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Franklin Armory is showing off their new solution for California AR-15 compliance. Starting this year bullet buttons are no longer an acceptable solution to keep a magazine from being easily replaced and so a number of companies are coming up with ways to keep their AR-15 rifles as close to “stock” as possible while still complying with the law. Franklin Armory probably has the easiest solution on the market with their new magazine.

The trick here are the lips on the back of the magazine. Instead of inserting the magazine from the bottom, the magazine is inserted from the top of the lower receiver and the lops on the back prevent it from moving any further down or ejecting. In this configuration the upper receiver needs to be pivoted up to access the magazine to reload which is annoying enough to make California happy.

The DFM magazines retail for $24.99 on their website.

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75 COMMENTS

  1. Gangsters, thugs, terrorists, and criminals are definitely going to comply with this. Meanwhile, law abiding gun owners will be fiddling around trying to open their receiver trying to get the mag out while they are possibly being shot at. Great job guys.

    It’s kind of like how the San Bernardino terrorists abided by the bullet button law.

      • SKS, yes. The secret weapon, shh! Without removable mag. If you want any features, you have to abide by compliance laws.
        Certain Saigas are legal here, but most are not and you would be opening a can o’ worms.

    • VZ58 with fixed 10 round mag. Load it by stripper clips from the top. It does have some issues if you have a scope though.

  2. I don’t know the CA law.

    In CT, the firearm would still be “A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine . . . .” Unless this were somehow riveted in place?

    • Would it, though? You technically have to take down the weapon to remove the magazine. It really seems about a ‘detachable’ as a bolt carrier.

    • So their website claims that this is CT compliant.

      Per CT law, a “Detachable magazine” means an ammunition feeding device that can be removed without disassembling the firearm action;

      It’s clever – but is it too clever by half? You could always switch out the special bolt catch for a regular one – thereby once again creating an assault weapon. Of course, you could also always replace the stock on your Mini-14 with a folding one . . .

      I suppose you would want to make sure you’re not in possession of any extra regular bolt catches. Which may be a problem if you also have “grandfathered” weapons and like to keep spare parts on hand.

      • What special bolt catch are you referring too? Is it on their website and just not mentioned in this article? This is a magazine that is designed in such a way that it can’t be ejected downward. It is inserted and removed through the top when the upper is pivoted. Kind of like some of those 9mm adapter blocks.

        • It’s not mentioned in the article. A typical bolt catch is triggered by the mag follower, but the same little piece of metal on the bolt catch that permits this prevents installing this special mag. Hence you either have to install the supplied special bolt catch or you have to file off the piece of metal that intrudes into the well from your existing bolt catch. Either way, you lose the bolt hold open feature unless you manually engage it.

    • It’s not detachable without taking the gun apart. And if that counts as ‘detachable’ then pretty much any internal magazine is ‘detachable.’

      I’m not saying that couldn’t be a decision made by some commie judge, but it would make no sense (the same scheme is at work in NY although here the options I’ve seen involve disabling the magazine release catch itself.

      • Right, but the point is that once I remove this thing I can put in a regular mag. Hence the rifle “has an ability to accept a detachable magazine” – it always retains that ability – it’s always “capable”.

        • Not if you use a prince50 from bullet button and leave out the mag catch spring. Then you would have to pull out an Allen key to unscrew it to take out the mag.

  3. Police should have to follow the same system as all the other “citizens” in the state. It’s disappointing seeing two different classes of people being created in these so called liberal progressive states. One set of laws for the common man and a different set for government employees. That’s not democracy, just a mockery. Tyrants, nothing more.

    • ^^^^^^^^^^WINNER^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

      AND it makes perfect sense to “convince ” the police unions to stop backing these unconstitutional laws if they have to stroll around some of the roughest cities in California with 10 round glocks and rim fire 22 rifles that they have to field strip to reload. Now go ahead and pull over that car in Richmond or Stockton CA at 2am.

    • Thats why the police get the carve outs.

      If they tried to force cops to live under the same BS that they force on we little peons, the cops would simply stop enforcing the dumb laws.

      • I know two different cops in California, one works for the Stockton PD and another works with the Calaveras Sheriff. Neither one really gives a rat’s ass about ordinary citizens’ magazine capacity. Both are more concerned with the actual criminals committing actual crimes. Now, whether their departments’ administrations or their unions are on the same page as them, I doubt it. But from talking with them, it seems that most rank-and-file agree that none of these laws are viewed as actually making any impact on real crimes, it’s just making criminals out of otherwise upstanding citizens.

  4. It would be great if a Trump-stacked SCOTUS declared all these laws to be unconstitutional. Unlikely, I know, but hey, we can dream…

  5. This fix wont last ether. The Fascist control freaks that have rule over us will come up with some other BS. Kalifonia is a lost cause. The main reason, 4 to 11 million (no one knows for sure, yet) legal gun owners will not stand up and fight.

    • Yeah fucking right! Learn some math, dude: it’s a numbers game. LA county has 10 million people, and the Bay has a few million more. Most of the rest of CA is actually reasonably conservative, but like the Republicans in upstate New York or non-Cook County, Illinois, there simply aren’t enough of them. When facing that degree of rabid opposition, there’s just no way to overcome the sheer numerical disparity.

    • it’s also hard to fight when there isn’t even a republican candidate on the ballot. Our Senatorial race this year was between two Dems.

    • Of the about 9 millions gun owners in California, 365,000 of them couldn’t even get off the couch to go sign the petitions to stop/delay these new laws.

      Yes, it is indeed a lost cause.

    • Yes. But who wants to play with fire? The police will probably not closely inspect your weapon to see if you have one of these mags if they don’t see a bolt button.

  6. CALIFORNIANS:

    DO NOT COMPLY! DO NOT SUBMIT! HOLD OUT AS LONG AS YOU CAN! THE ENEMY CANNOT HOLD THE LINES! WE ARE AT THE GATES! RESIST AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!

      • California gun owners, like me, believe in the 2nd Amendment. We do all we can to fight the system, and we will likely follow the example set by AR owners in NY, CT, and MA…. civil disobedience. Their laws took effect several years ago and there are still an estimated 26,000 in CT alone who the state believes have not complied with ridding themselves of “high capacity” magazines, and registering so called assault rifles. It was good for the Founders it’s good enough for the people today.

        In CA, 96% of the rural state is controlled by those who live in the 4% . Where I live, even some Dems appreciate their firearms, and our sheriff has sworn to side with the people and support the Constitution. He took the same oath the rest of the civil servants took… “to protect and defend the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of California…”. Before the new laws were put before the voters, practically every law enforcement organization in the state stood up in support of the 2nd Amendment. Sadly, the state government ignored them.

  7. If I were a Californian I would have a trash bag filled with 30 round pmags and standard mag releases buried in my yard.

    • It’s really unfortunate how common those tragic boating accidents are. WHEN WILL CONGRESS PASS COMMON SENSE BOAT LAWS? Think of the children!

      Edit: Actually, I wouldn’t put that past them….

    • If I lived in Kalifornia…. welll, I wouldn’t tomorrow. No job or overpriced 2.4 million ‘dollar’, 1200 square foot home is worth that.

      • Depends where you live in California. That price, SF and Bay Area for sure, but here, that kind of money will buy you 6000 sq ft., a pool, a barn/work shop, and 12 acres of land with views of the mountains or the lake. Which is why we have so many retirees up here in the far northern part of the state. And a shall issue sheriff too.

  8. Just a random thought but what if you could replace a mag follower with one that had a device that pushed out the mag catch (the mag is retained by the mag catch latching into the little cut out on the side of the mag) when the follower got to the top of the mag? You may sacrifice a couple of rounds being able to fit in the magazine, but I think it would be worth it if it could work.

    I think it’d be a stretch to consider such a device a “tool” since it’s an automatic operation of the gun when it’s empty. It doesn’t require disassembly of the gun but acts much more like an en bloc clip, which California specifically states in the text of their law as a completely legal type of magazine.

    Just trying to help out our fellows stranded in Commiefornia. Not sure if there’d be enough power to be able to push that guy out, but then again they could always just put a weaker mag catch spring in there if the idea has teeth.

    • I’m no gunsmith, but that sounds like it could be a really good idea. Anyone whos more well-versed in the mechanical operation of firearms wanna weigh in?

    • Interesting idea, although I don’t know how eager people would be to have their mags dropping in what may be mud, or damaged on a hard surface like rock or concrete.

      • It’s a give and take, pros and cons. Personally I would prefer my mags drop on empty and let them fall wherever than have to open up my AR just to be able to reload.

    • It would be easier if Franklin simply made their mag with no cut out. The upper will keep it from going up, and the lips on the mag will keep it from going down.

      • The advantage to being able to get it up from the bottom is that you can, if you feel the need, take the gun apart and make it into a ‘real’ AR. It’s not something you’ll be doing in 5 seconds (the supposed fear of having a detachable magazine as basis for the laws) but you can do it if, say, you decide to go shooting in another state where the laws are sane.

        • @Mark N.

          The text of the law says it’s not a detachable mag if it requires disassembly or a “tool” to remove it.

          Calling something like this a “tool” is a stretch, since it doesn’t require any manipulation by a person in order for it to work, and both legal and dictionary definitions of tools would not define something like this. Also, as mentioned, weapons with en bloc clips are specifically mentioned in the text of the law as being okay and the function of a magazine that drops free on empty is the same… it just holds more rounds and is a magazine.

      • I remember seeing this gun but I didn’t read much about it, interesting to see they thought of the same concept!

        While it’s the same concept it’s different execution: their idea necessitates a different receiver with different parts but works with any magazine. My idea is the opposite: any AR15 receiver works, but the follower has to be changed. I think Californians would be more inclined to modify their P-MAGs with relatively cheap parts than to buy a whole new rifle.

    • There is one, a lever that installs at the back of the receiver that pulls out the pin and returns it to a locking position with a spring. I don’t have a link, but I understand that there is a video on youtube. Not having a Google account, I can’t dig it up.

  9. I wonder if some sort of fixed magazine could be devised that feeds from stripper clips?

    Correct me if I’m wrong, CA is limited to to round fixed magazines, if one were to create a magazine the could be fixed and maybe feed from an offset stripper clip guide.

    Create it in such a way that it can be used in an un modified AR magwell. Like a 25% offset, when the stripper clip is inserted it drags down the magazine follower, to a lower height for loading the rounds, after all 10 are fed, the follower moved up last the loading gate for proper feeding.

  10. (I know, I know, won’t happen) Quit selling in California, the ones that want the firearms can still get them without the gimmicks, for the right price. Just make them work harder for it. Cut off all arms sales to California. Criminals/terrorists/wannabe’s have the right to live without fear of being hurt or killed while carrying out whatever acts of violence/lawlessness they choose to commit. Lay down your arms, save a life, (not yours), give miscreants a chance to turn their lives around. It’s all society’s fault for not being loving enough.

    • Cut off all arms sales to Ca Law Enforcement, except those that comply with the new laws. If LE was forced to live with this, you could bet that the law would change.

    • The key there is to stop selling to EVERYONE. If Glock, SW, Sig, etc would announce they will no longer sell guns to California government institutions…it would be interesting to watch the government squirm.

    • They should make a regular magazine with text printed on the magazine that says:

      “For Californians that don’t want to comply.”

  11. I’m sorry, I live in the free state of Florida, so I’m not “up” on the BS laws of Kommifornia, but do you guys have some government A-hole hanging over your shoulder at the range making sure you follow their “rules”? If I had to move there, I wouldn’t do anything different that I’m doing now, here in the 904!

  12. Embrace the communism or embrace the fascism of California. It is your destiny because of the way you vote.
    Unless you vote with your feet like I did 25 years ago.

    I fully expect California to defy federal orders protecting civil rights, just like Virginia and Alabama, defied federal orders regarding school desegregation.
    We will see history repeat itself. Will republican president Trump send in troops like republican president Eisenhower did???
    We will see.

  13. It’s a good start. Now add some quick release take down pins to the receiver, and a stripper clip guide to the magazine.

    (Of course I would much rather see an end to California’s unconstitutional laws. But if I can’t have that, a firm middle finger stuck in their legislature’s eye will be entertaining.)

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