to build or to buy in the panic period

1225 Views 9 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Wiebelhaus, Jan 13, 2013

flounder

Discussion Starter · Jan 8, 2013

got in a lengthy discussion with friends and fellow firearm enthusiasts as to buy or build since everyone's buying everything in this latest panic:

basically one friend of mine insists on building an ak from a parts kit he purchased a year ago, while myself and another friend argued it was safer just to buy, even at the inflated costs.

he says its legal to build one for himself including the receiver from a pre made flat and it doesn't require any registration or any serial no printing on it to match the no.s on the barrel in the kit as long as he doesn't sell it.

we disagreed, and argued he could get in some serious trouble if he tried firing it at a local rifle range and the RSO or an attending off duty leo noticed its not so professional finished look.

not really seeking legal advice, i just noticed a lot of build threads here( that didn't necessarily answer the question) so i thought i'd see what others on this forum thought or knew.

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fa35jsf

· #2 · Jan 8, 2013

Well I am not sure about AK's, but if you want to do a little reading to educate yourself a little more, just google 80% AR lower. From what I have read, it is completely legal to build yourself a gun out of parts and an unfinished receiver so long as the following conditions are met:
1) You do all the work yourself. You can not outsource the job to any machine shop or even a friend.
2) You do not sell, transfer, gift, or in anyway get rid of the firearm to someone else.

As far as the local LEO, many police don't know all the laws. There is so many I don't know how they ever would. So some more googling might produce the letter from the ATF or some other law that could be printed off and shown to anybody that happens to question your fine workmanship.

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thanson

· #3 · Jan 9, 2013

fa35jsf said:
Well I am not sure about AK's, but if you want to do a little reading to educate yourself a little more, just google 80% AR lower. From what I have read, it is completely legal to build yourself a gun out of parts and an unfinished receiver so long as the following conditions are met:
1) You do all the work yourself. You can not outsource the job to any machine shop or even a friend.
2) You do not sell, transfer, gift, or in anyway get rid of the firearm to someone else.

As far as the local LEO, many police don't know all the laws. There is so many I don't know how they ever would. So some more googling might produce the letter from the ATF or some other law that could be printed off and shown to anybody that happens to question your fine workmanship.

would those two rules apply if the reciever you are using is a manufactured reciever with a serial number? Or are these rules just for building on a reciever without a serial number?

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fa35jsf

· #4 · Jan 9, 2013

These rules apply for building out a receiver that has no serial number that you bought without the trigger housing milled out. So it is not a receiver but rather a paperweight as the government is concerned.

As far as building a rifle from a kit including a receiver that was bought and has a serial number and has undergone a FFL transfer, that is perfectly legal.

I must put on here that I am not a lawyer and this does not constitute legal advice. This is just my understanding of the laws

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thanson

· #5 · Jan 9, 2013

fa35jsf said:
These rules apply for building out a receiver that has no serial number that you bought without the trigger housing milled out. So it is not a receiver but rather a paperweight as the government is concerned.

As far as building a rifle from a kit including a receiver that was bought and has a serial number and has undergone a FFL transfer, that is perfectly legal.

I must put on here that I am not a lawyer and this does not constitute legal advice. This is just my understanding of the laws

thats what I thought, but ya never know, there are miles of red tape and law after law. I would think that even if if there were a gun ban I would be grandfathered in because I bought everything before

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fa35jsf

· #6 · Jan 9, 2013

thanson said:
thats what I thought, but ya never know, there are miles of red tape and law after law. I would think that even if if there were a gun ban I would be grandfathered in because I bought everything before

Here is the problem with all of this. Federal laws are not to hard to figure out and follow since after all they are the same everywhere. State laws on the other hand are a whole other story. Best advice I can give you is ask somebody in the business if you are really interested. If you build your own from a kit and a paperweight lower (read uncompleted lower receiver) then there won't be any of the usual paperwork connected to that firearm, therefore nothing for big brother to dig into. That is unless they are monitoring your bank account purchases (putting on the tin foil hat for laughs).

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MachineHead

· #7 · Jan 9, 2013

Personally I have built both ar 80% lowers and ak-47 parts kits and have threads on here for both in the DIY section. Also rebuilt two belt fed machine guns and converted them to semi auto. The question you need to be asking is if you can do it. They are completely safe and legal to build and there is no paper trail but not everyone can tackle the project. If you trust your own work then I would build one, if not buy one for three times the money. Also you are legally allowed to sell one parts kit build a year without any issue but has to be marked with your personal info.

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flounder

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 9, 2013

appreciate the informative posts and responses, though now i owe him a six pack of his favorite brew because i bet him we 'd come across something here referring us to its illegality. but happy to know its within the law as he and you here have suggested.

thanks fellow enthusiasts.

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mongo43

· #9 · Jan 13, 2013

I seen a post a while back where a guy built an AK lower out of an old garden shovel. Put it together with a parts kit and has a functional AK.

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Wiebelhaus

· #10 · Jan 13, 2013

I don't know man, that Ruger Gun site Scout as Jeff Cooper imagined it is looking very interesting considering what may be coming at us this year.

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