With the addition of yet another set of crazy new California laws (related to semi auto rifles) I figured it was time to make the best of what many of you would consider just straight left maddness. I've owned a mini 30 for about 20 years. Over time the rifle had morphed from a wood stock to Hogue over molded stock, to a pistol grip ATI stock. I really liked the ATI stock and found it was a comfortable and enjoyable platform for this rifle. Then came the new laws in CA and I found myself with an illegal weapon. Since I had the original wood stock (which had bumps and bruises from regular use) I decided it was time to introduce my 10 year old to the fun of refinishing a stock. What did I have to lose? I had the Hogue on standby and the best case scenario was my son put his best efforts into refinishing this thing. The result was pure enjoyment with a young gun enthusiast, taking the gun apart and starting from scratch. He picked mahogany stain and stripped and sanded the stock. We applied a couple coats of stain to his preference and went with a tung oil finish. We tried to make a mini 14 wood handguard work but we found better luck with the ATI handguard (25 bucks lost, but part of the fun). Plus we got to keep our forward mounted red dot without additional cost. It took us about a month to complete, since we had school and work getting in the way. The end result wasnt perfect, but i will proudly hunt and shoot with it. Our next attempts may be on his 10/22 and his older sisters m1carbine. California laws may be crazy, but in this case I think they have made a young shooter more invested in the sport.

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A plethora of piñatas?

With all due respect to Forum members who live there, if I lived in California and had a 10 year old son, I would be introducing him to the fun of loading a moving van...

Looks good to me! I like the low-gloss finish...gives it more of a working rifle look. Good job.

I think the way the laws in CA are written to be so overlapping and contradictory that to comply with one law you end up violating another. The whole idea is to put gun owners in a Catch-22 situation where they always break some obscure law that can lead to arrest and confiscation.

Then there's the idea of "constructive intent". This originally was a fed idea. I believe it's a regulation as opposed to a law. I wouldn't be surprised if California had similar regs or laws accomplishing the same thing.

Anyway, the idea goes like this. If you own a part that would render a compliant gun non compliant, then you're guilty of owning or building a non compliant gun. This reg came into play big time during the fed AWB. It's not something the feds liked to hang their hat on. In other words, if there were bigger issues at stake like owning an unregistered machine gun or an unregistered short barreled rifle or shotgun, they would tack constructive intent on to the charges under the legal theory that if you throw enough poo at the wall, something will stick. AFAIK, there were never any singular prosecutions for constructive intent, just confiscation of the non compliant part and the weapon it went to.

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NRA Benefactor

Not everyone can control when and where they can hang their hat.
Very cool how you made do, sounds like a good kid lucky enough to have a good Dad.
Nice job with the 14. Hope you find enough loads to enjoy the hard work.

It looks fantastic Alisdad! It was a worthwhile project and he did a great job with it. I look forward to the 10/22.


If you really were being respectful, you wouldn't have said this. But it does raise the question, why haven't you moved out of Maryland? They have the same laws against modern sporting rifles that CA does. They have a 10 rounds mag limit and a semi-automatic center-fire rifle with a removable magazine is illegal which is what the OP is talking about. So, tell us, why haven't you moved yet?

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Freedom isn't free.

Lots of other reasons to move from California . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Well, I live in CA, and even though the rules are numerous and strict, I'm still managing to put together a modest but quality collection. I don't think it's all that terrible, really... but everyone should be free to live exactly wherever they please and enjoy.

~A~

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Guns, roses, and fishing!

I made a quip...I'm sorry you weren't able to realize that. Thirteen other Forum members, including the OP, "liked" it...

Now then, since you chose to turn this thread into a discussion of my state's gun laws...

While I am not an expert on California's laws, I know Maryland's laws are less onerous. There is no "bullet button" requirement here, and I don't see ads stating that sellers will not ship common revolvers to Maryland. Manufacturers don't make "Maryland-compliant" versions of their shootin' irons, and there has never been a requirement that we register or surrender certain rifles.

Furthermore, you are 100% wrong in your allegation that semi-auto centerfire rifles are prohibited here. While the Maryland General Assembly did prohibit, in 2013, certain specific "assault weapons", including standard AR15's, there is no generalized prohibition on magazine-fed semi-autos. The Mini-14 and M1 Carbine are legal to sell here, as are HBAR versions of the AR-15. The OP's Mini-30 is legal here, with any stock he chooses to use. AR platform rifles in 7.62, such as the Armalite AR10 or the Fulton Armory FAR-308, are legal to buy as well.

Anyone who owned so-called "high capacity" mags prior to the start date of the 10 round limit can keep them, and there is no prohibition on Maryland residents buying mags out-of-state; it is common for Marylanders to go to gun shops or gun shows in Delaware, Virginia, or Pennsylvania to buy their mags.

Lastly, why I choose to live here is nobody's business but mine.

While I am also from Md I did move from the state quite a few years ago. Not because of the gun laws though. The laws in Md are much more onerous that Wy....but no where near as they are in CaliforniaMaryland 's big problem is the State police do not want people to have concealed carry...but the leftist pols support that. Heck I had a gun shop for more than 25 years...handled guns on a daily basis and could not obtain a carry license/permit...but I had plenty of semi's including so called assault rifles and even sold them. I knew quite a few shooters that had full auto firearms...but Md was nowhere near as bad as California has become with so many nonsense based laws. My reasons for moving were many but part of it was the Washintonians the Philadelphians and the Baltimoro...people from Baltimore... moving to where my family had lived, since the 1660s, to get away from the city...and they brung it with them. Taxes were a major reason also. Consider the fact that from the first census in 1790 to the 1980 census the county I lived in contained right around 15500 people... Heck there is more'n double that on Kent Island a small part of the county. Even saying all of that..If I had had much close family in the area...I would probably not have moved.

"Then there's the idea of "constructive intent"... Anyway, the idea goes like this. If you own a part that would render a compliant gun non compliant, then you're guilty of owning or building a non compliant gun. ."

I may be wrong here, but I believe the 'constructive intent' idea applied to folks who possessed a semiautomatic AR-15 and ALSO possessed the bolt, carrier and other bits for a selective fire M-16.It doesn't apply to other rifle types.

I'm just glad I live in a part of America that's still mostly free.

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- Change it back -

I grew up in Inglewood. In Jr. High I took a woodshop class and needed a project. I asked my teacher if I could refinish the stock on my .22 rifle, and he agreed. The next day I took it to school with me on the school bus, carried it to class and it was no big deal. Brought it home on the bus a few weeks later looking like brand new. Can you imagine the panic if a kid tried that today!

The Mini 30 looks great, by the way!

Yeah..I'd trust all of the BATF and police with that constructive intent thing. As stated throwing poo at the whole thing hoping to get something to stick. I've seen that in action before working with the police.

Asinine gun laws are ALWAYS a sign of a deeper, more pervasive rot. In California, that rot finds its most visible expression in the collusion between government, police, universities and violent anarchists.

I'm sorry, there's literally NOTHING that could induce me to live in California.

If you like it, stay. But other than as an academic socio-political data point, I'm no more interested in how people accommodate California gun (and any other) laws than in how people thought they were getting around Jim Crow, the Nuremberg Laws or sharia. My answer would be to get out of Dodge before it's too late.

BUT-BUT-BUT...This from a guy who lives where?

Just drive that van to Arizona, both of you, we have room.

Tom Beavert

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frontsightnsqueaz

And if they don't like scorpions, there's always Ohio...

No, I got it, but look at how angry you became when I made the very same quip. Not so much fun is it?

Yes, the gun laws here are terrible. Yes, there are many of them that are worse than where you live. Yes, most of us would move out if we could. But moving isn't the answer.

Only a couple years ago MD had no restrictions on so called "assault" weapons, they do now. The Firearms Safety Act of 2013 made a lot of changes to how guns are handled in MD. But this is not about MD laws or the laws here in CA. It's about gun law stupidity in general. Like it or not, the anti-gun movement is out there and making headway in several areas.

While people are pointing fingers and making fun of those of us stuck here in CA, they are passing laws in other states that are similar to what we have here. NV just passed a gun confiscation law. OR is looking at laws similar to what's happening in CA.

CA is indeed the poster child for anti-gunism. Don't let your state follow CA's lead. Fight for your rights now before they become as oppressive as they are here. MD is already headed in that direction. You need a class just to get a license to buy a handgun (unless in an exempted status i.e. retired military or police). All new transfers are registered with the state police in a list they're required to keep forever. Yes, you can buy standard capacity mags out of state, but should you have to? Concealed licenses are very difficult to get. As we've seen here in CA, these laws are ripe for new additions to tighten them.

CA started the exact same way. Don't let it happen to you.

You "quipped" that if you'd move if you were in our situation. You're not in our situation, yet, but it's coming. Mark my words, take action now or watch your gun rights be eroded.

I have no beef with you. Let's work together to make things better for our children.

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Freedom isn't free.

The only way to make the best of california laws is to avoid the state like a plague.

Truer words...

My wife and I are both from Burbank. The keyword here is FROM

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Paul
Salome, AZ

I feel the same way about Chicago.

Back in the early '90s, I was looking at a job in the Bay area with Schlage doing access control systems. I was told that it would be hard to live on the $50,000/yr. they were offering, and that I'd probably have to live in Oakland... and not a "nice" part of Oakland either.

I find it interesting that the worst places for a decent human being to live are also usually the most expensive...

I hope to be out of Cali in the next 5 years. Gun laws aside, the place is becoming unliveable. Quality of life is going down the tubes. My area is basically a sanctuary city for homeless transients, oh sorry, here they are called "mortgagely challenged". My local Parks are basically homeless tent cities with open air bathrooms so I cant even take my kids there anymore. Sad. Such a gorgeous state too.

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

Specifically what laws is Oregon 'looking' at similar to California?

Scoff all you want at the cold weather northern states, but tent cities aren't very populous in the winter here!

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Common sense isn't so common.

Doing what you have to do to get by is a very honorable trait. I was just lucky to be born in Tennessee.

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Just a shooter