In the United States, braced pistols are a common sight. Since a decade ago, the ATF has assured us that they are legal and can be used on our pistols. They were legal until they weren’t. This has a direct impact on anyone who owns a Glock kit. Addition of a 16-inch Glock barrel is a way to avoid these arbitrary rulings.
Protecting Your Glock Conversion Kit From the ATF Rule
In the United States, braced pistols are estimated to number between 10 and 40 millions. The ATF changed the rules in January and is about to make that many felons of law-abiding people.
The braced pistols they said were fine are now Short Barreled Rifles, and subject to taxation under the National Firearms Act. The organization offers you a few options for compliance, but some are more straightforward than others.
There are currently a number legal challenges pending in relation to the brace rule. Remember that this is a rule change and not a new law. The legal challenges seem pretty solid so let’s hope the rule is reversed.
If judges follow the Constitution and recent Supreme Court rulings, as well as the fundamentals of separations of powers, it should. What can you do to avoid trouble with your once-legal firearm?
Compliance with the Rule
You can do a few things to comply with this rule change. I know that many people will choose to ignore the rule change. Either they are waiting out the legal battles, or just because of their frustration with government overreach.
It’s a possibility. Here’s what you can try if you want to play by rules or you don’t wish for your dog to be shot by ATF.
You can register a braced firearm with ATF as a Short Barreled Rifle. The $200 tax is being waived until May 31st. Time is running out for this option. You can remove the brace and throw it away. Even if the brace is not attached, it could be considered constructive possession.
You can replace your pistol-length barrel with a 16-inch-longer barrel to create a rifle that is not subject to NFA. You can also destroy your gun or give it to the ATF. I don’t think that will happen very often.
The simplest option is to remove the brace. The next step is to swap out the barrel for a 16-inch one. It’s easy to do with the AR platform. You can simply buy another upper.
What if you are running a different platform than the one you’re currently using? What about a Glock pistol and one of the brace kit options like the CAA Roni or Micro Roni, Recover Tactical P-IX or 2020, the Endo Tactical Adapter or the Flux Brace, for example?
These brace kits aren’t cheap. So, throwing them away is like throwing money away. It’s a punishment for buying something that the ATF said was legal. It’s not easy to change the barrel of a conventional pistol to a 16-inch one.
Or is it?
The 16-inch Option
It’s difficult to tell how many of the millions of braced guns are Glocks, or similar pistols that have been converted. There are probably a lot.
Meta Tactical Apex Bullpup Conversion Kit for the Glock was one kit I reviewed last. It was different because it came with a barrel of 16 inches, which meant that the brace issue was avoided. You were converting your pistol into a carbine, which is not regulated by the NFA.
Guess what? You can purchase those barrels separately to use with brace kits you already own.
Meta Tactical
Meta Tactical manufactures barrels for 9mm Glocks,.40 S&Ws,.45 ACPs, and 10mm Glocks. They also make full Apex kits to fit the S&W M&P in 9mm. Barrels for these guns may also become available separately.
Barrels cost $300 each. That’s not cheap. The barrel is of high quality. It is threaded, and has a flash hider as well as a black nitride finishing.
Even with the tax amnesty it is a viable alternative to throwing out your brace which could have cost you several hundred dollars or registering your firearm as an SBR.
Visit MetaTactical.com for more information.
CAA
Meta Tactical doesn’t have the largest selection of 16-inch Glock barrels. They do have the biggest selection. CAA offers a 16 inch barrel option for $269. It is only available in 9mm for Glock 17 or 19 platforms.
Visit CAAGearUp.com for more information.
ZFI Inc.
ZFI Inc. offers 16-inch barrels for the Glock 19, 17, 22, and 23 platforms, in 9mm or.357SIG. They are $351.99 and shipping can take up to two months after the date of purchase. If you’re interested in a.357-caliber SIG, this is your only option.
Visit ZFI-Inc.com for more information.
Installation and Use
Installing a barrel 16 inches long on your Glock gun is simple. If you know how to field strip your firearm, you can change the barrel in a matter of seconds. It’s the same as putting a regular barrel into place, except that this one will extend well beyond your slide. The flash hider will need to be screwed in place for the Meta Tactical after installation.
You now have a carbine that is not NFA-regulated. Despite the extra length, the weight difference was negligible. The handling was still quick, and the pointing characteristics did not change.
You have a longer barrel, so you may need to adjust your navigation in tight quarters.
You’ll gain some additional velocity and accuracy potential. You can also swap out the brace for a stock depending on the kit you have if you want to go with a 16-inch barrel.
Last year, I tested the Recover Tactical P-IX Kit with my Glock 17 and a brace. I tested the Recover Tactical P-IX kit last year with a brace and my standard Glock 17.
I also tried a 16-inch barrel using my Endo Tactical Adapter. The 16-inch barrel looked funny, but it worked fine and handled well. I didn’t own a Roni setup or any other set-up, but they all should work the same.
Prepare for the worst and hope for the best
Let’s hope that the courts do what is right and overturn the ATF’s unconstitutional arm brace rule. If we’re fortunate, we might even be able to make progress in rolling the National Firearms Act back in whole or part.
If you want to be safe, you can keep your property that you have already legally acquired by purchasing a Glock conversion kit with a 16-inch barrel. If the rollback happens, you’ll still have a 16-inch barreled option for your conversion kit.
It’s like having both a Thompson Contender and a carbine kit, so you can swap between them.
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