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Posted: 11/4/2002 12:45:49 PM EDT
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I am looking for a pre ban Colt sporter complete lower, if anyone has one for sale or could help me find one, please let me know. Email me if you would like [email protected] Thanks Mark |
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Mark: Beware! I don't know what your intentions are, but you cannot build a pre-ban gun using just a pre-ban lower. According to the BATF a gun looses it's pre-ban status if it is not transfered or sold as a complete pre-ban gun, eg pre-ban upper and lower. Check out the numerous threads in the Legal Forum on this topic. However, I know a place that had some last week. I'll look up the address in a little while and edit this post with the link, if I can find it again. Mark: Go to www.subguns.com Go to Message Boards then Non-NFA Firearms ads. Do a search for Pre-Ban AR 15. You will find them under item 118 "Colt Pre ban lowers, complete. |
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A Colt Sporter "SP1" or "Sporter II", also marked "AR-15" is actually still preban, even as a stripped lower, since it's specifically named in the AW ban. Later Colt production without "AR-15" in the model name is like anyone else's pre- or post-ban AR-15, in that it must have had enough "evil features" present on or before 9/13/94 to qualify, and according to ATF's latest shenanigans, if sold without enough features to qualify as an AW, it becomes post-ban. |
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At a gun show this last weekend, I noticed that the prices on Colt pre-bans were only 3 or so hundred more than a post ban. Only 3 or 4 years ago, you had to pay a lot more than that for a preban. My thinking is that the preban owners who may have paid $2200 to $2500 for a rifle are thinking that in the VERY "possible" event that the AWB sunsets, they may end up with just an old AR-15. I'm about to send in my order to BM for a 16" rifle with suppressor, bayonet lug, and folding stock and with specific instructions to hold my order and build the rifle in January 2005 at which time they can legally ship it as what will then be a NEW "PostAWBban" rifle. And it won't cost $2000 either. :-) Teeline |
A possible loophole would be to buy a complete lower with pistol grip AND telestock. Those two features classify it as an AW, and it IS the serial numbered part. (The lower even accepts the detachable mags). Should be legal even in this configuration, even if no upper is present. "This refers to your letter of March 19, 2001, in which you ask about the status of certain semiautomatic assault weapons which have been altered to another configuration. As defined in section 921(a)(30), of Title 18, United States Code (U.S.C:), the term "semiautomatic assaultic weapon" includes certain named weapons and certain semiautomatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns that have a combination of enumerated features. Title 18 U.S.C. section 922(v)(1) prohibits manufacture, transfer, and possession of semiautomatic assault weapons; however, section 922(v)(2) provides that any semiautomatic assault weapon that was lawfully possessed under Federal law on September 13, 1994, is excluded from the prohibition. A frame or receiver of a semiautomatic assault weapon, meets the definition of a "firearm" in 18 U.S.C. section 921(a)(3); however, a firearm frame or receiver alone, without the additional qualifying features, does not meet the definition of a "semiautomatic assault weapon" in section 921(a)(30). Therefore, a firearm frame or receiver does not meet the exemption in section 922(v)(2). We have also determined that a semiautomatic assault weapon in knockdown (unassembled) condition consisting of a receiver and all parts needed to assemble a complete semiautomatic assault weapon are subject to regulation if the parts are segregated or packaged together and held by a person as the parts for the assembly of a particular firearm. You describe an AR15 type rifle that met the definition of a semiautomatic assault weapon and was lawfully possessed on September 13, 1994. At some subsequent time the rifle was temporarily reassembled in a configuration such that it no longer had the qualifying features of a semiautomatic assault weapon. You asked if the original components could then be lawfully reinstalled on the rifle. Provided that the original components were held by the owner and reinstalled on the rifle, it is our opinion that the rifle would still qualify as an exempted semiautomatic assault weapon even though it had been temporarily assembled in a different configuration. We note, that mere disassembly of a semiautomatic weapon by an owner would not remove the firearm from the definition of a semiautomatic assault weapon nor would the reassembly constitute manufacture of a prohibited semiautomatic assault weapon. Your second question concerns a semiautomatic assault weapon that also meets the exemption in section 922(v)(2). However, this firearm was disassembled and the receiver, without other components, was sold. Since the receiver is no longer possessed with all parts necessary to assemble a complete semiautomatic assault weapon, it no longer meets the definition of a semiautomatic assault weapon. The receiver does not meet the exemption in section 922(v)(2) and assembly of this firearm in the configuration of a semiautomatic assault weapon would be prohibited under section 922(v)(1). If you are interested in determining the status of a particular receiver or semiautomatic assault weapon, you should contact the manufacturer or importer and ask about the date that it was manufactured and the configuration at the time of sale. It may also be necessary to contact subsequent dealers and owners who possessed the firearm. We regret the delay in responding to your inquiry. If you have further questions concerning this matter, please contact us. Sincerely yours, Curtis H.A. Bartlett" |
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FYI - In a phone call to Colt. I found out that Colt did NOT sell any Lowers (as parts) - only as Compleate Rifles. In that case any "Pre-Ban" Colt AR-15 Lower did leave the factory as a Compleate Rifle and can be rebilt into another "Pre-Ban." Alway check the Serial Number List before buying. But if it is a Colt Lower, it is a safe bet it was a "Pre-Ban" Rifle before it got stripped down. |
| Yeah, Frank, that is the sole reason (complete rifles only, no lowers) for my choosing a Colt for my pre-ban AR-15. But the red-highlighted part in my post above yours shows where the ATF letter-writer says that a true pre-ban AR-15 that is stripped down to a bare lower and the lower re-sold becomes a post-ban lower. |
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