I have bought a lot of MGs online and on the phone (shocker).

I usually find deals online, but I have cold called dealers, and have them call me if they know of something for sale and they think i might be interested.

I looked at my M16 before I bought it, the seller lived in the next city.
Same with two of my mac 10s. But this seller lived on the other coast of Florida.

My first one, I bought on gunbroker, and the seller mailed me a key and the form 4. I took the key to a dealer in South Florida and and it opened a locked gun case, in the case was another Mac.

Do you have any uncommon MG buying stories?

Only 1. All others bought throu emails, subguns, sturmgewehr and even arf15.com

Went to my dealers- I asked him what he had in stock. He said he had an S&W 76- inquired on the price, negotiated a bit and it was mine.

None. All post samples and all online, mostly GunBroker.

My first was a Colt RR from a friend.  He bought a pair from a case of 10 in the late 90's for $3,000 each.  Sold one to me in 2004 for $5,600 when the market value was $10,000.    I stripped it down to the bare aluminum receiver and put the complete parts set away and installed a Bushmaster parts set.  I sold it to a dealer in FL when I lived in NV through subguns.com.  Three of my four current transferables I bought face to face.

Scott

All purchased over the internet, some sight unseen, no photos!

I've bought 7, sold 1.

I'd say most were in worse condition than advertised, but really didn't get ripped off since in most cases the value grew so much over time, and in one, I got a reasonable deal to make up for gunsmith work needed to bring it up to snuff.

Nowadays with values so high, you need better descriptions and photos to get what you paid for.

I'm done buying anymore machine guns.

I've bought all of mine except for one in person. I'd rather look at it in person before buying. All of them in state with the other party.

Closest I've had to a FTF MG buy was the first one, in 2004.  A WWII era Savage Model 1928 Thompson.  The seller was in state but a more than three hour drive away which neither of us wanted to do.  We both had Curio & Relic licenses so it was a direct transfer and shipment from him to me.

All online through reputable dealer.

There is only one shop near me that carries MGs in stock and when I was in there and asked to see one they said I couldn't afford it and wouldn't let me look at it.



Haven't been there since.

First one (M11-nine) was an online purchase through a major dealer. Second one (M16 conversion) was an instate seller through a local SOT. Got see that one before paying. Not unusual but both went smooth.

What?  You can actually see them before you buy them.  All 6 of mine has been a mystery till they arrived at my dealer.  (FYI -  only 5 of them arrived, the one that never made it was a steel DIAS from a Texas dealer.  Lucky that SOB is dead.  He cost me thousands in court cost on it took around two years to settle but lucky I finally won out.)   But maybe I should be thanking him, I'm a lot wiser now.

First was purchased from a big name dealer from the northeast in ‘02 (not Spiwak). The first dealer screwed me. The Colt M16 I purchased was not in the condition he described. When confronted after a 6 month wait for it to arrive at my SOT, his wife offered to refund me the purchase price I paid 6 months earlier and sell me a nicer one for $1500 more. I said thanks anyway, kept it with the intent of selling after getting another.

Second and third MGs were a consecutive serial numbered pair of fullsize Vector UZIs purchased from David Spiwak in ‘02. Smooth transaction.

Fourth MG was a S&H sear around ‘03 from the S&H court settlement, which transferred from Norrell. Smooth transaction.

Fifth MG purchase was a somewhat local Colt model 614 around ‘04. Spoke to the seller on the phone, sent him a check and around 90 days later I drove to his home to pick up my new MG. This was a great transaction. It was fairly exhilarating to do a private sale MG transfer. I never sold the first M16, so thanks to the first dickhead dealer I now have two.

Sixth MG was a M11/9 purchased from Howard Block (RIP) around ‘05. Smooth transaction. I ended up selling it in 2012. Foolish.

Seventh MG was a DLO hk frame purchased directly from Doug in ‘05. Smooth transaction.

Eighth MG was a fleming HK sear purchased from a SOT friend in AZ in ‘15. Smooth transaction.

I bought my Sendra M16 from a buddy. My other transferable MG's were all online purchases. I bought several post samples from a 07/02 buddy years ago, sold a few locally.

Any big transactions from online I've confirmed in person.

The last one was a sameday flight and 36 hours without sleep. But that was a hefty collection.

What it's going to come down to on the transferable/rare market is working with trustworthy people. The selling community is extremely small, so finding the right people isn't too difficult, but I've still had stuff misrepresented significantly from the broker types.

Prior to the MG-boom 10-15 years ago, all were bought from dealers and one was private FTF, a couple were Form 1. Since then, most are bought over the internet.

Out of the 20 or so I have bought, I want to say maybe 6 or 7 of them the transaction was finalized/completed face to face.

I have bought three in person. One I found posted on a local gun shop's bulletin board, another was from word of mouth, and another one was from a friend looking to sell some of his collection.

in 2010, I noticed an M11/9 auction had closed a few days earlier on GB, it was local and sold for $2700 with a ton of mags.  I was kicking myself for missing it, then a few days later it showed up on Backpage of all things for about the same price.  The GB buyer had flaked...

lol, Backpage...

I’ve bought my first and only machine gun in person, just last month. Found an ad for the MG I wanted (HK21E) selling locally so I met with the seller and inspected the gun. We met a couple more times for payment and Form 4 signatures and I mailed the completed paperwork about a week ago. Overall it was a very positive experience and I couldn’t imagine buying a high dollar item like that over the internet without being able to inspect it first (but that’s just me).

A couple in person (individuals), a couple online via phone (dealers).

about 10% FTF, then everything online.
Locally, it seems like no one had what I was looking for... RDIAS, HK sear, etc.

true, but it is nice when a local deal pops up.

My nearest was the Dr. with the colt m16 maybe 15 miles one way.

My first MG was a Sendra M16 that came with a Shrike deposit back in '02 from a Subguns.com seller in GA.  Smooth transaction but I had to bail on my local dealer because he became
such a dick!

A few years later in 2005, I bought from same seller from GA a Colt M16A1 and an Uzi he posted on Sturm.  Once you deal with the same person before, you tend to go back to the well.

In 2014, I bought a dealer sample M249 from same seller who posted on Subguns/Sturm.  Even though the transfer got held up 11 months because ATF said the barrel length on my M249 SAW should read 29", I never doubted that my seller
was honest and would make things right.  I hope to meet this GA seller someday and thank him for all the great deals over the years!

On a HK Fleming sear I bought from a dealer who bought out an estate in NM in '03, I mentioned to him I was looking for other stuff over the phone and he offered me an American 180 which I bought as well.

Heard a story from my Tucson, AZ dealer at the time about a Colt M16A1 that a friend of his found on a table at a local garage sale.  The widow of the owner said she just didn't want any of her dead husband's guns.  Offered him the Colt for $1700 back around '99 - '00.
The guy bought it.  He had the widow fill out the paperwork and put the gun in a locked case for which she held onto, but he kept the key until the paperwork cleared.

Finally, I bought a Pearl conversion AK in 2005 from a seller who posted on Sturm and was local (~2hrs) to me.  I drove up to meet him hours after he posted the ad and gave him a personal check and had him sign a sales contract.  First & only in-state direct MG transfer was smooth and cut down tremendously on the wait.

About 20 FTF from a collector a few miles up the street. Literally.  Just stupid lucky.

Also
from L+L
from Frank (STILL waiting for over a year on two and he wants me to buy another ? .... ROTFLMAO  !).
A couple from the big auctions (the best non-FTF if you can afford it)
and some on Gunbroker. There are three that I can remember that I SHOULD have bought on GB but didn't step up in the last minutes.

I got my RR Ar15 from a guy who was moving to the Philippines.

He was already there and the gun was kept in a gun safe at his brothers place in town.

Freaked me out.......

Got the approval letter and it was forwarded to his brother.....

Gave the guy a call and he then gave me the gun safe digital number......

I got it and left.....

1500 USD.....

2003....

None. Most were from individuals out of state on Form 4s, or dealers out of state acting as brokers for an individual. Very few were even on a Form 3.

The only one that made me a bit nervous was a Sten from an individual going through a bankruptcy, because he was very slow to communicate...it worked out fine though in the end.

I have bought most of mine face to face. I just bought one online. Be careful when buying online. There is another scam mostly for post-samples going around via unsolicited emails on selling a bunch of various MG.  Make sure you verify things when online when buying. For example ask for a copy of the form 3 under the grip in a picture etc.

One.

Sounds like most of the people who bought their MGs from a private individual did so years ago before prices have rocketed to the point where there are dozens of people trying to scam buyers. I’m kind of leery of the increased wait time to get one from out of state. From what I understand, they have to do a form 4 to their in state dealer, form 3 to my state dealer, and then a final form 4 to my trust... making the whole process twice as long.

Not correct.
Individual seller in one state does a form 4 to buyers dealer in another state.  Dealer then does form 4 to buyer.  Two form 4s to pay for for an out of state transfer, that's all.

The first form 4 to the dealer is usually very quick, since it's going to a dealer.  Similar wait to a form 3.

Appreciate the correction! I've heard the Form 3 wait times can now take less than a few days! Any chance that first form 4 is that fast??

Actually you were correct,
Out of state individual form 4 to their dealer
Dealer form 3 to your dealer
Your dealer Form 4 to you

Im waiting on my second form 4 to be approved

The first form 4 took from dec16 to june 17 to be approved
Form 3 a couple of weeks but i hear their faster now

That's a shame.  Good luck with that.

I'm not sure how long they're taking currently, last fall I did one as the seller and it took less than a month to get the approved form 4 back to send it from my hands to the buyers dealer in his state.  So it was pretty quick.

I saw what would end up to be my 51K at the Houston Gun Show on a Saturday, spoke with Kent Lomont (the owner) about it. The next day I find myself outside the Branch Davidian compound near Waco (TV news, not the ones who were there for the initial assault.)

On Monday I decided to buy the "K" and called Kent. Conversation went like this: "Hi Kent, this is ****, we spoke about your 51K at the Houston show. I'd like to buy it. Right now I'm calling you from about a half-mile from the Branch Davidian place near Waco. Yeah, that place, the one on TV."

That was my most memorable MG purchase.

Attached File

Wrong again. There is no need for the out of state seller to do a form 4 to their dealer.  All they need to do is a form 4 to your in state dealer.  Then the form 4 from your dealer to you.

Yeah i dont think the ATF will appreciate you bypassing a dealer form 3 between statelines

They won't care.
Why execute 3 transfers for what could be accomplished in 2?

<-- 07/C2


News to me.  A non-licensee can submit a tax-paid F4 transfer of a Title II firearm to any FFL, not just one in his own state.  They are submitted and approved all the time.

If the F3 took a couple of weeks it was done on paper.  A F3 submitted in eForms takes 2-3 days at most to process, my last one took about 36 hours.

Yea thats not right. Ive sold mg to an out of state dealer on a form 4. No need for a form 3. Why would you waste time.