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Posted: 6/21/2006 6:00:18 PM EDT
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My friend asked me an interesting question today which I do not know the answer to, so I thought I would ask the all knowing arfcomers. If you were to buy a legal, transferable registered reciever and at some point in time after you baught it you experienced a catastrofic failure ( developed a crack or something similar which would render the reciever inoperable), Could you contact the origional manufacturer and have a replacement made with the same serial number? For example, could you send them the inoperable reciever ( through a C3 dealer), Have them destroy it in such a way to prove that it can no longer be assembled into an operational firearm, and have them reproduce the reciever with the same serial number on it? Thoreticaly, there is no new firearm being produced ( given the distruction of the origional) which I think would make the ATF happy, butt thats just me. What do you guys think? ETA: This is dependant on wether or not the manufacturer will even be willing to do this in the first place. |
| Nope. That would be reusing the serial number on a new receiver, which in my understanding is a very bad thing to get caught doing. Absolutely no class 2 manufacturer would risk it. Unless the serial numbered area is damaged, I'm sure there's someone somewhere out there skilled enough to fix it. I suppose they could replace portions of it, if an area gets somehow sheared off, but not the whole things all together. |
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Th 'manufacturer can repair a receiver. However the MANUFACTURER of the receiver for an NFA item is the person that actually drilled the hole. So if I had converted and SP1 in 1985 and now it blows up. I have to be the one to repair or replace the receiver. I believe it can even have a new serial number but I would have to inform atf of the destruction of the original and the new serial number. This type of thing has been allowed under warranty work for companies like OLY and Ruger. Now the kicker would be if I sent my SP1 to colt, they could NOT (even if they would) send me back an MG. It would only be a semiauto. they couldnt send me an MG since they didnt 'manufacture' it I did on the Form 1 in 1985. Im not sure that the atf would allow me to replace/repair it even though they have allowed large companies to do it. I hope that helps and this is just a summary of the answers Ive seen when this has been asked before. I'll bet there are atf letters allowing this and denying it out there.... 
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BATF has never allowed anyone to replace transferable MG receivers: Olympic decided to start doing it, and once BATF found out, they ordered Olympic to stop. The only company presently replacing receivers with BATF blessing is Ruger (for AC556's), and that is because Ruger registered a bunch of replacement receivers prior to May 19, 1986 -- when they need to use one for warranty work, they notify BATF and amend the NFA Registry to reflect the new serial number of the replacement receiver. BATF's stance is that all existing transferable MGs were "frozen" on May 19, 1986. To remain transferable, a machine gun must be the same hunk of metal, with the exact same holes, as existed on that day. There is a whole book's worth of Tech Branch letters and opinions in support of BATF's stand. There was never any question about the MG replacement issue until the so-called Assault Weapon Ban was passed in 1994, because that law did permit receiver replacement. The problem is that the two laws were written with completely different language, and that language determines how the law is enforced. --1. The '94 AW ban said that no so-called AWs could no longer be manufactured for civilian ownership after a certain date. It made no mention of existing pre'-94-manufacture AWs or made any change in their status. --2. The '86 MG ban said that effective May 19, 1986, all machine guns were banned for civilian ownership. It then added that proof that a machine gun had been registered and legally owned prior to that date was an affirmative defense against prosecution for breaking the law. BATF sees a difference between 1. and 2. when it comes to receiver replacement. The only place to challenge that is in federal court, and the legal battle will cost you the equivalent of four or five transferable M60s. 
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