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Pre Ban AR15 lowers

B

Benton City

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I'm on the west coast in Wa. State and have a question for the east coast people. I was told by some members out here in Wa, a Pre-Ban AR15 (apparently means something on the east coast?) stripped lower in my state is only worth the cost of a stripped lower, around $40 ~ $80, whereas the same Pre-Ban stripped lower is worth a lot more on the east coast. When I say a lot more, some people were implying one was worth $800+ on the east coast.
I searched for pre-ban info on the site but haven't located any info that answers my question. I hope my query isn't violating any rules. If so, please delete it.

Is this true about the Pre-Bans costs or are people here in Wa. blowing smoke up my backside? If true, how does anyone afford to buy/build an AR in the East?

Dan
 
You’re right, preban (pre-9/13/1994) lowers fetch a high price over here on the east coast for MA residents. Preban ARs can have as many evil features they want (flash hider, bayonet lug, pistol grip, etc.) whereas non-preban ARs have to follow the MA AWB. This means only having 1 evil feature on their rifle. People can afford to buy/build an AR because they make AWB compliant builds.
 
You will get lot's of answers and opinions, but overall you are correct. I bought a pre ban AR recently for $2k. They have already gone up in just a couple of months. Welcome to massachusetts......
 
This is a whole Nother cash and Carry situation… dennys 2 o’clock in the morning giggle switch
 
cape9mm said:
You will get lot's of answers and opinions, but overall you are correct. I bought a pre ban AR recently for $2k. They have already gone up in just a couple of months. Welcome to massachusetts......
Click to expand...
There's not a whole lot of answers though. It's as simple as prebans are worth a bunch in ban states.
 
Benton City said:
I'm on the west coast in Wa. State and have a question for the east coast people. I was told by some members out here in Wa, a Pre-Ban AR15 (apparently means something on the east coast?) stripped lower in my state is only worth the cost of a stripped lower, around $40 ~ $80, whereas the same Pre-Ban stripped lower is worth a lot more on the east coast. When I say a lot more, some people were implying one was worth $800+ on the east coast.
I searched for pre-ban info on the site but haven't located any info that answers my question. I hope my query isn't violating any rules. If so, please delete it.

Is this true about the Pre-Bans costs or are people here in Wa. blowing smoke up my backside? If true, how does anyone afford to buy/build an AR in the East?

Dan
Click to expand...


Short answer - Yes.
People make a choice in states like MA, either build per current law or pay premium to buy pre-ban. T

The pre/post ban in question is the "Federal Assault Weapons Ban", of 1994, a federal law, since expired. In some states, (notably Massachusetts and Connecticut), pre and post ban firearms are treated entirely differently. Pre-ban AR's for example can have multiple "evil features", where post-ban AR's cannot. Therefore the pre-ban firearms are sold for a premium.

Massachusetts also applies this sort of logic <spit> to magazines. You can have standard capacity pre-ban magazines, but post ban magazines are restricted to 10 rounds. That's why you'll see discussions of how to determine if a mag is pre or post ban, and you'll see glock 17 round pre-ban mags going for 200$ in the classifieds.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Common sense gun laws.
It's all for the children; because if it saves one life it's not really an infringement on a constitutional right.
The military and police are the only people who are properly trained to have these firearms, and they magically transition from "assault weapon" to "patrol rifle" when they own them.
<puke>

EDITED TO ADD:
This does NOT apply to the entire East Coast; it's some of New England and the Mid-Atlantic states pretty much. MA, CT, RI, MD, NY, NJ, DC. Probably a couple others...
 
Benton City said:
I'm on the west coast in Wa. State and have a question for the east coast people. I was told by some members out here in Wa, a Pre-Ban AR15 (apparently means something on the east coast?) stripped lower in my state is only worth the cost of a stripped lower, around $40 ~ $80, whereas the same Pre-Ban stripped lower is worth a lot more on the east coast. When I say a lot more, some people were implying one was worth $800+ on the east coast.
I searched for pre-ban info on the site but haven't located any info that answers my question. I hope my query isn't violating any rules. If so, please delete it.

Is this true about the Pre-Bans costs or are people here in Wa. blowing smoke up my backside? If true, how does anyone afford to buy/build an AR in the East?

Dan
Click to expand...
Give you $350 tops
 
CATI said:
OPs name is just cut short "Benton City..........................................................................Police"
Click to expand...
Benton City, Washington. We dont have any police, only the Benton County Sheriff.
We do have an anti 2A Legislature, AG & Governor if that counts for police. If it doesn't, it may as well. Nothing a gallows couldn't fix but apparently that's illegal.

Dan

On a side note, I was somewhat surprised how this site operates vs what I have/use @ Northwest Firearms & Southwest Firearms. They don't have paid membership per se, the site operates on donations, & different levels of support like platinum, gold, silver, bronze...etc. No matter how each operates, it's good there's a plethara of 2A advocates on both sides of America.
Sorry CATI...I'm not the police. Better luck next time.
 
Last edited:
FalArAk said:
Im pretty sure "pre-ban" only means something in MA now, used to be MA and CT, but CT got rid of the grandfather cause after Sandy Hook.

I could be wrong.. I am ungovernable :)
Click to expand...

I don't believe that's quite correct.

CT just passed new legislation, I believe it took effect in June of 2023 which addressed "pre-bans" and "others". Until this new legislation was passed, it was still legal to buy/sell/transfer pre-bans - while post-ban "assault weapons" were only legally posessed if they'd been declared after Sandy Hook.

I'm about 95% sure this is accurate - not 100% because I pay less attention to CT laws these days - I'm no longer a part time resident, and when I travel there I'm concerned only with handgun laws.
 
I had thought a stripped lower was a no-go which had to have been built out prior to the ban as a working complete lower on the company's books? Then again, I really DGAF.
 
*Opportunistic Fapping Intensifies*

king of the hill GIF
 
Fixxah said:
I had thought a stripped lower was a no-go which had to have been built out prior to the ban as a working complete lower on the company's books? Then again, I really DGAF.
Click to expand...
If you’re going to pay top dollar, but who’s to say it
Never had the evil features before the ban ? People love the customized stuff, right?

It all comes down to proving it in court and they have to prove it.. it’s impossible
 
Damn. $800? I saw a PWA lower on some guy's website locally that was in the mid 1-thousands. LOL

I'm thinking you could sell the HELL out of $800 preban lowers.

Full build pre-bans are running $2,000+ in local shops. Crazy.
 
Fixxah said:
I had thought a stripped lower was a no-go which had to have been built out prior to the ban as a working complete lower on the company's books? Then again, I really DGAF.
Click to expand...
Most of those stripped lowers were sold as complete rifles. People break them down now because you can get $1k for just the lower itself. It wasn’t common like it is now to sell stripped lowers. All that rifle needed was a bayo lug to be “evil” so chances are high it would qualify. There’s still some good info out there from the ban days that documents what companies only sold complete rifles if you want to be sure.
 
Dennis in MA said:
Damn. $800? I saw a PWA lower on some guy's website locally that was in the mid 1-thousands. LOL

I'm thinking you could sell the HELL out of $800 preban lowers.

Full build pre-bans are running $2,000+ in local shops. Crazy.
Click to expand...
Thats not bad price… I’ve seen 3 to $5000 guns hanging on the wall.. they won’t transfer you a pre-ban off a gun broker but you better believe they’ll charge you $3500 for a piece of garbage
 
allen-1 said:
I don't believe that's quite correct.

CT just passed new legislation, I believe it took effect in June of 2023 which addressed "pre-bans" and "others". Until this new legislation was passed, it was still legal to buy/sell/transfer pre-bans - while post-ban "assault weapons" were only legally posessed if they'd been declared after Sandy Hook.

I'm about 95% sure this is accurate - not 100% because I pay less attention to CT laws these days - I'm no longer a part time resident, and when I travel there I'm concerned only with handgun laws.
Click to expand...

I thought CT had passed some sort of "assault weapon" registration thing, guess not.

I could have sworn the sale of "pre-ban" anything was only MA now with CT being the latest that 86"d any grandfather clauses.

Oh well, I was wrong :)

Won't be the first, and won't be the last time lol
 

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