[Badger Arms]

I've got a few questions here about Class-III weapons that maybe I can ask. Can I send my Class-III weapon off to the manufacturer for replacement of the receiver? For instance, if I have a beat-up registered M-16 made by Colt, can I send the gun to Colt and have them destroy the old receiver and serialize a new receiver as a replacement? To my mind, this would not constitute a "Manufacturing" and would fall under the premise of a repair.

Secondly, if I have a registered full-auto, Drop-In-Auto Sear, or other Class-III weapon whos manufacturer has gone out of business, can I contact another manufacturer to replace it as described in the first paragraph of this post?

I intend to purchase a full-auto or DIAS on a Form-4 and I want to ensure that no matter what the condition of the receiver, I can get it repaired at a later date if need be.

[Jim K]

You can check with BATF, but I am almost certain the response is no to both questions. Once a registered machinegun is worn out (if the DIAS is the registered machinegun), that is it. It cannot be replaced without buying another one on a Form 4.

That is why it is preferable to buy an M2 carbine kit instead of an M2 carbine, because the kit is the machinegun and can be put on any M1 carbine receiver. It is also why guys who liked the bigger stuff prefer to shell out more money for a Browning instead of, say, an MG.42, because the MG.42 will wear out a lot faster than the M1919.

I will say that there are a lot of poorly made DIAS's around; many turned out in a hurry just before the law took effect were so soft that they wore out in a few hundred rounds. Some would not work at all. Same with lightning links. Of course with the DIAS you also need the other full auto parts and those are hard to get unless you find a "source" in the military.

If you have a DIAS, though, and it is the registered MG, it is like the M2 kit; it can be put on any AR-15 receiver that will accept it. But if you buy an AR-15 registered as a MG because it has an unregistered DIAS, then the receiver is the MG and you can't replace it. (See first paragraph.)

Again, you can confirm this with BATF if in doubt.

Jim

[Wildalaska]

The worst is HK Autosears...I know of several that were shoddily made, yet sold for as much as $10,000....a few thousand rounds and "crunch" bye bye

WildseethemdollarsgoAlaska