I haven't checked these forums too much in the past few weeks due to my class and work schedule, but I'll try to answer all questions pertaining to the MP40.
Where on earth would you get something like that?! Don't you need a class 3?
I posted a "wanted to buy" ad on
www.sturmgewehr.com and had a response within two days from a dealer in PA for a very reasonable price. I paid for it around Halloween and it took until January 3rd for the paperwork to get approved. I took possession on Jan. 5th.
class 3 is a dealer thing... there is no special license required to own full auto... just a deep wallet and a class 3 dealer to do the transfer
This is precisely correct. A "Class III" is a class of Special Occupational Taxpayer (or SOT) status that applies to people who wish to deal in NFA firearms. Basically, to be a dealer of NFA firearms (machine guns, short barreled firearms, etc) you have to have a standard dealer's FFL (called a type 01, not a Class I), and be a Class III SOT.
Um No,
You have to have the license to own a FA weapon which involves a tax fee. This has nothing to do with a dealership. Each individual that wants a FA weapon will have to deal with this nonsense. ALso, local LEO will have to also sign off that you are not a nutjob before BATF will issue you the license.
This is, in most respects, completely wrong. First let me clarify that there is
absolutely no license required to purchase or own an NFA firearm as an individual. None whatsoever. Period.
What happens is, when you find a live NFA firearm you want you submit an ATF Form 4 in duplicate. This form includes information on the seller, the buyer, and the firearm itself. If you're registering the gun to an individual, each copy must be signed by your local Chief Law Enforcement Officer (CLEO) and have a passport-quality photograph attached. Additionally, you must supply duplicate copies of FBI fingerprint cards and a $200 check with the application. Interestingly, if you're registering the gun to a corporation, you can forego all three requirements and just mail the applications in along with the check, but that's another story.
Then the ATF/NFA/FBI does their background checks and deposits your transfer tax check. If all is well they approve the application by signing it, dating it, and attaching a physical stamp (much like you'd put on an envelope) to it.
The approved application is then returned to the seller who then gives the gun and the approved Form 4 to the buyer as soon as possible. The Form 4 is what constitutes your proof of legal ownership. A copy of it must accompany the gun any time you wish to take it out with you, as without proof of legal ownership you're up the proverbial creek.
The above scenario is correct for an in-state transfer. It gets a little muddier when you go interstate, but for our purposes that explanation will do. But to clarify again, there is no license required to privately own a legally registered NFA firearm.
After that hurdle you will be introduced to the price of FA stuff and realize you can't afford anything. Maybe a Sten Mk II IF you sell your car.
Actually, as outlined above, the very first thing you do is pay the seller for the gun. After that he'll start the transfer paperwork. If you, for some reason, fail the background check and your transfer is denied... well, you'd better hope your seller is reputable and will return your money.
However, NFA firearms
are expensive. More on that later.
Than after you get your Sten you will realize that there is no place that will let you shoot it full auto anway so you wasted your money and time.
Several local ranges here in MI allow legally-registered full auto firearms so long as you have the paperwork to show proof of ownership. And, as I mentioned, you'd better have that paperwork with you anyway. Additionally, I'm fortunate to have access to a 110-acre gravel pit on private land.
IOW, anyone with a legal FA weapons is either a super Rich SOB or has an illegal weapon.
I find this statement both funny and somewhat insulting at the same time. First off "anyone with a
legal FA weapon... has an
illegal weapon." Proofread. Proofread. Proofread.
Secondly, I am the lawful owner of a legally registered and transferrable fully-automatic firearm. I am not a "super rich SOB." Truth is, I sold the matching K43 sniper rifle I posted earlier in this thread to buy the MP40 and did so with money to spare. Additionally, I have a legally-registered MP43/1 in the paperworks and paid for as well. How did I manage? I sold 5 all matching K98's, a G98/40, and an excellent condition G41 in addition to securing a five-figure loan from my bank. As it stands, I'm budgeted to pay off the MP43/1 by this fall if I pretty much put every spare dime I make for the next 8 months into it. No going out to eat, no new computer parts, no new guns, no new ammo, no nothing.
So please don't sit there and assume I'm some rich SOB with unlimited funds to piss away as I please. I work
extremely hard for my toys, but that's part of what makes them that much more enjoyable.
This is my beef with the BS Unconstitutional laws regarding FA ownership in this country in that ONLY the super rich are afforded that privilage. Total BS if you ask me.
Unconstitutional, yes. That's one of the few points I'll agree with you on. However, the price of NFA firearms is a simple matter of supply and demand. The 1986 ban on new machine gun registration created a situation where there is an absolute finite supply of legal machine guns. Given the unlimited demand from people like you and me, well... simple economics takes over from there.
the reason for the high cost is low availability
a full auto firearm only becomes available when the current owner wishes to transfer it... considering what is here now and legal is all that there ever will be until some people with a pair of balls get into the right positions in government to lift certain bans the prices of these firearms when the owner wishes to sell them are whatever that person feels like asking for the weapon so naturally they price them at new car prices... i'd hate to think of what gewehr43 paid for his mp40
Exactly. I paid a lot for the MP40, and about double that for the MP43/1, but you and I both know these things aren't getting any cheaper. It broke my heart to sell all those nice K98's and other items, but I knew that if I didn't act soon it would just get harder and harder to afford these firearms in the future. So, I sacrificed a few rifles, put myself in a bit of debt and bit the bullet so to speak. But in a few months when all is said and done I'll be the very happy owner of two MG's (one of which - the 43/1 - is my holy grail gun) and I don't think I'll be losing too much sleep over the lost 98's and G41.
yeah my tax return is going to rifles to...
Mine's getting dumped into my MP43 loan.
I'll try to keep an eye on this thread in the near future to answer any questions that might pop up, but I'm going to be nose-down in a lot of books over the next few days.
