Things Customers Say

[mgbrookman]

So a customer comes in the other day (20 Apr 2012) and wanted to let me know what a specialists informed him about engraving for a Form 1 SBR. He called the NFA branch after calling two other local ATF branches, and was informed by a "specialists" that he only needed to have the upper receiver engraved because that was the part that made the rifle into a SBR. The customer informed him that he was told the lower and he was just asking what to have engraved on it. But the "specialist" said he was told wrong, and the lower needed nothing done to it. WOW!!! I hope this is not correct, if so we have been doing this wrong for a long time. :)

[BWE Firearms]

You can engrave the receiver, frame or the barrel. I don't see a problem with engraving the upper receiver on an AR.

[wlake75]

That is one that's always got me on ARs. You can engrave the barrel of the SBR per regulation, so if you had 8 different uppers for it, you would have to engrave all 8 I would think. I really do not see how engraving the upper receiver would be any different than the barrel, but for them to tell the customer that this is the only way it is to be done is completely wrong. The regulation gives you three options just as BWE stated above.

[ExecDirector]

I *always* engrave the lower since the ATF considers the lower to be the firearm in an AR platform. And engraving the upper on an AR would really put a bind on being able to resell it at some point in the future. Engrave the lower and then swap out a whole host of barrels at will without issue. Engraving the upper: You are basically making something that is not a firearms into a firearm with very expensive transfer requirements. I'd love to know the *name* of the person who gave out this directive...

[BWE Firearms]

When I do my 1100 SBS conversions I will engrave the barrel a lot of the time. Mostly because some of the 1100s people send me were their fathers and they want to have it like it was so I get a replacement barrel and engrave it. I do engrave the barrel on a lot of Uzis. I recomend people with ARs engrave the lower.

[ExecDirector]

Entirely practical. I have pretty much the same approach.

[BWE Firearms]

Since the title of the thread is "What customers say" I have one for you. I had a guy call me from Illinois and wanted his MP5K parts kit built into a gun. I told him at the time I was not taking on any HK builds. He keeps hounding me so I give him a price that is 1/3 higher then I usauly charge. I explain I can build it as a rifle, a pistol, an AOW or an SBR. He sends me the kit, a flat and a check. I ask him how he wants it built and he sends me a picture of an MP5K with the folding stock. I get the gun built (no stock or forend on it yet) and before I file the form 2 I ask him again how he wants it built. He sends me the picture again. I email him what he will have to do to have an SBR and there will be a $200 transfer tax from his dealer to him. He then says build it as a pistol. I get the SP89 forend and endcap in and email him I need him to send a check for the pistol parts and the FFL I am to send it to. A couple of days later he calls and says I need to talk to the dealer about the machinegun I built for him. "What machinegun?". A couple of days later I get a call from the Illinois State police and ATF asking why I am building illegal machineguns and sending them into Illinios. I spend the next two months dealing with everyone on this. I explain it is a pistol send them all emails I have about this gun send pictures. ATF sends an agent out to see the gun, shoot it take pictures. gets copies of all my specs I use to build the semi auto receiver and trigger pack. Finally they are all satisfied I had no intension of doing anything wrong and I could ship the pistol minus the stock and forend. That was six months ago and I still dont have an FFL to ship it to.

[BWE Firearms]

Here is a classic I get on a regular basis that ATF doesn't want to know about.
Customer: Can you convert my AR15 to full auto.
Me: No sir I can't that would make it a Post 86 Dealer Sample that you could not own.
Customer: No you can go ahead and convert it, its OK I'm a cop. No one will know.
Me: Get the ____ out of my shop.
Customer leaves while telling you to watch out because he is going to tell all his cop buddies about you.

You can also use the same scenario just replace full auto with short barrel and the model with whatever model you like.

[Shermanator]

I *always* engrave the lower since the ATF considers the lower to be the firearm in an AR platform. And engraving the upper on an AR would really put a bind on being able to resell it at some point in the future. Engrave the lower and then swap out a whole host of barrels at will without issue. Engraving the upper: You are basically making something that is not a firearms into a firearm with very expensive transfer requirements. I'd love to know the *name* of the person who gave out this directive...

I have an MGI QBC upper I use on my M16, I can see maybe engraving that upper because you can litterally swap out barrels (different calibers even) and matching BCG in minutes. However I agree that the SN part should be engraved.

[sillycon]

Here is a classic I get on a regular basis that ATF doesn't want to know about.
Customer: Can you convert my AR15 to full auto.
Me: No sir I can't that would make it a Post 86 Dealer Sample that you could not own.
Customer: No you can go ahead and convert it, its OK I'm a cop. No one will know.
Me: Get the ____ out of my shop.
Customer leaves while telling you to watch out because he is going to tell all his cop buddies about you.

You can also use the same scenario just replace full auto with short barrel and the model with whatever model you like.

Why not just simply say "No, I'm sorry, we don't do full-auto conversions."?

One of my favorites for a laugh is the "It's easy to convert an AR to full auto. Just remove the thing that holds the hammer back [referring to the disconnector]. I've been working on them since I was 5 and I've done this a bunch of times! It works great!"

[czechyour6]

So I have a first time customer call and say " im having a pistol shipped to you since your listed as a preferred dealer" I say ok, will call you when it gets here. Customer says um what if I have something in my history that im not sure will come up in my background? Um well then you can't have it and will have to ship it back or resell and I will ship to another dealer! Well what if my girlfriend comes and gets it? No that would be a straw purchase! What if I ordered it for her in the first place? No you just told me you ordered it and hoped you passed background. OK I will read you questions off the form 4473 over phone, do you pass all of these? Yes they all sound ok, So customer comes over, background is called, he is put into research then DENIED on some " federal" issues. eye yi yi