 build using a Foxtrot Mike rifle builder kit, which comes with everything you need except for a Glock 9mm stripped lower. Its advantage is it includes a properly balanced buffer and recoil spring for its specific 9mm blow back bolt, which is the hardest thing to get right on a 9mm build. Back in Nov/2019 the kit was $397.99 and the 80% AR9 Glock mag lower was $99, so the entire build was $496.99. That’s about as cheap as you could get back in 2019, I’m sure it is considerably more now. Probably not much more expensive and certainly less hassle to get a CX4 or a PC9 or some other 9mm PCC.
 
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Brownells has Colt:

16", also.

 
Hey Everybody,

long time reader, decided to finally join when I started my LTC process in Mass. This website is such a wealth of knowledge, especially for the us in the commiewealth. Thanks for all the effort.

I’ve been doing my research to dial in what is on my purchase list (based on what’s available during COVID) as soon as I get my permit. My question is this.. How hard is it to purchase complete uppers or parts kits in Mass? I believe Palmetto stopped shipping here with Healey right? I have my eyes on a pre ban (94) lower. But if uppers or parts kits are unobtanium I’ll just pay the insane price of a complete.



If there is another relevant thread, sorry for the repeat, I couldn’t find it when I searched.

Thanks for any help

Sparky15

Maura just call Gov Faker he has all the latest ways to get the uppers delivered
 
Hey Everybody,

long time reader, decided to finally join when I started my LTC process in Mass. This website is such a wealth of knowledge, especially for the us in the commiewealth. Thanks for all the effort.

I’ve been doing my research to dial in what is on my purchase list (based on what’s available during COVID) as soon as I get my permit. My question is this.. How hard is it to purchase complete uppers or parts kits in Mass? I believe Palmetto stopped shipping here with Healey right? I have my eyes on a pre ban (94) lower. But if uppers or parts kits are unobtanium I’ll just pay the insane price of a complete.



If there is another relevant thread, sorry for the repeat, I couldn’t find it when I searched.

Thanks for any help

Sparky15
Depending on what you want, when you want it and your budget there are AR parts out there.
I went on a "budget shopping spree to Re do a few uppers that where cannibalized for other projects. So I went for NOS of what was cool 10 years ago.
Took me good 3 hours to find everything I wanted. From a few new to me vendors.

If your very specific on your needs and following in line of a trend its a little harder.
right now depending whats going on after you get your permit I would grab a pre 1994 ban rifle. All in all its not much more money when yopu think about the options you can have or not.
 
So I received my LTC and decided to buy a pre ban (94) lower and I’ll be sourcing an upper from a site that will work with me. Excited to drop some coin, and stock the safe. Happy Turkey Day folks
If you are getting a Colt pre ban lower, you should be aware that Colt did not follow mil-spec for its pre ban civilian rifles. Mil-spec fire control pins (trigger and hammer) are .154 in diameter. Some of the pre ban Colts use a larger pin size of .173. Thus, the fire control parts between these Colts and mil-spec models are not interchangeable. Also, Colt used a large, two-screw front pivot pin (.312) in many of their models, while the mil-spec is a .250 push pin. These lowers are often referred to as "large fire control" and/or ”large pivot" lowers.

While many of the drop in fire control group manufacturers provide “large pin” versions of their products, not very many upper manufacturers provide “large pivot pin” uppers. For most uppers you will need to use an adapter pivot pin. It is getting harder and harder to find the adapters to let you use a “large pivot” lower with a mil-spec pivot upper. It’s not just the difference in the hole diameters, but the fact that the center of a mil-spec upper’s pivot pin hole is offset relative to the center of a “large pivot” lower’s hole. So you need a special eccentric front pivot pin adapter like this Pivot Pin Assembly, 0.250/0.312, Conversion Kit, Two Pc.
 
Brownells has Colt:

16", also.

Question-- If I buy that upper with a 14 1/2" barrel and I put a muzzle device on it to bring the over all length to 16", then I wouldn't need a tax stamp?
 
Question-- If I buy that upper with a 14 1/2" barrel and I put a muzzle device on it to bring the over all length to 16", then I wouldn't need a tax stamp?
Nope, as long as you “permanently” attach it (pin/weld) and the overall rifle length is over 26 inches.
 
Question-- If I buy that upper with a 14 1/2" barrel and I put a muzzle device on it to bring the over all length to 16", then I wouldn't need a tax stamp?
Nope, as long as you “permanently” attach it (pin/weld) and the overall rifle length is over 26 inches.
Would I have to pin and weld it if the rifle was kept in NH?
Yup, NFA requires you to pin/weld the muzzle devices if you are using it to meet the 16 in barrel requirement to not be an SBR.
Not quite so simple.
In NH;
First, an upper by itself is not a firearm. So without a lower it's just a part and nothing is required.
If it is assembled to a lower it could be a pistol, no stock or only a wrist brace, and nothing special is required.
But if it is on a lower with a stock, then yes the barrel and overall length requirements are necessary, or you can register as an SBR.
 
Not quite so simple.
...
If it is assembled to a lower it could be a pistol, no stock or only a wrist brace, and nothing special is required.
But if it is on a lower with a stock, then yes the barrel and overall length requirements are necessary, or you can register as an SBR.

That is totally dependent on if the lower was first built as a rifle or pistol. One can’t just change a stock for a brace on a lower that started life with a stock.
 
That is totally dependent on if the lower was first built as a rifle or pistol. One can’t just change a stock for a brace on a lower that started life with a stock.
correct, I was assuming a lower purchased as just a lower
 
Hey Everybody,

long time reader, decided to finally join when I started my LTC process in Mass. This website is such a wealth of knowledge, especially for the us in the commiewealth. Thanks for all the effort.

I’ve been doing my research to dial in what is on my purchase list (based on what’s available during COVID) as soon as I get my permit. My question is this.. How hard is it to purchase complete uppers or parts kits in Mass? I believe Palmetto stopped shipping here with Healey right? I have my eyes on a pre ban (94) lower. But if uppers or parts kits are unobtanium I’ll just pay the insane price of a complete.



If there is another relevant thread, sorry for the repeat, I couldn’t find it when I searched.

Thanks for any help

Sparky15

Buy one off of ARFCOM EE. The majority of the people there don't really price gouge to the extent you see when buying locally in MASS.
 
correct, I was assuming a lower purchased as just a lower
Yeah, I had confused @clampett’s post as a continuation of the previous one from @Sparky15, who said he was getting a pre 94 ban lower. Most of those pre 94 lowers will have already existed as a rifle at some point, so they will come under NFA SBR regs.
 
I dont mean to throw the thread off course, but Ive always wondered about the whole never-been-a-rifle thing. Are we talking about a complete rifle that was sold that way and then the lower was used as a pistol lower? If someone in a free state were to build out a stripped lower, I assume there would be nothing stopping them from changing it from rifle to pistol to rifle because how would anyone know. Is that right?
 
I dont mean to throw the thread off course, but Ive always wondered about the whole never-been-a-rifle thing. Are we talking about a complete rifle that was sold that way and then the lower was used as a pistol lower? If someone in a free state were to build out a stripped lower, I assume there would be nothing stopping them from changing it from rifle to pistol to rifle because how would anyone know. Is that right?

Hypothetically, if someone built a stripped lower into a rifle and then decided to pistol lower it and there was no evidence of said rifle build, I guess you could get away with it.
 
I dont mean to throw the thread off course, but Ive always wondered about the whole never-been-a-rifle thing. Are we talking about a complete rifle that was sold that way and then the lower was used as a pistol lower? If someone in a free state were to build out a stripped lower, I assume there would be nothing stopping them from changing it from rifle to pistol to rifle because how would anyone know. Is that right?
I just picked up a couple lowers. The FFL runs incomplete lowers through the state handgun background check system, so there is some level of understanding that they could be handguns.
 
I dont mean to throw the thread off course, but Ive always wondered about the whole never-been-a-rifle thing. Are we talking about a complete rifle that was sold that way and then the lower was used as a pistol lower? If someone in a free state were to build out a stripped lower, I assume there would be nothing stopping them from changing it from rifle to pistol to rifle because how would anyone know. Is that right?

I mean, yeah it would be extremely hard for the ATF to prove someone first built a rifle from a new receiver and then converted it to a pistol.

As long as they don’t post evidence online like “just built this rifle, check it out”, then later posted something about changing it to a pistol.
 
I just picked up a couple lowers. The FFL runs incomplete lowers through the state handgun background check system, so there is some level of understanding that they could be handguns.

Yea, ATF made that change regarding stripped lowers a few years ago. Even new packaged virgin stripped lowers, if bought out of state from where the lower will be residing, needs to be sent to an FFL because of the possiblilty of the lower being made into a pistol lower. A lower receiver that is complete with a stock can be purchased F2F out of state without an FFL needed, just like any other long gun.
 
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