Anyone heard of a US Gov't marked M16 being legal to own as a semi AR?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Anyone heard of a US Gov't marked M16 being legal to own as a semi AR?

Posted: 2/11/2006 8:22:31 AM EDT

Is there any way to legally own a Colt, marked M16 or M16A1, Property of US Gov't.? Supposedly the sear hole was pinned/welded and the fire control group is all semi. Someone I spoke with recently said he saw one about five years ago that was up for sale and the owner said it was perfectly legal and that he also had documentation.

I never saw one of these before, but it doesn't sound right.
Any thoughts?

Posted: 2/11/2006 8:30:06 AM EDT

[#1]

Quoted:
Is there any way to legally own a Colt, marked M16 or M16A1, Property of US Gov't.? Supposedly the sear hole was pinned/welded and the fire control group is all semi. Someone I spoke with recently said he saw one about five years ago that was up for sale and the owner said it was perfectly legal and that he also had documentation.

I never saw one of these before, but it doesn't sound right.
Any thoughts?

Better get a ruling from the BATF because they generally say "Once a machine gun, ALWAYS a machine gun".

Posted: 2/11/2006 8:56:45 AM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:
"Once a machine gun, ALWAYS a machine gun".

Posted: 2/11/2006 9:35:43 AM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
Is there any way to legally own a Colt, marked M16 or M16A1, Property of US Gov't.? Supposedly the sear hole was pinned/welded and the fire control group is all semi. Someone I spoke with recently said he saw one about five years ago that was up for sale and the owner said it was perfectly legal and that he also had documentation.

I never saw one of these before, but it doesn't sound right.
Any thoughts?

I think there has been an M16 marked Colt AR15 for sale on Sturmgewehr. IIRC, it is a laminate build with the left side sliced from an M16 and welded onto a matching cut AR15 receiver. I think this is advertised as built by Norrel, but I'm not sure.

Posted: 2/11/2006 11:44:34 AM EDT

[#4]

There are transferrable US government-marked M16s that were remanufactured from cut up surplus M16 receiver pieces. I guess someone could have taken similar receiver pieces, welded the autosear hole in the rear piece shut, then welded all the receiver pieces together to make a semi-auto receiver that still had the M16 markings.

I've never heard of anyone actually doing that, but that's the only legal way to do it that I can think of.

Posted: 2/11/2006 11:48:33 AM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
Quoted:
"Once a machine gun, ALWAYS a machine gun".

Once destroyed a machine gun in no longer a machine gun.

Quoted:
There are transferrable US government-marked M16s that were remanufactured from cut up surplus M16 receiver pieces. I guess someone could have taken similar receiver pieces, welded the autosear hole in the rear piece shut, then welded all the receiver pieces together to make a semi-auto receiver that still had the M16 markings.

I've never heard of anyone actually doing that, but that's the only legal way to do it that I can think of.

Correct, the same way Hahn Machine welded up destroyed M14 and AR-10 receivers into semiauto, John Norrell did up some semiauto M16A1 receivers.

Posted: 2/11/2006 1:58:49 PM EDT

[#6]

Thanks for the replies, I find this very interesting. So -in theory- this could have been a legitimate weapon.

In the case of the rewelded M14 receivers, would there be any documentation/paperwork required? What about the M16 panels?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Anyone heard of a US Gov't marked M16 being legal to own as a semi AR?

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