I was speaking with my friend Colin Stolzer last night and we were discussing making reproduction actions without an FFL. As long as they are from a pre 1898 patent and the ammunition is no longer produced or available for sale in the US you can make the actions. I was wondering if anyone knows of a good refrence to old, outdated, rare, odd, and/or obscure amunition. It seems to me that I saw a book or two on the subject once but cant find anything now. Any Ideas?

Actually, it is my understanding that you can build rifles from scratch without a license as long as the production is less than 50 per year.  If I was interested in making actions (or rifles) I would go through the BATF regulations with a fine tooth comb instead of relying on hearsay from anyone on the internet.

George

uscra112 wrote on Jul 25^th, 2014 at 9:35pm:


Yes, and I think they can be eventually sold, but there's a time limit to prevent circumventing the law.

I'd suspect that making and selling actions alone. would trigger the BATF regulations since the barrel and chamber for the cartridge are an "add-on" to the action unless you were perhaps making a "pin fire" or "needle-rifle" action. or something else that is so obsolete that the the ammo is not available and the action mechanism could not be converted to a modern cartridge.

I'd suggest contacting Steve Earle, since he is producing limited numbers of beautifully finished actions-only for several old single shot rifles from the BP and transitional era.

Another avenue of exploration is the idea of n action "kit"   several have done that in the past, though most were basic castings.   I imagine that there is some sort of legal definition of the break point between a "kit" and a complete action

Lets forget about the whole manufacturing or making receivers. The point of this thread was obsolete ammunition references. Anyone know of any good references for obsolete cartridges????

fredd3090,

You might see if you can find the various volumes of "The History and Development of Small Arms Ammunition" by George A Hoyem.

Then you should probably check with various sources like Buffalo Arms in Idaho to see which "obsolete" cartridges have been re-introduced, and are available for purchase once again.

You cannot depend on obsolete ammo.
If you fish around you can find people that offer almost any cartridge for sale.

The patent date means nothing. It is not recognized at all. New Winchester 1885 Highwalls are treated like modern manufacture. New 1874 Sharps are treated like modern rifles. 

If you put a solid bar stock barrel on one it would still be considered a modern rifle.

For god sakes read this:

Colin,
Do you have a class II Manufacturing License? If so, do you have to pay that State Dept. TAX that other manufacturers have to pay?

Frank,
 
I don’t even have an FFL. Everything I build or work on is pre-1898, so it’s all exempt from GCA and ITAR and I never get anywhere close to 50 guns a year so no excise tax either.
 
Colin

So if you build a new action but it is an action patented before 1898 you dont have to have an FFL. You are shitting me! 
Frank

Frank,
 
As long as it meet the 27CFR exemptions being both pre-1898 action and also chamber in a non-commercially available ammo.
 
27 CFR:
" Antique firearm. (a) Any firearm (including any firearm with a
matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar type of ignition
system) manufactured in or before 1898; and (b) any replica of any
firearm described in paragraph (a) of this definition if such replica
(1) is not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional
centerfire fixed ammunition, or (2) uses rimfire or conventional
centerfire fixed ammunition which is no longer manufactured in the
United States and which is not readily available in the ordinary
channels of commercial trade."
 
Stay within the pre-1898 exemption and you can manufacture all kinds of nice rifles and pistols in some fun calibers.
The first couple years after I finished my apprenticeship I had an FFL and built custom bolt action sporting rifles but I got tired of the constantly changing rules the BATFE makes you play by and the fact that hundreds of guys build custom sporters(stiff competition from guys who had been doing it a lot longer than me). Now days I don’t have any BATFE paperwork and very few guys build the stuff I’ve built for the last ten years(small niche of the market with less competition but better pay days).
 
Kindest Regards,
 
Colin