922r and permanently attached muzzle attachments.

[HKrazy]

In trying to comply with 922r I have been told that if a non-USA made muzzle attachment is permanently attached to the end of a barrel by welding, silver soldering or any the other methods of permanently attaching a muzzle attachment that are approved by BATF, then it is considered part of the barrel and no longer counts as a separate foreign made part.

Can anyone out there confirm or deny this or do I need to write BATF for confirmation?

 

[HKrazy]

While I would still appreciate anybody who can document this, I'm going to go ahead and answer my own question and say yes, permanently attaching an imported muzzle device to a barrel following BATF specifications does not add another imported part to your 922r import part count.

I have concluded this on the basis of two reasons.

First, I contacted a leading national gunsmith company and they agreed that that was their understanding.

Second I have a Century C93 HK-93 clone that is mostly German parts and has a USA made barrel that is over 16", yet the German made flash hider is permanently attached.

I was wondering why they did this, but now I understand.

 

[Sam1911]

That makes sense to me as well for another reason: If you build an AMD-65 rifle from a parts kit and want to use the original short barrel, you may do so as long as you permanantly attach a flash hider that brings the barrel up to legal length. In the eyes of the ATF the permanantly attached F/H does indeed become part of the barrel and, thus, is no longer a separate part.

(Also works for M-4 length barrels on AR uppers. Permanantly attached long flash hider makes a 14.5" barrel over the legal 16" length.)

Now, for the trickier question: Does the modified barrel, now fabricated from both a foreign made part and a U.S. made part, and "finished" here in the US, become a U.S. made part for the purposes of 922(r)? I believe it would.

(Of course, removing the original foreign made F/H helps to bring down the foreign parts count anyway, and most builders have other, easier ways to make up the needed count, but I'm curious as to the actual answer.)

-Sam

 

[HKrazy]

Now, for the trickier question: Does the modified barrel, now fabricated from both a foreign made part and a U.S. made part, and "finished" here in the US, become a U.S. made part for the purposes of 922(r)? I believe it would.

I believe it would also because, in the case of the C93 Sporter, the gun came with a tag that says the barrel is made in the USA. Also, the barrel is just over 16" so there would be no need to permanently attach the flash hider to avoid being a SBR, yet the flash hider is permanently attached.

At first I could not figure out why.

These guns are built from parts kits made from chopped up Malaysian Army rifles that were made in Germany by HK, so Century had to be mindful of the foreign parts count in assembling these rifles. Rather than make US made flash hiders, it is cheaper to just permanently attach the German one to the USA made barrel and then the flash hider no longer counts as a foreign part under 922(r).

This issue came up in the first place because I want to install the Slovak made muzzle break, used by the Czech Army and sold by Czechpoint.com, on my SA vz 58 and was wondering how that would affect parts count as the barrel on the D-Technik SA vz 58 is Czech and therefore a foreign part. To the best of my understanding, under 922(r), if you permanently attach the foreign muzzle device, it and the barrel count as one imported part, not two

However, I don't believe the opposite is true in that permanently attaching a US made muzzle device to a imported barrel makes the barrel a domestic part.

 

[Sam1911]

However, I don't believe the opposite is true in that permanently attaching a US made muzzle device to a imported barrel makes the barrel a domestic part.

This is a grey area that I don't think has been clearly answered. If you buy foreign-made steel and make a barrel out of it in the US, it would certainly be a US-made barrel. If you buy a barrel blank from overseas and turn it to final contour and ream the chamber here in the US, it would still be a US-made barrel, right? If you buy a foreign barrel and modify it here in the US (like by welding on a flash hider), now what?

Some folks have said that they feel perfectly justified in using foreign-made parts as the raw materials for modified parts they'd sell as U.S. made. (e.g.: buying Bulgarian AKM selector levers, importing them and cutting a manual bolt-hold-open notch in them before re-selling them as U.S. made -- the finishing was done here.)

And, still other folks have said, why not buy foreign parts and just stamp them "US"? It would be quite hard to prove that they weren't foreign parts once sold to other folks, and after all, the were finished (stamped with "US") here! That might seem silly and I don't know what the actual laws covering such an action would say. (Heck, it might be fraud, but IANAL!)

Point is, this is largely undefined (to my knowledge) and there seems to be a huge grey area.

-Sam

 

[HKrazy]

Grey is the BATFE's favorite color.

To make things even grayer, Czechpoint, the importers of the SA vz 58 and sellers of the imported muzzle break have advised me that they still consider a foreign barrel permanently attached to a foreign muzzle device to be two foreign parts under 922(r). Of course, that is the play it safe, can't get into trouble with that one position, so I can see why that is their official policy even though it may not be correct.

The real problem from my perspective is 922(r) is a dumb rule and the more you try to clarify bad policy, the more confusing things get.

I have more than enough parts to keep my SA vz 58 legal whether the break counts as one part or two, so it's not a major problem. However I guess I'll have to write the BATFE's Technical Branch for a clarification. I hope they are in a good mood the day they receive my letter.

Again, if anyone can find any proof or letter on this issue I would appreciate it and I'm sure there are more than a few people here who would like to know so they can get their imported parts count right.

 

[nalioth]

Second I have a Century C93 HK-93 clone that is mostly German parts and has a USA made barrel that is over 16", yet the German made flash hider is permanently attached.

It wouldn't be because that's what the spec called for, though, would it?

Secondly, it's a bad example because Century isn't counting the German made flash hider towards 922r.