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My only problem with this article is the comparison of the M16 to the AR15. They share some parts but not lower receiver. The M16 is a military rifle with the a
by speedyrev 14y ago
My only problem with this article is the comparison of the M16 to the AR15. They share some parts but not lower receiver. The M16 is a military rifle with the ability to go full auto. The AR15 is a customizable civilian rifle that only shoots once per trigger pull.
AR15 does not equal M16
- jlgreco 14y agoMy impression is that an AR15 lower receiver and an M16 lower receiver are sufficiently similar such that an AR15 lower receiver blank could be machined into either one. Of course even if that is the case (I'm not so sure it is), the guns are still wildly different things in practice and under the law.
- RyJones 14y agoYou can modify an ar15 into an m16 with a drill press to add the hole.
- RyJones 14y agoConsidering the difference is one hole, a pin, and some parts, there isn't much difference. If you look up the lightning link, you can make an ar15 full auto without modifying the lower, provided you can use tin shears and a saw blade (or other source of thin, flexible metal)
- speedyrev 14y agoThat mod doesn't make it a M16. It makes it an unsafe, illegal AR15.
- RyJones 14y agoNot sure where you're going with this. The lightning link makes an AR15 functionally equivalent to an M16; it requires no modification to the lower; and it's no more or less safe than a "Connecticut M16" (M16 with safe-auto-auto selector). Illegal, yes, if you aren't an SOT or aren't using a registered lightning link.i
- hga 14y agoI'm not familiar with this mod, but the BATF has a standard they (in theory, and most of the time) use for what they allow manufacturers to sell to civilians: a trained machinist with a normal machine shop has to take more than N hours to do the conversion. That's why a whole lot of open bolt derived from sub-machinegun designs had to be changed to fire from a closed bolt with a separate firing pin (the normal submachine gun design as I understand it, at least as of WWII state of the art, has a fixed firing pin in the face of the bolt, the H&K MP5 being a notable post-WWII exception).
- RyJones 14y agoMy "mod" is drilling the sear pin hole (above the selector), removing the semi auto fire control group, installing a full auto fire control group (including sear and pin). You may need a new bolt carrier to trip the sear. You can buy AR lowers with (IMHO) ill advised fake sear pins to mimic the look. The lightning link is even easier. Check Quarterbore's website for details.
- speedyrev 14y agoYes, you could modify it, but it is by law different. In fact, try it and you go to prison. They are still not the same.
- _delirium 14y agoSure, they're legally different, but the article as I read it covers that: they describe the M16 as an automatic-fire, military variant of the AR15. Isn't that accurate?
- RyJones 14y agoYes, that is correct.
- RyJones 14y agoYou are correct that outside of being an SOT it is illegal to make the modification; I am merely pointing out that the difference is trivial, not core.
- stephengillie 14y agoBy modifying it, we're talking about disassembling it, drilling a hole through a piece of metal, and reassembling it. You're telling me that the instant the hacker reassembles the gun, she'll be placed in prison?
- RyJones 14y agoDrilling the hole, actually, is the crime. Prison requires being convicted of he crime.
- stephengillie 14y agoRight, but before a person is put into prison, that modification has to be discovered, investigated, and the person charged and convicted of a crime. Meanwhile, the tool appears identical to an unmodified tool from the exterior.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]