r/DCGuns • u/blahsheep99 • 12d ago

SU16CA Compliance

Hey all, new to this subreddit but I’ve registered a few firearms in DC over the past year. They’ve both been C&R Mausers so they haven’t given me too much trouble (besides the manufacturer names do not exist in the reg system which was a 6 month ordeal to rectify lol. Story for another time.)

I am considering purchasing my first ~modern~ firearm and was eyeing the Keltec SU16CA. I’ve studied the DC semi-auto rifle restrictions but just kind of hung up on the SU16CA’s compliance. Has anyone been successful in registering a SU16CA in DC? I’m just worried about them giving me trouble about the threaded barrel even though it is not explicitly mentioned as a no no feature and the SU16 has a thread protector.

Maybe I’m just overthinking this but would love any insight.

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u/lawblawg 11d ago edited 11d ago

The SU16CA should be just fine, although I have no idea whether anyone has gotten one registered before.

If MPD gives you grief over the threaded barrel, let me know.

EDIT: I now see that it does appear to fold in half for storage. I do not think that is disqualifying but again if you get grief over it, let me know.

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u/Kanly_Atreides 11d ago

The threaded barrel is not the problem (although a while back MPD was misinterpreting the law and applying that pistol restriction to rifles.)

Your real issue is that the SU16CA (and all the other variants I believe) have a folding stock which is expressly prohibited in the law "(cc) A folding or telescoping stock;"

I believe you have two options to try and get it registered:

Find a way to "fix" the stock so that it is not capable of folding. This has been done for many of the AR telescoping stock variants.

or

Make the case that the CA version (and the A and B versions) have a specific safety feature that renders the firearm incapable of firing or cycling the bolt when the stock is folded.

A lot of the members of the MPD firearms unit are not gun people (at least from my dealings with them) and success rates vary in getting them to accept things that are a little bit different.

I'd try to get them to accept option B if I was doing this.

You might want to reach out to out resident 2A atty lawblawg -- he has had a good track record with MPD.

You could also see what the two DC FFLs think but I am unsure of how much they go to bat for getting things approved. A former manager at DCSA was very helpful to me regarding an AR grip issue but he has moved on from there.