I own an A1 parts gun that I built on an Essential Arms lower in 1986. Now I am not terribly fond of the EA lower for two reasons. First the raised fence is kinda cheesy and second the very light gray never matched any upper I ever could find for it so it was always a 2-tone gun. Now It resides back how with my father. Somewhat recently he loaned it to a friend of the family. This friend, while riding a three wheeler across the desert and got into an accident with the rifle strapped across his back. In the course of the accident the left side of the magazine well was broken out of the lower. Bright boy that he was retrieved the broken piece and brought it all home to my father. Now in the maze that is my father’s shop the broken out piece (which has the serial number on it) has become misplaced. So my question is… Can I legally repair the receiver with out the piece containing the serial number and use it to build another rifle with preban features? AND YES, I STILL HAVE THE ORIGINAL UPPER AND ALL THE REST OF THE PARTS!!

IPSC_GUY (trying to stay legal) sends

From the BATF FAQ (found at [url]http://www.atf.treas.gov/firearms/faq/faq2.htm[/url])

I would say no, but you should be asking the  BATF, not us.

I think its time to clean up your father's shop, and then fire up the welding set.

Kharn

I agree with Kharn.  That piece has to be somewhere.

Isn't Essential Arms out of business? If so the original manufacturer will not be able to replace it so it sounds like you are screwed, if I am reading the passage correctly.

[beer]

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[img]http://www.intermountain.net/images/bFISHswim.gif[/img]

this story is way too fishy. i can't imagine a receiver breaking in this fashion.

I like how the serial number part was lost. [;)]

This kind of damage to the rifle that was strapped to the mans back, but yet, no word on the condition of the driver. He would have most likely been hurt.

[:k]

The rifle had a full 30 round magazine inserted at the time of the accident and the magazine broke the left side of the mag well out when the driver flipped his 3 wheeler. Even a forged lower would have snapped. Yes the driver was injured, three weeks sick leave afterward. Anyway he at least had the presence of mind to pick up the broken piece after getting up. The broken piece was put into an envelope to be rewelded onto the lower and my father misplaced the envelop. If you saw my fathers shop you would understand. While I only have 4 gun projects (3 Galils and Remington 700) going at the moment he has dozens. So My whole thought process was that since EVERY E.A. Lower is manufactured before the Ban and I my self built the rifle so I was wondering If I could get it fixed and use it again if the missing piece isn't found soon. I would like to get this thing back together and sell it to one of my buddies who wants a M4gery so bad his teeth hurt. However he is now pending orders to California so priority are about to shift to accurate bolt guns. As such this all my become a very back burner project. I have contacted DPMS believing wrongly that they bought Essential Arms. As Troy said they only bought the tooling and could not replace the receiver. They will do the repair once I have all the pieces accounted for and even refinish it all for a nominal fee. So that is the story of why I have a broken pre ban sitting around collecting dust.

IPSC_GUY sends