Illinois Law Help

For anyone who knows Illinois gun law, I have some questions on building an AR-15 pistol. Now I understand that if I build the rifle with a barrel under 16", it has to be registered as a pistol and has to have a pistol lower receiver. Does this mean I’m limited to the caliber of the gun though? I had an idea for my first build to have a 10.5" barrel for 5.56 ammo but I don’t know if I can legally do it in this state. I haven’t really found any article or forum that can help with the question I have.

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you’re doing an 80% and plan to register?

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I want to do a full build not 80%. My mistake I’m still very new to all of this

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Federal law says if you buy a stripped lower you can build a pistol no real caliber restrictions. You can’t take a lower that was built as a rifle and change it to a pistol. I have AR pistols in 9mm 223, 300 blackout and plan a 6.5 grendel build. Don’t know about Illinois laws.

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I would contact someone at one of your local gun shops and ask the pertinent questions
Your state has some fairly severe gun restrictions and you definitely don’t want to get caught with something that’s illegal in your state
Just food for thought
You should probably start with a rifle length build before delving into shorter barrels
The knowledge you gain from your first build will help with the next ones believe me there will be more than one
Do some research before you proceed

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@YEETpowder I don’t know enough about this to answer, like the guys said, check with your local gun shop as they may can answer some of your questions.

Here’s a couple of articles that I hope may help. At the bottom of the page of the first article are some sources you can check out. Though both of these are from late 2018, things might have changed since then. It is Illinois after all. Chicago has its own set of rules.

https://www.gunrights4illinois.com/blog/the-ar15-pistol-in-chicago/

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Here is a trick I used when it came to determining my rights.
I moved away from the communist shit hole I was living in where 30 sets of rules determined my ability to defend myself…
Then I built my collection using the one set of rules that applied.
Try that FIRST.

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Definitely do your research. Personally, I would recommend buying a complete rifle first. Shoot the heck out of it, learn how it runs, and learn how to maintain it. After a couple thousand rounds down the pipe, you will become more familiar with the weapon system, which will help you make educated decisions about future parts.

A decent budget AR can be found in the $500-$600 range these days. Palmetto State Armory has them on sale right now. Ruger and Smith & Wesson have good options, too.

I was considering a custom build for my first AR, but decided to buy a complete budget rifle at the last minute. I’m glad that I did. Otherwise, I probably would have spent a lot of extra money on trendy tacti-cool parts that I didn’t really need.

Just my $0.02.

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I generally tell people this as well but more and more it’s harder to talk folks out of a custom build even if they don’t know what there doing and have very little knowledge
My personal opinion on the matter is the just want some fancy rifle to show off to there friends when the make there semi annual range trip
I’d say 60-70% percent of gun owners don’t use there weapons nearly enough to be proficient or warrant a top tier weapon
I’m biased a bit though I work at a shop and sell to people all the time that have little to no weapons education

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