Doug White wrote:

"Pete C." wrote in news:4d18ae6c$0$15842
:


Ignoramus7943 wrote:

On 2010-12-27, Randy wrote:
On Mon, 27 Dec 2010 07:55:04 -0500, Karl Townsend
wrote:

Record cold and snow in MN. I'll soon be locked in the shop for the
duration of winter and been casting about for a worthy project.

I came accross this:
http://www.dsarms.com/prodinfo.asp?number=1001

Is this a good forging to start with? Anybody else done this? Any
heads up for problems? Any fixturing suggestions? I'll plan on
building quality fixtures to knock 'em out on the CNC mill.

Karl

As I understand it you can make one, but it is yours forever. You
may
not legally sell it to anyone, ever. Cannot even be passed on to
your
son/daughter. Or am I wrong?

I thought that the above is exactly correct.

i

I believe that is incorrect.

From the research I've done so far, it appears that you can build your
own firearms that are consistent with those you could legally purchase
at your local gun shop, are not required to put serial numbers on them
(though it's recommended), and can indeed sell or transfer them with
normal paperwork *occasionally*. If you were to sell or transfer too
often your transfer paperwork would be rejected and you'd be told to
get
a manufacturer's license.

It is different if you want to produce an NFA firearm, which while the
paperwork still refers to "firearm" generically, excludes "normal"
firearms and only covers short barrel rifles, silencers and other
specific NFA arms. Even those can be transferred with more
restrictions.

Of course if you plan to start one of these projects, you should do
your
own research to both verify that information as well as be sure you
understand every quirk of the related laws and paperwork. Also if you
plan any of these projects you need to check local/state laws and
perhaps move to a more favorable state (hint Iggy).

My understanding is that the BATF has gotten extra cranky in recent
years. There are cases where they have nailed gunsmiths for restoring
old/dmamged firearms because they crossed some imaginary threshold of how
much can be original, and how much can be replaced before it is
considered "manufacturing". Presumably, these problems were for single
firearms, but they were also being sold, or at least the work was done
for someone else. I belong to the American Gunsmithing Association, and
their latest magazine had a warning in it to someone who was attempting
what sounded like a simple restoration job.

Doug White

Yes, I believe there is a pretty solid line between doing gunsmithing as
a business and manufacturing a firearm, and building your own firearm
personally and then at some later date selling or otherwise transferring
it, perhaps to fund your next project.