If you have an after market stock set on your post '89 AK47/SKS you may be in violation of federal code 922?


WTF is up with this?


US Code 922

Quoted: .... after market stock set ... 922 ....

If it's made in the U.S, it should be fine....



:}

Possibly.  You can't import a rifle in a "non-sporting" configuration.  Also, you cannot assemble a rifle out of imported parts that would not be importable.  And, since the expiration of the AW ban, you can build pretty much what you want from American parts.

The grey area is when you combine a mix of American and imported parts.  Our friends at the ATF came up with a list of 20 major parts.  Not all guns even have all 20 parts (some guns don't have an op rod, for example.)  Your assembled rifle can have no more than 10 imported parts of the 20 major parts.

It's odd, that a rifle assembled on a US made receiver, by an American, in the United States, could possibly be a violation of the "sporting purposes" nonsense expressed in the gun control act of 1968, as amended by executive fiat in 1989.  However, the US receiver will not count against the 10 imported part limit, enabling you to add another imported part.

Here the list of parts:

1. Frames, Receivers
2. Barrels
3. Barrel extensions
4. Mounting blocks
5. Muzzle attachments
6. Bolts
7. Bolt carriers
8. Operating rods
9. Gas piston
10. Trigger housing
11. Trigger
12. Hammer
13. Sear
14. Dis-connectors
15. Butt stocks
16. Pistol grips
17. Forearms, hand guards
18. Magazine bodies
19. Followers
20. Floor plates

Now that it's become a national pastime to assemble semiautomatic rifles out of imported parts "kits" and a new receiver, a market for US made replacement parts has sprung up.  You need to use enough US parts to comply with the "10 or less imported parts" law.   An easy way to comply with the law is to use US made magazines (eliminates 3 imported parts.)  That's a little iffy, because if you happen to have foreign mags laying about, that magazine when inserted into that weapon might push you over the 10 imported part limit.  A "safer" way to comply would be to replace your trigger group (hammer, trigger and sear.)  Then you could use any magazine.. no danger of being charged with "constructive possession".

This is old hat to guys who assemble FAL or AK "kits" onto new receivers.  It's more likely to be a surprise to SKS shooters.  Those rifles are importable as-is, then you add a few "features" that make it non-importable, and thus subject to the 922(r) rules.  For example, add a US made pistol grip stock, and a US made detachable magazine to a stock SKS.  Even though you've added only US parts, you've kicked it into 922(r) territory and probably have more than 10 imported parts remaining, therefore subject to the penalties if you were to somehow get caught with it.

(r) It shall be unlawful for any person to assemble from imported    parts any semiautomatic rifle or any shotgun which is identical to    any rifle or shotgun prohibited from importation under section    925(d)(3) of this chapter as not being particularly suitable for or    readily adaptable to sporting purposes

I'm not really sure the ATFs interpretation that adding stuff like a detachable mag to an SKS constitutes "assembling" a semiauto rifle from imported parts would hold up in court.  Probably why 922(r) has as far as I know never been used against a private individual.  

I mean you purchased a firearm that had to pass certain "tests" to be legally imorted and sold.  What effect should a law concerning importing or building a gun have on additions to a pre-existing gun already legally imported and sold as a complete firearm and has never ceased to be a complete firearm??  You are not assembling a new firearm...  The law says nothing about modifying a firearm already imported.  The whole reason for this law was to stop things like building a AK w/ a US receiver and a imported parts kit that was not imported as a regulated item.

Bunch of bunk to me, I would think 922(r) is unenforcable garbage as far as we the end user is concerned....  

If you're actually assembling/building rifles from imported kits (not imported as complete firearms) that's one thing.  But adding a detachable mag to your SKS or a 30 rounder to your Saiga?  How the heck is that "assembling" a semiautomatic firearm from imported parts?  That's modifying a legally imported rifle and I as long as you're not violating something in the NFA realm I don't see where any law covers modification of imported arms.  

"Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them broken... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals.

Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt."

-Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged"