Isn't selling an 80% lower that you built into a complete gun a big no no without an manufacturing FFL LC?

Not as long as you don't sell them by the case. Or to a fed

Can't sell a firearm with no serial number.

Edit: I think

Nope, you can.

Manufactures are required by law to put serial numbers on firearms, building an 80% does not make you a manufacturer.
 

Yes its a no...

It can be done legally.  There are some legal requirements, but I'm not 100% sure what they are.  Maybe an inscribed name of maker and SN (could be "1") is all that's required.



I doubt you could find an FFL that would touch it, legal or otherwise.  Those guys are understandably paranoid.



That said, you really don't want anyone to ever think you manufactured the firearm with the intent of selling it.



I can't imagine a circumstance this side of homelessness that would have me selling a functional AR built on an 80% lower.

Not so -at least re ATF

They recommend you serialize homemade firearms for later identification but it is not mandatory.

Serial number regulations pertain to manufacturers, and restrictions on altering/obscuring/destroying an existing serial number IIRC.

Dreaded "intent" comes into play WRT selling, manufacturing vs personal use, etc.

that.



I know its legal but i don't think i would sell a 80% i completed to a stranger.

I think it was in Recoil Magazine's 80% lower edition, but IIRC, you can sell an 80% which has been finished if you didn't initially have the intent to sell once it was finished and you don't have to put your name and a serial# on it but the BATFE recommends that you do. You're also not supposed to sell it for a profit.

 

Let's look at this matter another way.  Selling a rifle built on an 80% receiver is legally exactly the same as selling a rifle built on a100% receiver.

In both cases you are a manufacturer of a firearm.

How many of those generic ARs you see floating around were bought and assembled by unlicensed individuals?  Yes, the number is many/many/many.  Yet no one seems to worry about this, they save all of their worry for the 80% guns.

You can leave your 80% AR to your heirs.  You can give it to a friend.  (Hard to prove some one is in business if they are literally giving their product away).

Yes, you can even sell one.  Or more, though quantity does make it look like you were conducting a business, doesn't it?

Now how about that rusty .22 single shot bolt action with the rat chewed stock?  Let's say you re-finish it.  New blue job, sand the stock down to fresh wood, stain it, and then give it a dozen coats of boiled linseed oil.  Yes, you have just manufactured a firearm.  (I don't make the laws, I just try to understand what they are).

You can keep it, you can give it away, or, you could even sell it.  But, you can't do it as a business.

Sure you can.  You just can't build an 80% with the INTENT to sell.

A licensed manufacturer can't sell a firearm with no serial number (or at least one that was manufactured after 1968).