[rockinAR]

There is a pre-ban 10/22 sitting at the local gun shop with all the standard stock and hardware. What can be done to such a weapon cosmetically and still be legal. For instance, can I drop it into a folding stock and put a flash supressor on it? Or can I do only one or the other. If you can't do these things, then why are the parts sold in the first place. If I can only do one and not the other then why buy a used pre-ban when I can just get a new one and put a flash suppressor on it? Could I at least use a stock with a fixed butt, but still have the pistol grip and flash hider, like the one they show in the Cabela's catalog? Thanks!

[BattleRifleG3]

Ahh, the stresses of our lousy gun laws.
Well, fact is that a gun can keep the features it had before the ban, maybe if it has two or more you can add more, but unless those restricted features are grandfathered, you can't add more than one.
The stinking law goes like this:
A semi auto rifle with a detachable mag can have only one out of five restricted features:
1.) Pistol grip
2.) Flash suppressor
3.) Folding stock
4.) Bayonet lug
5.) Grenade launcher
If it had 2 or more features before Sept 1994, it's grandfathered. If it has one or none, then the fact that it's a pre-ban doesn't mean jack squat. So many people don't know that. So many people think if the gun existed before the ban they can do whatever they want to it. Well the only truth to that is that it's harder to get caught, cause ATF can't prove when features were added if the gun was there before the ban. And since you can replace all the features it had, like switch a Mini 14 factory folding stock for a Butler Creek folder, you could have made the stock yesterday and it be alright, as long as the gun had one before. But it is NOT legal to add one after the ban and I would NOT do or recommend it. Instead, vote against the ban when it comes up for renewal in 2004.

[JohnD]

In canada we can have all five things on a =<18.5" barreld 10/22 pluss a bayonet and the flash thing can be both a muzle break and a flash hidder. We can get as many hi cap mags for this gun as we want also.

That sucks eh!!

A 22lr rifle is the only gun in canada that we can leagaly han hi cap. mags though. But it is leagal to convert a sks to use ak mags but owning an Ak is illegal. Weird eh!!. Also we can buy working rocket launchers but ammo is not available.

Yes ammerican companys are makeing new hi cap mags for export into canada for the 10/22. I like the steel lips They are about $30 canadian so thats 18 or so american.

[rockinAR]

BattleRifle,

Thanks for the info. After reading your post and talking to a guy at the local gunshop who is also a lawyer I decided that you were right. I guess coming from the AR camp where pre-ban features were normal and on every rifle prior to 94 I got the mistaken impression that pre-ban meant anything goes. I will just leave my rifle as it is. I will be voting pro-gun, as always, in the next election and every one after it.

[BattleRifleG3]

Why were pre-ban features not normal on the Ruger 10/22? There's a very significant reason. Actually, the reason certain things were banned was because Ruger guns do not have them. What am I talking about?
Look at the market for Ruger's guns. Look at how they're designed, and what they compete with. The Mini-14 competes with the AR-15, the Mini-30 competes with the SKS and AKs, the Ruger 10/22 competes with, well, lots of guns.
But... Look at the ARs and AKs, then look at the Minis. See the difference? Being based on the M1 Garand/M14, the Minis are able to exist without a pistol grip, whereas pistol grips are integral to the design of ARs and AKs.
It was Ruger who lobbied for the assault weapon ban. In fact, it could have been worse, ie NO features instead of only one, which is how ARs are still in production. And no detachable magazines either. Look at the design of the Minis... They're the only kind out there that can load from the top, except for the SKS. Certainly the only 223. From what I've read, Ruger wanted to switch the Mini to a fixed mag, ban the detachable mags, and be the only 223 auto on the market. Now there are ARs that use a fixed mag, but it's ugly to load.
And now you know... The Rest of the Story.