922r Compliance question

[Bernie Lomax]

Does the U.S. parts requirement apply to all rifles manufactured or imported after 1989, or just those built on imported receivers? The reason I ask is that I'm considering having a Galil built on a U.S.-made CNC warrior receiver and need to know if I can just use the Israeli parts kits they sell or if I have to buy some us parts.

TIA for any info anyone can give.

 

[Sam1911]

Here is a pretty decent write up on it by TAPCO: http://www.tapco.com/section922r/

The simple answer is YES, 922r applies no matter where the receiver was made. In fact, if you check the parts list, the first item there is "Frames, receivers, receiver castings, forgings or stampings."

So you're going to need to have no more than 10 foreign-made parts (of the list of specific parts that count) on that rifle.

 

[NOMI WASP]

I know on AK's you have to have atleast 6 American made parts. I have never researched this but that's what I've always been told. I didn't know if couldn't have more than 10 foreign. Thanks for the info.

 

[Sam1911]

Yeah, counting "backwards" (i.e., "how many US parts do I need?") gets to be tricky because not all guns use the same parts out of that list.

Easiest way is to look at the list there and start counting which of those parts are still foreign-made on the build you want to do. More than 10 is no good.

 

[col.lemat]

OK you got me on this one. A simple answer please what is 922r?

 

[col.lemat]

OK you got me on this one. A simple answer please what is 922r? OK I just read the list. That's crazy when did this law get passed? I don't fool with foreign stuff that much, but good to be up to speed on what the law is.

 

[Sam1911]

col.lemat,

All is explained in that link to Tapco's web site page in post 2.

Basically, it is a law that says you can't build a semi-auto rifle or shotgun here that you wouldn't be allowed to import from a foreign country because it is a military style (non-sporting) weapon, UNLESS that firearm (or its parts, rather) is made in the USA. "Made in the USA" in this case is defined by how many out of a list of constituent parts are made overseas. If more than 10 of the primary parts were made overseas, that's a foreign-made weapon and it wouldn't be importable.

So the companies that make and sell things like AK-47s, AKMs, AK-74s, Galils, and various other military style semi-autos have to add a number of US-made parts to get the "foreign parts count" down below 10, so we can pretend that it is a Made-in-the-USA firearm. Usually that means the AK you buy from your local gun shop will have a US-made receiver and trigger group (it needs those anyway to become a legal semi-auto), and then maybe a US-made pistol grip or gas piston too.

For us home-build types, we end up buying, for example, an AK parts kit and US-made receiver to build it up on. Then we have to replace a couple of utterly irrelevant, pointless things with US-made parts in order to be legal.

It's stupid, but that's how it works.

 

[Jeff H]

It's stupid, but that's how it works.

You can say that again.


This also comes into play with legally imported rifles are modified like the SKS. Box stock, they don't have to comply with 922r since they are classified as sporting rifles, but if you want to put on a pistol grip or removable mag, you have to start replacing other parts to get the list of foreign parts under 10. (on an SKS, this is easy to do though).

 

[NOMI WASP]

Has anyone ever known anyone who had a rifle checked for compliance or been penalized?

 

[Sam1911]

Well, it is hard to "check." For one thing, the law governs the MAKING of such a thing, not the possession of it. So if you own a gun that someone else built, it is pretty unlikely that you could be in violation of the law.

Second, what is a US-made part? Just because it has "US" stamped on it? Not all parts made here do.

A lot of people have looked for instances of someone being prosecuted specifically for violating 922(r), and I don't think any individual cases have been found. The usual statement is that it is probably the sort of charge that gets tacked on when someone's prosecuted for some more serious crime.

But still, don't do it. Federal felonies suck.

 

[pjeski]

I'm under the impression, and correct me if I'm wrong, that 922r applies to manufacturers. Once you have the weapon, you can accessorize as you see fit.

 

[Sam1911]

You can accessorize it, but the text of 922(r) actually reads thus:

(r) It shall be unlawful for any person to assemble from imported parts any semiautomatic rifle or any shotgun which is identical to any rifle or shotgun prohibited from importation under section 925 (d)(3) of this chapter as not being particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes...

So, unless you consider yourself not to fall into the general category of "any person" it applies to YOU.

 

[pjeski]

I guess my question comes from "assemble". I've read arguments that once it's assembled, if it meets 922r, it's good. (Whether you are a licensed mfg. or building your own on a form 1). After that, if I pop a German mag in my weapon, am I assembling it? If I replace the fore grip, is that assembling a weapon?

 

[HankB]

Second, what is a US-made part? Just because it has "US" stamped on it? Not all parts made here do.

Just as an FYI, I was at a gun show last year where a guy was selling "Compliance Parts" . . . from magazine floorplates to internal components, they all appeared to have "US" or "USA" stamped on them.

I - briefly - spoke to him, and he said that it would be an uphill fight for a prosecutor to argue that "US" stamped components were imported, so he said anyone who wanted 922(r) compliance parts would be well advised to buy them from HIM.

Of course.

 

[Bernie Lomax]

Just as an FYI, I was at a gun show last year where a guy was selling "Compliance Parts" . . . from magazine floorplates to internal components, they all appeared to have "US" or "USA" stamped on them.

I - briefly - spoke to him, and he said that it would be an uphill fight for a prosecutor to argue that "US" stamped components were imported, so he said anyone who wanted 922(r) compliance parts would be well advised to buy them from HIM.

Of course.

LOFL! There's truly a sucker born every minute.

 

[Sam1911]

Supposedly, yeah, the BATFE looks at inserting a magazine as "assembling."

Hence the problem with using those "duckbill" detachable mags on SKSs.