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Now it's accurate to say: "First a rifle, always a rifle".
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I'm glad you came back to that. I was about to get my 'frantic typing' gloves on and have at it.
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So, case in point of "not a rifle":
The upper normally lives on a "rifle" lower (though, I bought it as a receiver, so it could be a 'handgun' if the stock was removed).
I was having some issues forming cases properly and ended up having to chamber-check each and every case after the forming processes. The easiest way to get the job done, since that upper was NOT on its usual rifle lower at the time, was to just grab my pistol lower (also shipped/transferred as just a receiver) and use it to hold the upper on the mag well block that lives next to my vise.
As it sits, that's a "handgun" ... even though the overall length is around 42+ inches and it weighs about 12 lbs. (11 lb 3.4 oz in rifle form; but that pistol lower actually weighs
more than the rifle lower.)
But... as illogical as it is to consider that a "handgun", if I added a vertical fore-grip to that free-float tube, things would get muddy.
If you still consider it a "handgun", then it's an illegal AOW.
If you believe it to be a rifle with a very uncomfortable butt, then it's just a rifle (with a vertical fore-grip).
The NFA, while difficult to understand at times (especially when first trying to wrap your head around it), usually does provide pretty clear answers to what qualifies as what. But you can also find yourself in a situation with something like the above photo, where one person might consider it to still be a handgun and another might consider it to now be a rifle - with both being correct (and arguably wrong) at the same time.
Bottom line: As it sits, that is NOT a rifle. It's still a "handgun".