Posted: 2/17/2010 4:22:04 PM EDT
|
So what legalities are involved with building my own pistol (ar style) I live in WI what forms if any would I need to fill out?
Thanks |
|
It depends on what you mean by building your own pistol. If you mean starting with a block of metal, I honestly don't have a clue. The ATF is actually helpful with these matters, you can email them anonymously if your paranoid cautious, I won't go into details of how to be anonymous on the internet here, but you can Google it if your really concerned.
If your referring to building something like a 1911 from a registered receiver (the frame in the case of a 1911) there is only the matter of legally obtaining it. These must be transfered just like a completed firearm through an FFL, completing a 4473. However as this is the only S/N'd part it is also the only part that must be transferred this way. 1911 Example: You buy the frame from online retailer X, they mail it to your FFL, you go to the FFL (pay them 20-30$), fill out form 4473 as you would with any gun, they run it through NICS, your (hopefully) g2g. You then buy a bunch of parts and work on 'building' your 1911. ETA: I missed the AR style part somehow: Again, if your wanting to machine your own lower your on your own, however if you want to build it from parts only the lower receiver needs to go through an FFL. If there are any WI specific laws I can't help you, but if you hop over to the hometown forums they can probably set you straight on that. Just make sure if you are ordering your lower that it comes having NEVER been assembled as a rifle (buy one new and make sure it comes with a note from the manufacturer, Essential Arms does this, not sure about others), and make sure that your FFL marks it as a pistol on their paperwork. The last I knew the ATFE still had the stance that once a rifle, always a rifle. So if I were to take my current rifle apart, remove the stock and use a 8" barrel it would still be considered a rifle since it was assembled as a rifle previously. and since it is now a short barreled rifle it would be an unregistered NFA (bad deal). However if I take a lower that was never assembled and do this to it, its perfectly legal. There are also issues with having certain combinations of parts in your possession e.g. a pistol upper and rifle lower. If you don't have the lower for the pistol the ATFE can claim that you have an SBR since you can mate these two halves, and being an evil gun owner you must have the intent to do so! etc... Check the build it yourself and AR pistol boards on this section of the site: http://www.ar15.com/forums/board.html?b=3 |