Just to be prepared, I thought I would stir up discussion about making our others compliant.

I'm relatively new to owning guns and never "built" an AR before. For the purposes of making an "other" a rifle, is it literally just dropping in a 16"+ barrel and a fixed stock?

Are all uppers and AR-15 barrels—assuming the same chambering—universally compatible? Is it something that takes a gunsmith and/or special tools or can it be easily done at home?

24 minutes ago, Lawnmower2021 said:

Just to be prepared, I thought I would stir up discussion about making our others compliant.

I'm relatively new to owning guns and never "built" an AR before. For the purposes of making an "other" a rifle, is it literally just dropping in a 16"+ barrel and a fixed stock?

Are all uppers and AR-15 barrels—assuming the same chambering—universally compatible? Is it something that takes a gunsmith and/or special tools or can it be easily done at home?

More or less. Question for you are you planning on replacing the barrel and the handguard on the existing upper or do you plan to swap out the whole upper with a new 16" OAL upper and a pinned muzzle brake if threaded? Might be alot cheaper going that route.

If you plan on swapping out the existing upper you'll need an armorer's wrench minimally. You will also have get a new gas tube and block. Not sure if you can repurpose w/o damaging existing one or if its different on the new barrel you will have to get that separately. I assume the other is using a carbine gas system. Possibly reuse the handguard? If not then pickup another one. Stock can be a fixed one or a pinned one. 

It all depends on what you feel like doing. If I missed anything I'm sure the others on the forum will add or correct.

Why not pin and weld on a muzzle break long enough to make it 16", and pin the brace.

21 minutes ago, PK90 said:

Why not pin and weld on a muzzle break long enough to make it 16", and leave the brace on.

That would be good for NJ keeping the brace? The brace would have to be pinned too if collapsible?

If the brace was only for the purpose of the "other" classification I'd prefer a rifle stock at that point.

51 minutes ago, My1stGlock said:

More or less. Question for you are you planning on replacing the barrel and the handguard on the existing upper or do you plan to swap out the whole upper with a new 16" OAL upper and a pinned muzzle brake if threaded? Might be alot cheaper going that route.

If you plan on swapping out the existing upper you'll need an armorer's wrench minimally. You will also have get a new gas tube and block. Not sure if you can repurpose w/o damaging existing one or if its different on the new barrel you will have to get that separately. I assume the other is using a carbine gas system. Possibly reuse the handguard? If not then pickup another one. Stock can be a fixed one or a pinned one. 

It all depends on what you feel like doing. If I missed anything I'm sure the others on the forum will add or correct.

I was hoping to reuse as much existing as possible. I am naïve to the topic, and assumed that changing the barrel would be cheaper than an entire upper. I am happy to be proven wrong. I guess I need to research more specifics about my build...

34 minutes ago, PK90 said:

Why not pin and weld on a muzzle break long enough to make it 16", and leave the brace on.

Well, it's a 13.5" barrel including the existing muzzle break. Sounds like a huge muzzle break, if it exists. Maybe at this point I may as well get the benefit of a longer barrel anyway.

17 minutes ago, Lawnmower2021 said:

Well, it's a 13.5" barrel including the existing muzzle break. Sounds like a huge muzzle break, if it exists. Maybe at this point I may as well get the benefit of a longer barrel anyway.

I think PK90 meant getting a 14.5" barrel and then welding a 1.5" muzzle brake for a total of 16" 

 

following

I changed the post to "pin" the brace. 6' muzzle brakes are available.

I just happened to have an extra rifle upper on hand, so for giggles I threw it on my other lower along with a fixed stock. I now have a basic no frills 16" rifle that I paid waaaaaay too much for. 

When I bought my 10.5" Troy 2 years ago, I went in with my eyes open. In the back of my mind, I suspected that the pistol braced "other" in NJ could possibly get put on a NOGO list at some point.

 

On 1/17/2023 at 9:03 PM, Lawnmower2021 said:

I was hoping to reuse as much existing as possible. I am naïve to the topic, and assumed that changing the barrel would be cheaper than an entire upper. I am happy to be proven wrong. I guess I need to research more specifics about my build...

Well, it's a 13.5" barrel including the existing muzzle break. Sounds like a huge muzzle break, if it exists. Maybe at this point I may as well get the benefit of a longer barrel anyway.

If you have a 13.5" barrel, I'd def go with a muzzle device that is 2.75" or bigger (lots of options) and have it pinned and welded.  Make sure you do not use a flash hider!  You'd then have to pin the brace (can DIY for free) , but you might as well get a stock.  

following this one