I see the kits for sale all the time online. M16 Lower parts kits that include a full auto hammer, selector, and Sear. The listings only ever say "sold as parts and are for registered lowers only".

What's the legality in purchasing the parts? Looks like they're shipped to your door.

Would it only become illegal if someone installed them in a non registered post 86 lower?

Legal.

Do they have the auto sear or just lower parts and regular AR-15 FCG? If no auto sear do not see a problem.

Doesn't matter. Can't install it anyway unless you mill out a lower for it, and at that point I don't think that person cares about the law.

Come with a sear

True.

Definately legal to buy, sell, own ect.

BUT, It would likely be very easy for BATFE to prosecute for constructive possession if someone had all the conversion pieces as well as an AR15 under the "readily restored" clause.

There is no legal use of the auto sear in a non-MG

The "easy to prosecute for constructive possession" never comes to pass. It takes someone getting into their spotlight for other reasons and then the parts are scooped up as evidence and the charge added to the dogpiling to ensure a conviction for something that can stick.

Nobody seems to really give a damn. Because, not a problem on the national scale.

Compare the number of parts kits swept up in raids to the number of guns the ATF let walk across the border and we will then have real facts to contrast in the way of enforcement.

These kits sell on the premise of "sketchy ownership" "I have full auto gun parts and you don't." Same as "I have a switchblade in NYC." Has it stopped them yet?

You get stopped for suspicion of some other crime and then the knife is found. They aren't lining up people on the sidewalks and searching them. No real enforcement, no big deal. Lockbacks being prosecuted for gravity knife convictions have even been stopped now.

Parts kits have been selling since I first saw them in Shotgun News in the '80s. That's over 40 years now, and I was a newb then. It had been going on before that. So were sales of flats, Sten gun kits, etc. Common as dirt. Outlawing them was done to make them more desireable, and add fuel to the fire that weapons needed to be completely banned. Long term goal, to disarm America.

The NFA was originally written to ban handguns to all Americans. They got MG's silencers and a few short barrels, and went from there. Then the AWB but we let it sunset. Actual Patriots woke up and we got that rescinded. Look at the AR market now.

That ploy backfired on them.

Buy all the kits you want, it's your right under the 2d Amendment. For some of us, meh. We shot them in the service and we sure aren't going to feed one now that we have to pay for the ammo. It's like adopting a Great Dane when you are on Social Security - you might need that can of dog food for supper.

you sure about that?

https://blog.princelaw.com/2009/09/01/florida-man-arrested-for-constructive-possession-of-an-sbr/

yes it's legal, why you would want one on the other hand if you don't have a registered lower or aren't a 02 MFG I have no idea as there are much better fire control groups out there for semi use.

You start to also wander in grey waters especially if you have a milled out lower pocket ready, some half milled 80%, or a jig laying around.

I would avoid it but that's just me since there is no benefit to having a FA FCG laying around unless if you're planning the fantasy of a boogaloo down the road.

Arguably there’s a difference between having a stock that is plug and play in that you can just attach the stock without any modification to either the stock or gun and make a SBR, and having FA parts that can’t make a machine gun unless you physically modify a semi auto lower.  Still, who know what they might try to come up with.

To be honest, I don’t see the value of buying FA AR parts that have no real use in a semi lower.  About the only part that people commonly use is a AR carrier, and that’s mostly for mass.

It is really not up to us as to why someone would buy a FA lower parts kit, the motivation is up to the person that does it.  People do things for various reasons and that is their business.

It is legal so not anybodies worry except the person buying it.

Amen to that.

I know plenty of people that ended up with piles of sears over the years, from kit buying and semi building. It's no big deal, just being an AR doesn't change that.

Stealth boogaloo thread?

No issue.

Just about everyone who bought an imported AK parts kit got the auto sear with it, ATF did not require them to be removed.

Have you checked your state laws regarding this? I know WA has provisions that restrict parts solely designed for machine guns (ie, Sears) and possession is a class C felony.

WA is a communist country!

Sort of...
Or buy a low shelf stripped lower.
Blocked lowers are no longer a thing. Legally.

Unless you are in possession of “all the parts” for a conversion.

Still have the missing third pin hole, so... you're still golden, legally.

They are just parts, you can buy them. Some sellers try and cover their butts and want proof you own a legal transferable M16 or are a dealer or manufacturer. But then some just want your money and don't ask. Just don't use them to make an illegal machine gun and get caught with it by the ATF.

I have literally never run across that when buying anything that includes an autosear. Is that something AR-specific? Is it just buying brand new, just those parts? That just sounds... insane. I've never asked for such paperwork when selling sears out of kits, either.

Bushmaster among others had that policy.

They have never been a thing, legally.

Colt just did that for "appeasement," or something.

A low shelf stripped lower won’t accept an auto sear. Even after that evil extra hole magically appeared in the lower, extra machine work would still be required to make a sear fit and function in a low (or high) shelf lower receiver.

There are very, VERY few lowers that will dimensionally accommodate a sear, even AFTER the sear pin’s hole is drilled, and those lowers aren’t simply “low shelf” lowers.

Is it legal to buy a full auto lower larts set that includes the auto sear? As many have pointed out all parts other than recievers and machinegun conversion devices are not regulated. So the answer is yes, someone that does not own a transferable M16 or is a manufacturer could buy such a parts set. Just because you can, does necessarily make it a good idea. My understanding is that the threshold would be what a reasonable person would believe. If a non owner of transferable M16 type machinegun but is the owner of a semi auto AR-15 is in possession of a M16 lower parts kit, I would think that most reasonable persons would tend to believe that the owner might have a conversion in mind.

Would such a person be convinced? I have no idea. I would imagine defending against any kind of Federal charges would cost a lot more than the market value of a Colt M16. Is such a charge likely?  No, but is it likely that the average driver will be involved in a multiple injury car accident that is their fault tomorrow? I'd be willing to bet that most of the readers and posters on this thread have car insurance. Most vendors charge considerably more for the M16 lower parts kit compared to a AR-15 lower parts kit. So far as I have seen no one has posted any advantage to using M16 fire control parts and the auto sear can't be used. So I only see down side with no upside. YMMV.

Scott

It was long ago...I could very well be wrong.
I thought  there was a “manufacturing thing” when the original assault ban came out and manufacturers were instructed to deliver receivers after ..? with that area “blocked”.
And it just continued because they already changed the tooling and set ups.

Colt started installing a steel incert in the auto sear area as I recall in 1992. Colt had enlarged the size of the fire control pins when they changed from the SP-1 model to the AR-15A2. After the National Assault Weapons Ban was instituted in September of 1994, the model roll mark was charged from "SPORTER" to "MATCH TARGET". Colt continued to use the larger than standard fire control pins. Colt did make a "AR-15" model for Law Enforcement only that had the naughty features. The Law Enforcement models did not get a steel block in the auto sear area,  but did have the larger than standard fire control pins. In the 1998/99 time frame Colt changed how they machined semi automatic lower receivers. The auto sear area was not machined at all. Two separate pockets were machined. One for the fire control and the other for the rear lug of the upper.

Scott