Y’all know I’m not a big fan of rifle-based ‘assault pistols.’ I’ve frequently lampooned them in my ‘Darkest Depths Of Uselessness’ series, and I can’t hit sweet FA with them unless I walk my shots onto the target like an artillery spotter. But just to show you I’m not a total hater, here’s a rifle-pistol that I’d be jumping on yesterday if I lived in a state that allows SBRs: the 5.56x45mm Krinkov-styled Arsenal SLR-106U.
Arsenal knows exactly how this ‘pistol’ should be used (as an SBR donor gun) and they even link to a local NFA gunsmith who’ll do the conversion for you. Sadly a 922(r) conversion is required when you SBR this puppy, because it’s imported as an all-original Bulgarian ‘pistol’ which doesn’t have to meet any ‘assault weapon’ importation criteria.
If it’s anything like other Arsenal’s, it will be 100% stone cold reliable. AR pistols and really short SBRs are often unreliable, but the Krinkov has been a successful and reliable military arm for decades. The SLR-106U’s 5.56mm ballistics do suffer from its 10.5″ barrel, but don’t hold your breath for an original 5.45x39mm version. That’s never gonna happen, because the minute some fool gunmaker imports a 5.45mm pistol, the bureaucratic cubicle-farm gnomes Fearless Fighters Of Firearm Crime at the ATF will classify mil-surp 5.45 as ‘armor-piercing’ pistol ammunition and ban it.
List price: just under $900.
I’m a big guy, 6′-3″ and 295, but I don’t think that even Andre the Giant could carry that concealed with an inside the waistband holster. Does just adding the sling cause legal problems with BATFE?
I was curious about this, too. It seems you could use something sturdier/less flexible than the nylon webbing shown. As long as it used the standard sling swivels to attach, at what point have you manufactured/attached – whatever the legal term would be – a “folding thing that goes up at the back” or a vertical foregrip?
(To some extent I wonder if people don’t make and buy these just to point out how frankly silly the SBR rules are.)
Maybe not exactly shovel ready, since you’d still have to:
Drill out the rivets on the rear trunnion and remove it.
Drill new holes in the receiver to accommodate a fixed stock trunnion.
Rivet the new trunnion in place.
Find some way to patch up the holes from the original pistol trunnion.
Parkerize or blue to rifle again to cover up all the reconstruction blemishes.
In addition to the standard NFA process that goes along with an SBR.
But yeah… you could do all that with a shovel I suppose. An AK is just a little more involved than converting an AR pistol to a SBR.
The Arsenal website says it already has the rear block for a folding Krinkov stock.
I’d still need a shovel, but only to help deal with all the shit from the ATF.
Chris is right, it has a folding stock trunnion already installed. The most difficult part would be cutting out the hole in the receiver for the locking hook.
“here’s a rifle-pistol that I’d be jumping on yesterday if I lived in a state that allows SBRs”
Huh? How is that a SBR? I don’t see a stock. And if your going for something as useless as this, go big or go home and get the DSArms FAL pistol.
http://www.dsarms.com/SA58-Tactical-Pistol-825-barrel-in-308-CAL-Semi-Auto—SA58TACPISTOL/productinfo/SA58TACPISTOL/
matt, Chris would convert it to an SBR, and the manufacturer provides a link to a ‘smith who will do the conversion, but Chris’ state won’t allow it.
It would help if I were to actually read the entire article instead of only the paragraph on the front page. Thanks Ralph.
Haaaaaaaaaaaa! You’re welcome.
Funny thing, you mentioning that FAL pistol. He links to it directly in the text of this article. It’s the other review he cites – The Darkest Depths of Uselessness.
Just picked mine up today. Now I need to get that pesky form filled out and figure out who is going to have the appropriate stock available in 7 months…
Just picked mine up at my local FFL today. Now I need to figure out who to get to do the conversion… Russians sure know how to make awful sight pictures. 🙂
Awful? How so? What does it look like?
The last time I saw anything this useless was a converted FA HK91 with 7.5″
bbl. The ad in Shotgun News said it was fun to shoot at night.
One of those things that are great on paper, but not so great in the real world.
Someone was dumb enough to make a 7.62×39 pistol, what makes you so confident that history won’t repeat itself.
An SBR is a title 2 firearm, not a sporting (what ever that is). An SBR does NOT need to comply with 922 r. There is a letter from ATF technical branch available at many of the NFA sites.
its still useless chambered in a round relying on velocity to perform correctly, an ak pistol to me is only good in 5.45×39, itll function properly out of that barrel length the 5.56 wont, so whats the point
1.)What could possibly be more fun than shnoitog all day more or less for free?And bonus, added to your 10/22, a coupla MKII’s, a big box o’ mags for them all, and a coupla crates of ammo, and you’re set for armageddon, zombocalypse, class war, etc. (yeah, thanks to you I’ve visited SurvivalBlog a coupla times; shudder)AT