MTMilitiaman
Member
You can buy and change the slide and barrel on an M1911 without needing to go through a background check. I have one M1911 that can shoot 22 LR, 45 ACP and 38/45 Clerke just by changing the slide, barrel, recoil spring and magazine.
You can buy and change the barrel cartridge and length on a Thompson/Center Contenders and Encores without the need for a background check.
I can buy and change the barrel on my Savage rifles including length and cartridge without needing to go through another background check.
There are others.
I still do not see the point why BATF should have classified the AR upper as the firearm. Plenty of precedence where the frame, or lower in the case of the AR-15, is the firearm.
It's simple, the serialized part is, by law, the firearm. In a bolt action rifle, this is usually the receiver. The barrel may also have a serial number on it, but this is so owners can tell if it has the original barrel on it. The receiver is the firearm so unless you are getting a new receiver, you don't need to go through another background check to put a new barrel or stock on a bolt action rifle. Same with your TC. The receiver is serialized. It is the firearm. That is why you can get new barrels for it without a background check. If you try to buy a spare receiver, you'll have to do another background check because legally, you're buying a new firearm, not just a new barrel. On the 1911, the frame is serialized. The frame of your 1911 is the firearm according to the ATF. So you can replace barrels and slides without a background check.
So again, with the AR-15, the lower receiver with the trigger group is the serialized part. The lower receiver is the firearm according to the ATF. All complete receivers I believe need to be serialized and have a background check ran by ATF to be possessed legally. The upper receiver with the barrel and bolt carrier group is not serialized and is not considered a firearm. Therefore you can replace barrels, bolt assemblies, or even complete upper receivers without a background check.
If the ATF had declared the upper receiver to be the firearm then it would have to be serialized. At that point you could still modify the upper, but buying a new one would require a background check and it would have to be transferred or shipped to an FFL dealer. This would obviously make it much more difficult to change calibers or barrel lengths because you would have to swap the complete barrel out of an existing upper or go through a separate background check to purchase a complete upper. Swapping barrels in the AR isn't a huge deal, but it is a lot more complicated and time consuming than popping two pins out and unless you have tools and facilities to do it yourself, would require shipping a firearm back and forth to an FFL dealer. Instead, the lower is considered the firearm so if we want to switch from 5.56 to 6.8 SPC, all we have to do is order a 6.8 SPC upper, have it shipped directly to our doorstep with no background check or FFL dealer, and ta-da, we have a 6.8 SPC just buy popping two takedown pins and throwing a new upper on our AR. This wouldn't be possible if the upper receiver was considered the firearm.