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Posted: 7/12/2009 5:27:50 PM EDT
| We were talking at our club's silouette match today about machine gun regulations. One of the guys asked about the Browning kits(M2 style) that can be purchased as a semi-auto gun. How do these relate to the once a machine gun always a machine gun rules? If someone has one can they demill it themselves per BATF specs or does a dealer or SOT or someone have to do it? I said that if you came across a side plate gun that wasn't registered you could not do it yourself and should stay as far away from it as you can. One of the guys that is a class 1 FFL said I was wrong and that you could just remove the side plate, throw it away and it would be legal.. Who is right? |
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Quoted:
We were talking at our club's silouette match today about machine gun regulations. One of the guys asked about the Browning kits(M2 style) that can be purchased as a semi-auto gun. How do these relate to the once a machine gun always a machine gun rules? If someone has one can they demill it themselves per BATF specs or does a dealer or SOT or someone have to do it? I said that if you came across a side plate gun that wasn't registered you could not do it yourself and should stay as far away from it as you can. One of the guys that is a class 1 FFL said I was wrong and that you could just remove the side plate, throw it away and it would be legal.. Who is right? Lots of questions there, but here's a start: For M2 (Ma Deuce) and similar Browning designs, to be legal according to BATFE, the right side plate must be demilled by torch-cutting (not saw-cutting) in two specific places and at specific angles, with 3/8" of metal removed by each torch pass, and the center third must be melted/disgarded. So the only legal legal right sideplate has the front and rear "less than" thirds existing. The remainder of the kit is legal, as long as you don't have a complete (or more than two-thirds, according to the above demil spex) right sideplate. If you ever come across a side plate gun that is not demilled to the above spex, stay away. Yes, in theory you can demil it yourself, but up until the moment the demil is complete, your are in possession of an item which is a Class A federal felony. Don't stick around. If you are in possession of a complete beltfed, yes, you can throw away the right sideplate –– but only for some guns. Others require the left sideplate to be destroyed, and non-sideplate MGs have totally different demil requirements. If you want to stay out of federal prison, just stay away from any and all unregistered MGs. 
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