Working on a friends pistol?

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Owen Sparks

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A friend asked me to polish the feed ramp on his 1911 and install a couple of aftermarket parts. It would be a favor with no cash changing hands. Is there any potential way that I could get in trouble for doing unlicensed gunsmithing?

Just thought I would check first, OS
 
I'm pretty sure the only trouble you could get into in that situation is if you made some part of it unsafe and he ended up hurting either himself or someone else unintentionally. He or another injured party could possibly bring a lawsuit against you. I can't see any harm in polishing the feed ramp unless you screw it up majorly and cause a great amount of bullet setback leading to a KB. The "other" parts could be an issue depending on what they are.
 
In the ATF's eyes, a gunsmith is:

A person who devotes time, attention, and labor to engaging in such activity as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit, but such a term shall not include a person who makes occasional repairs of firearms or who occasionally fits special barrels, stocks, or trigger mechanisms to firearms;
Click to expand...

Do you work on guns as a regular course of trade or business?
 
Definitely safe in the eyes of criminal law if no cash (or other payment) is tendered for the work, and might be still safe it some does as long as it is, as was pointed out, only on an occasional basis. You wouldn't be in violation necessarily if cash did change hands, as long as it was only to cover "costs", such as supplies and parts, and no profit was factored in.
I had a friend I had clean up some guns for me and he refused payment for that very reason. I just made it a point to cover his range fee and some of his ammo the next time we shot together.
 
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