I have been looking at the cost of class 3 rifles and the lowest I have seen is around 15,000.  I wanted to know if a conversion kit is available, how much it costs, and the laws concerning them (can you just buy the kit, do you need to specify the rifle it is going in, etc...)

What type of rifle?? AR15?
If so yes there are conversion parts, however the legal ones run damn near as much as a registered reciever gun does. There is no cheap way into MGs that are legal. The cheapest way into a FA AR is a lightning link, but they are from what I hear pretty finiky. I'vre never played with one though so I can't say for sure.

SOT?

that's what I figured. An arm, leg, first born, and your left....pinky finger

Lightning Link = $7K Registered DIAS = $11K RR conversion = $12K Factory M16 = $13K to infinity

.

DAMN!!!!

(followed by me passing out from the sticker shock)

And for this you can thank the SOB congressman who sneaked the prohibition clause onto another bill at the last minute, so that most who voted on it didn't even know it was there.

I had my SP1, XM177E2d carbine class 3d in 1979, for a total cost of $450, including the $200 transfer. I figure that if I keep it until my 8 year old starts college, I can sell it for enough to send him to an Ivy League school.

Had an M1 Thompson for many years that had cost me $59.95 back in the good old days; plus the $200 transfer.  Sold it for $1000 in 1979, and thought I was doing well. Won't make the same mistake again.

Quoted: And for this you can thank the SOB congressman who sneaked the prohibition clause onto another bill at the last minute, so that most who voted on it didn't even know it was there. I had my SP1, XM177E2d carbine class 3d in 1979, for a total cost of $450, including the $200 transfer. I figure that if I keep it until my 8 year old starts college, I can sell it for enough to send him to an Ivy League school. Had an M1 Thompson for many years that had cost me $59.95 back in the good old days; plus the $200 transfer.  Sold it for $1000 in 1979, and thought I was doing well. Won't make the same mistake again.

i started dry heaving after reading that.

Quoted: Quoted: And for this you can thank the SOB congressman who sneaked the prohibition clause onto another bill at the last minute, so that most who voted on it didn't even know it was there. I had my SP1, XM177E2d carbine class 3d in 1979, for a total cost of $450, including the $200 transfer. I figure that if I keep it until my 8 year old starts college, I can sell it for enough to send him to an Ivy League school. Had an M1 Thompson for many years that had cost me $59.95 back in the good old days; plus the $200 transfer.  Sold it for $1000 in 1979, and thought I was doing well. Won't make the same mistake again. i started dry heaving after reading that.

You think you got sick?  How do you think I felt after checking back into the class3 market (as a window shopper) a couple of years back.  Oh well. the Thompson did have mismatched serial numbers  on the upper and lower receivers (Raritan Arsenal rebuild).

I don't know if it's an advantage, or a disadvantage to be an old fart, who was an adult able to buy what  he wanted back then.  On the one hand, I got to own some pretty esoteric mil surp stuff at prices I could afford.  On the other hand, I keep kicking myself in the ass for having sold them; and that hurts

Examples?:  M1941 Johnson semi auto for $75.

                     German K43, unfired, for $60 or $65, including the original small users manual           and  spare extractor & firing pin in the butt trap.

                      M1917 Enfield for $40

                      M1903 Springfield, $34.95

                       M1884 trapdoor Springfield, 99% exterior finish and perfect bore; $60

 And I can't remember how many Gew98s, Kar98s, Chilean and other Mausers flowed thru the house.

The 1950s and 60s were a milsurp collector's paradise.  The only problem was that most of us thought they'd go on forever. Boy were we stupid

Quoted:

I had my SP1, XM177E2d carbine class 3d in 1979, for a total cost of $450, including the $200 transfer. I figure that if I keep it until my 8 year old starts college, I can sell it for enough to send him to an Ivy League school.





lol you better rethink you finances ivy league schools run anywhere from 35k to 40k per year  with private colleges not far behind in the 30k to 35k range. I doubt your class 3 sp1 will be worth 120k to 160k in ten years, which is the required amount for either a private or ivy league school right now. The prices of schooling with increase as well...

Quoted: Quoted: I had my SP1, XM177E2d carbine class 3d in 1979, for a total cost of $450, including the $200 transfer. I figure that if I keep it until my 8 year old starts college, I can sell it for enough to send him to an Ivy League school. lol you better rethink you finances ivy league schools run anywhere from 35k to 40k per year  with private colleges not far behind in the 30k to 35k range. I doubt your class 3 sp1 will be worth 120k to 160k in ten years, which is the required amount for either a private or ivy league school right now. The prices of schooling with increase as well...

Gee, then I guess he'll have to go to the Univ. of Georgia, Georgia State Univ., or Georgia Tech,  where tuition is free to all Georgia high school grads who come out with a Bs or higher.

Another reason to be thankful I got the hell out of Springfield, Mass. after I got out of the army. I can own guns without hassle AND my son can get a good education.


Why do you people stay there?  All I miss about the place are the Smith & Wesson rotunda, the Springfield Armory Museum.  And, oh yeah, the white birch trees.

Hello from Springfield. MA (small world) Only thing keeping me mildly afloat with AR's is the fact that i'm a cop here. As far as why do we stay, I ask myself the same thing day in and day out.

Quoted: I have been looking at the cost of class 3 rifles and the lowest I have seen is around 15,000.  I wanted to know if a conversion kit is available, how much it costs, and the laws concerning them (can you just buy the kit, do you need to specify the rifle it is going in, etc...)

You can't convert an existing gun to full-auto. To do so is manufacturing a machine gun, and machine guns can no longer be manufactured for private sale, by law.

The reason existing guns are so expensive is becuase there is a finite number of them, and as a result the value of each one, regardless of condition, is now through the roof.

So the only way you can buy a machine gun now, is buy one of the existing ones, and pay the price.

Stay away from lightning links. A Class III dealer I know had post samples breaking all the time.