How is it legal to take a demilled gun and rebuild it? And how legal is it to do a former pre86 full auto receiver?
Now this is some controversial sh*t; not like that other thread you started. BTW, where is the controversy?
could you give a more indepth explanation of what you want to know.
a pre-86 machine gun, to be legal had to have been registered on the NFA rolls prior to May 19th 1986.
just because it was made before that date is not important.
now if it was registered then declared destroyed (demilled) it was removed from the registry at that time and cannot be re-registered except as a post 86 dealer sample.
with a little more info I can tell you a lot more.
If my information is correct, that would be a Dewat. De-activated War Trophy. War trophys were allowed to be brought back to the US and registered for the purpose of being a war trophy for display purposes. Again, if my information is correct, they avoided the price of the tax stamp, but had to be disabled per ATF's regs.
I've heard stories of holes drilled in barrels, lead poured down barrels and receivers welded. I remember back in 1994 there was an AK hanging on the wall of the classroom at the firing range at Tinker. The selector had been welded to the receiver. It was a bring-back from Iraq and Gulf-1.
As I understand, if they were registered, an ATF form can be submitted along with payment for a tax stamp and after approval the firearm can be returned to it's capability of firing. Now it would be called a Rewat. Re-activated War Trophy.
I've heard stories of holes drilled in barrels, lead poured down barrels and receivers welded. I remember back in 1994 there was an AK hanging on the wall of the classroom at the firing range at Tinker. The selector had been welded to the receiver. It was a bring-back from Iraq and Gulf-1.
As I understand, if they were registered, an ATF form can be submitted along with payment for a tax stamp and after approval the firearm can be returned to it's capability of firing. Now it would be called a Rewat. Re-activated War Trophy.
DEWAT and DEMIL are 2 totally different things. A DEWAT is still considered and NFA firearm. A DEMIL is a receiver that has been torch cut into 4 separate pieces and is considered scrap metal.
Info about DEWAT's from the ATF NFA Handbook (https://www.atf.gov/files/publications/download/p/atf-p-5320-8/atf-p-5320-8-chapter-10.pdf):
10.1.5 DEWATS. Deactivated War Trophy (DEWAT) firearms are still firearms under the NFA, but
have been rendered unserviceable (i.e., incapable of discharging a shot by means of an explosive and
incapable of being readily restored to a firing condition). The deactivation may have been accomplished
by various means such as (but not limited to) welding of the chamber, cutting the barrel/chamber/breech,
plugging the barrel, welding the bolt to the chamber, or some combination of these actions which
rendered the firearm incapable of firing a shot.
Regardless of being unserviceable, the DEWAT firearm must be registered and approved for transfer as
any other NFA firearm. The process to transfer a DEWAT is set forth in §479.90. Because the
DEWAT is unserviceable, it is transferred tax-exempt as a curio or ornament on an ATF Form 5. The
Form 5 must identify the transferee and transferor, FFL/SOT, any importer, type, model, caliber, overall
length, gauge, size, serial number or other marks of identification. Additionally, the transferor must
check the block in item 1 of the Form 5 indicating the unserviceable status of the firearm and answer
item 4(i) confirming how the firearm has been rendered unserviceable.
10.1.5.1 Reactivation of DEWATS. Deactivated War Trophy (DEWAT) firearms may be
returned to a serviceable condition. A DEWAT that has been returned to a serviceable condition
(or reactivated) is often referred to as Reactivated War Trophy (REWAT). The act of returning a
DEWAT to a serviceable condition is considered the “making” or “manufacturing” of a firearm
by ATF. The procedures for reactivation by a non-FFL or FFL with other than a manufacturer’s
SOT status or with no SOT status on Form 1 are found in section 6.6 of the handbook. The
procedures for reactivation by an FFL with SOT status as a manufacturer are found in section
7.3.3 of the handbook.
Curio or Relic status: When the DEWAT firearm being reactivated is a curio and relic (C&R),
the C&R status is retained. Please see 27 CFR 478.11 for the definition of curios and relics.
This link will show various destruction guidelines to de-militarize (de-mil) a MG receiver:
http://www.atf.gov/content/firearms/firearms-industry/guides/machinegun-destruction
We'll as you all know there is this show called RJF and more than a few times they seem to have rebuilt a partially destroyed weapon. The latest episode show a Russian howitzer. It was demilled and they fixed it to fire. That is what brought up,the question.
RJF is an 07/02 and whatever the number for a DD manufacturer is. They can pretty much do as they please. Transferring the weapons they build is another story.
what they don't tell on the show is that all the machine guns they put back together are either REWATS (as described above) or Post 86 dealer samples. you can't just stroll in and have them put a parts kit together.
Only MG's were affected by the '86 ban. you can still build a lot of the other stuff they show, but you need deep pockets. LOL!
