Converting AR-15's to Full Auto

[loadedround]

Had a very interesting discussion at my gun club last night regarding converting semi auto AR15's to full auto and this question came up. Assuming one has a model semi auto Ar-15 or clone and decides to purchase a drilling jig and proceeds to drill the hole for the auto sear in his receiver. Assuming he does not add ANY additional auto parts, including an auto sear, is this modified receiver now considered an illegal full auto firearm? Can one still take this firearm to the local range and fire it? All he did was drill a hole in his legal receiver. Any comments or advice would be very much welcomed. Obviously one can't contact the FTA people with this question.

 

[N555]

A 3rd hole meaning it can accept the parts it's definitely a machine gun.
A dent, divot, marking, scratch ect where the 3rd hole goes is considered intent and is pretty much a machine gun too.

 

[12Bravo20]

There was a company that was engraving a fake third pin into lowers. The ATF sent them a cease and desist order to stop engraving the fake pin. The company was told that even moving the pin so that it was not in the correct location for the full auto/burst parts was verboten. Drilling or marking in any way of the third hole constitutes a machine gun according to the ATF.

IF a person did drill the third hole, they now have two choices to stay legal. They can either weld the third hole closed or destroy the illegal lower.

 

[AlexanderA]

A 3rd hole meaning it can accept the parts it's definitely a machine gun.

That "third hole" -- by itself -- has come to be the bright-line difference between a semiauto and a contraband machine gun. That's true even if additional machining is required to fit the auto sear. On the other hand, a lower receiver can have all the machining done in the cavity, but it's still a legal semiauto as long as the "third hole" is not drilled. You can buy lowers that already have the "M16" cavity. Completely legal.

Years ago, the ATF used to warn people not to have full auto parts, such as bolt carriers, in their semiauto guns. They've since backed away from that position. Now, even Colt AR's come from the factory with full-auto bolt carriers.

A dent, divot, marking, scratch etc where the 3rd hole goes is considered intent and is pretty much a machine gun too.

Yes, some people building retro "M16" clones were engraving a ring at the third hole position, to simulate the auto-sear pin. The ATF ruled that that in itself turned the gun into a machine gun.

BTW, there's no such thing as constructive intent. Intent has nothing to do with it. It's constructive possession.

 

[AlexanderA]

IF a person did drill the third hole, they now have two choices to stay legal. They can either weld the third hole closed or destroy the illegal lower.

The problem with that is the rule "once a machine gun. always a machine gun." Once the third hole is drilled, and it thus becomes a machine gun, all the welding in the world will not make it not a machine gun. The only option is to destroy it.

 

[12Bravo20]

I stand corrected.

OP disregard where I said to weld the holes up in my previous post

 

[Frank Ettin]

We’re not going to go there.