Hey all,

Just curious about how some people have managed to purchase miniguns for their own personal use.

From the Knob Creek Machinegun Shoot:



I'd like to think I understand the history of the registration of Class III weapons and the eventual ban on introducing any new weapons to the "pool," but how did heavy weapons like miniguns end up in the civilian market?  I would have thought the government would have outlawed the sale of a weapon like this even before the eventual restrictions on Class III weapons.

Can someone give me a rundown of how civilians managed to purchase these weapons?  Maybe I don't understand the Class III laws like I thought I did...

Thanks a lot,

Dave

you'll need a transferable one, and about $150,000.00   and a dump truck full of ammo


Either that you can call Dillon up and tell him you are a long lost son from a one night stand

Quoted:
you'll need a transferable one, and about $150,000.00   and a dump truck full of ammo

Thanks for the reply, but I'm really trying to find out how the weapons ended up in civilian "circulation" - seems unusual to me that the manufacturer (GE?  I forget who makes them...) would have released them to the public to begin with.  Are they perhaps older (e.g. Vietnam-era) surplus weapons that were sold at auction, or did someone just approach the manufacturer 30 years ago and do the proper paperwork to buy one?

Just seems strange to me that the government would have allowed a military contractor to sell such a heavy military weapon to civilians...

Thanks,

Dave

This used to be a free country. We could buy any damn thing we liked. If we used it in a manner that whas injurious to others we would be punished for it. As of late we have had a bad run of the Nanny State. They have decided that you and I can't be trusted with anything that is scary or fun and therefore it must be heavily licsenced or banned.

3ACR -

One of the miniguns at the Creek is owned by a friend of mine.  His is a post-sample he built from demilled parts, and another one there was also his before he sold it to another well known dealer there (he had two).  Of the handful of transferable minis out there, some may be rewelds (though I'm not 100% sure) and some are probably factory guns.  The way they got into civilian hands could have been through the '68 amnesty or by an enterprising individual who got his hands on a housing and parts and registered it prior to 1986.  I'm sure its possible GE sold a couple to C3 dealers prior to 1986 also.

Probably the biggest reason there are so few registered is the cost of the gun.  IIRC the cost of a post-sample minigun today is about $30k for an authorized govt agency.  Not many people have the means to spend that kind of cash on a gun, even when adjusted for inflation back to 1986 or 1968 when MGs could be freely made and registered for civilian possession.  Currently though, a tranferable mini will run you upwards of $250k - IIRC the last one went for something in the neighborhood of $275k.

shaggy (and everyone else),

Thanks a lot for the info - that definitely helps clear things up.

I guess I wasn't sure where the cut-off was - i.e., why could you buy a minigun back in the day, but not a fighter aircraft or tank?  I assume the difference is small arms ammunition versus the various classes of explosives.

Thanks again,

Dave

Quoted: shaggy (and everyone else), Thanks a lot for the info - that definitely helps clear things up. I guess I wasn't sure where the cut-off was - i.e., why could you buy a minigun back in the day, but not a fighter aircraft or tank?  I assume the difference is small arms ammunition versus the various classes of explosives. Thanks again, Dave

You can, at least in theory, buy a tank or fighter aircraft.  Finding a willing seller and having enough money is another matter altogether. The weapons and munitions on board would be governed by the same laws we have with respect to semi's, machineguns, and destructive devices (including explosives).

Quoted: Quoted: shaggy (and everyone else), Thanks a lot for the info - that definitely helps clear things up. I guess I wasn't sure where the cut-off was - i.e., why could you buy a minigun back in the day, but not a fighter aircraft or tank?  I assume the difference is small arms ammunition versus the various classes of explosives. Thanks again, Dave You can, at least in theory, buy a tank or fighter aircraft.  Finding a willing seller and having enough money is another matter altogether. The weapons and munitions on board would be governed by the same laws we have with respect to semi's, machineguns, and destructive devices (including explosives).

Again you can go to mister Dillon for this.  He has some older fighter aircraft with some live ammo.  I saw it on American Shooter once.

one of the MiGs at the Air Force Museum was bought by a private citizen but it got confiscated for some reason when he brought it into the US. I think it was a tax related thing and not weapon related though but I can't remember for sure

Quoted: one of the MiGs at the Air Force Museum was bought by a private citizen but it got confiscated for some reason when he brought it into the US. I think it was a tax related thing and not weapon related though but I can't remember for sure

the sign on that MiG when I was there in 2002 said it was siezed because the owner didn't pay all the required taxes associated with importing it.

thanks. I knew it was something like that but couldn't remember exactly

Quoted: Quoted: one of the MiGs at the Air Force Museum was bought by a private citizen but it got confiscated for some reason when he brought it into the US. I think it was a tax related thing and not weapon related though but I can't remember for sure the sign on that MiG when I was there in 2002 said it was siezed because the owner didn't pay all the required taxes associated with importing it.

Quoted: Again you can go to mister Dillon for this.  He has some older fighter aircraft with some live ammo.  I saw it on American Shooter once.

This is quite true. I don't know what model aircraft he has (think it might by Hellcat), but he does strafing runs out in the desert on old cars and stuff.