Ed interviews ATI about their .410 AR.
Ed, who blogs at Tell Me Why?, interviewed Tony from American Tactical Imports about their .410 AR-15 shotgun, the AT-14 (otherwise known as the T-14).
You can watch the video here.
It answers a question I have had: is the lower standard AR-15? The answer is that it is almost 100% mil-spec and with a minor modification it can be used with other AR-15 uppers.
AT-14 / T-14. More photos here.
Tony says that the rifle is classified by the ATF as sporting shotgun partly because of the 5-round magazine. I have read it is possible to use modified AR-15 30 round magazines. This does raise the issue of Section 922R Compliance – converting an imported sporting arm into a non-”sporting arm” that would not be allowed to be imported in the first place. Saiga shotgun owners know all about this.
(I know nothing about 922R compliance – just what I have read – so don’t take anything I have said as legal advice)
It should be easy to get enough US-made replacement AR-15 parts to make the shotgun classified as a US made firearm by the ATF. A problem may be people messing with the shotgun not realizing that just because it looks identical to the Bushmasters sold at the local gun store, the ATF have other ideas.
Any legal eagles who understand the issues are welcome to sound off in the comments.
I wonder if you can put that upper on a registered receiver?
The ATF rules by fiat, not by law. The law has little if anything to do with their decisions. Their general method of enforcement is “If we charge him, does he have the financial resources to fight the charge?” If the answer is “Yes”, they back down, always. Even if you are clearly in violation of some obscure law, statute, or precedent which are usually based on some ATF field agent’s gut feelings on the matter at the time, and how the previous case faired on trail. Keep in mind that practically everything the ATF does, right down to their very existance, is unconstitional and illegal because they exist to tax and infringe upon a civil right.
The form 4 specifies the caliber or gauge. So you would probably have to match the upper with a lower that is registered as a 410 gauge. That would be an awesome little weapon.
As far as 922R – it would be real easy to make that 410 AR compliant. You could change the stock, the pistol grip, the hand guard, the trigger, hammer (most likely), the disconnector, then using American made magazines would count as an additional three parts. The follower, spring, and the floor plate all count as a replcement part each.
Changing all those parts out with American made parts – that would give you nine American made replacement parts. That would most assuredly give you enough parts to be compliant.
I saw this advertised in the recent edition of Predator Xtreme.