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Posted: 7/3/2005 8:58:22 PM EDT
| Just curiouse are there any pre 1898 machineguns?.... If so how much are they?.... Are they still subject to the NFA or are they excempt since there antiques, do they require an FFL?.... Can you legaly take a non-machinegun antique reciever, and somehow turn it into a machinegun, sortof like how Finnish M-39's are sometimes found with antique recievers and don't require FFL's even though the actual rifle is decidedly not an antique, not that I would actually advocate destroying an origional reciever, just curiouse?.... |
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Actually this is an interesting question. The ATF has long held that any weapon built prior to 1900AD is considered an antiuqe and not a firearm at all, as he mentioned above is the case with pre 1900 Mausers and M/N rifles, they can be bought and sold no differently than your average can of beans. It would seem to me that this would apply to weapons that fire more than one bullet with a single pull of the trigger. I would imagine that the weapon would need to have been a MG when built, or converted prior to 1900, and that converting a weapon not designed as a machine gun would be considered building a new gun regardless of the provenance of the reciever. |
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The only ones I can even think of offhand is maybe the Colt-Browning 1895 "Potato digger", the Maxim Gun, and a very early Vickers made in 1898. I suspect that the museum value of these (and the cost of replacement parts) would be so astronomical that it woudl be cheaper to go with a registered gun. A very interesting question, however... |
Actually, it is 1898 or earlier, but that doesn't apply to NFA firearms, including machine guns, that use currently available fixed ammunition. Here is the applicable part of the regulation: TITLE 27--ALCOHOL, TOBACCO PRODUCTS, AND FIREARMS CHAPTER II--BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS, AND EXPLOSIVES, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE PART 479_MACHINE GUNS, DESTRUCTIVE DEVICES, AND CERTAIN OTHER FIREARMS --Table of Contents Subpart B_Definitions Sec. 479.11 Meaning of terms. * * * * * * * * Antique firearm. Any firearm not designed or redesigned for using rim fire or conventional center fire ignition with fixed ammunition and manufactured in or before 1898 (including any matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar type of ignition system or replica thereof, whether actually manufactured before or after the year 1898) and also any firearm using fixed ammunition manufactured in or before 1898, for which ammunition is no longer manufactured in the United States and is not readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade. |
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