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Ive been asked to do a form 1 tutorial. I know theres quite a few of these out there but heres my take. Ive gotten to the point where as soon as I order a receiver or gun I prefill out a form 1 on eforms and while the dealer is running the BGC I enter the serial number on my phone and have it entered before I even fully take possession.

This tutorial is for doing a individual form 1. I haven't done a trust form 1 in years since 41P went into effect in 2016. For me theres no point in doing a trust now. It used to be the trust bypassed the fingerprints , pictures and sheriffs approval . Now with eforms and no requirement to get a signoff the individual route is easy. There are good reasons for many people to do trusts but if you don't care about having someone else borrow your NFA items individual is the way to go. They still transfer tax free on death as long as the items are listed in a will . I fully expect my wife to sell all my stuff at a garage sale the day after I die no matter what I tell her or have on paper and to be honest what happens to my stuff after I die is of no importance to me.



First off forget about paper forms. You can do it all , or mostly all online except for the fingerprints , which still need to get sent in.

Register on the eforms site at

https://eforms.atf.gov/EForms

Lets concentrate on building a Form 1 silencer here . We are going to call it a silencer because that's what they are called. Calling it anything but a silencer on during this process to try and outsmart the ATF has a good chance of getting it kicked back is just going to get it kicked back …or not. In any case the government refers to the devices as silencers.

  • Once you get logged into the eforms site there will be a stack of radio buttons scroll through to find the "Form 1 5320.1" button. Click on that.
  • Click "Individual" and then "next"
  • The next page is some legalese. Scroll to the bottom and push "next"
  • Click on the "Tax Pad $200" button.
  • On the next page at the top on the right click on "no FFL " The rest of the page information lines will auto populate with the information you provide when you register. The questions at the bottom will ALL be answered with "NO" if you want the form to be approved. Last question "N/A" Click "US" for citizenship if you are a US citizen…Next page
  • Next page is all about you. Lots of questions about you, where you were born, where you live etc. Answer everything. Take a selfie or yourself standing against a neutral background and attach it as a Jpeg. Just answer the questions as aked. Don't read too much into them. The only trick question is "title" . I put "Mr." Works every time. They ask your Social Security number. Its not required per se and if you want it to take 6 times longer don't put your SSN . If you want it to go faster put your SSN. Simple as that Next…
  • The next page is the information about your CLEO. Since 41P you do not need to get approval from the local CLEO but you still need to list him in the documents and send him the required docs. Most CLEO's could give a damn and probably trash most of these but who knows what yours will do . In any case look up your local sheriff online and put his name and dept information in this section. Next…
  • The next section is where you enter the information about the silencer you are building. The ATF refers to silencers as firearms and for the purposes of this form so will you . Click on add firearm. A pop up will appear to enter your information. Make sure that if you have a pop up blocker it is disabled. You are the manufacturer, and this is the manufacturer page. At the top of the popup make sure "by manufacturer name" is active. Enter " FORM 1 REGISTRATION" under manufacturer name. Click "verify manufacturer". Under manufacturers country click "United States of America" . Click "next" to go to the next page.
  • The detail page is next. This where the details of your silencer will be entered. For product type select "silencer". This stuff changes state really , really slow so be patient. Under model you can make up your own model name if you want to be clever. Doing that will make the process take months longer. You can open up the box and select someone else's clever model name if you feel like it with the caveat that you may get screwed anyway if that person did not use a caliber you want to use. Or you can use "N/A". That's what I do. Save me from having to engrave a stupid model name . The next box opens up …eventually…Under select a caliber do just that. Under unit of measure click the appropriate answer i.e. mm, caliber etc. Under overall length insert the overall length in inches. Finally you need to make up a serial number. It can be whatever you want as long as it has a number. This is where you can be a clever genius and make up something that's really going to make the ATF wish they had never been born. It just has to have a number. The bottom box is "state why you want to make the firearm" . People have all kinds of stuff they like to put here. I put " firearms collection" . Short, sweet and to the point . Hit next. The next popup window is asking for a design. You do not need to provide on so don't. Hit finish.
  • The next two pages just push next. You don't need to do anything there.
  • Final page is the certification page. If you screwed up anywhere during the process or the website being wonky you may have to go back and fix some stuff. If everything is kosher you will be able to click on "sign and submit" and enter your payment info. Do that. Then you will go back to the certification page and sign and submit . You will be asked to enter your password. Do it.
  • You will receive two emails from the ATF. One is a receipt for your payment . The second email takes a little while but will come. You will get two documents from the ATF. One will be a copy of your form 1 submission. Separate the section that says "CLEO Copy" . Mail that your CLEO at the address you put down for him on the form 1. You can take it by there is you want but you don't have to . Just mail it. The other document you will receive is the cover letter you will send the ATF with your fingerprints
  • The fingerprints. You can get fingerprints done just about anywhere that does fingerprints. Your local sheriffs dept, Police dept etc. I don't do that . I order 50 at a shot for FREE from the ATF . https://www.atf.gov/distribution-center-order-form . Fingerprint pads are available from amazon for $7. https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Inkless-...eywords=fingerprint+ink&qid=1606273155&sr=8-6 . Make two complete cards. Left, right etc. The ATF cards have to OFI number that needs to be on there. Fill out everything that applies to your situation. Don't fill out the stuff that doesn't apply to you. Send two cards into the ATF in the same envelope you put the cover letter in. If you do more than one Form 1 at the same time put another cover letter in the same envelope. Use a big manilla envelope with two stamps. You have 10 days to get the prints into the ATF. Some people like to put signature verification or tracking or overnight those. My experience has been that anything you do out of the ordinary first class system just slows things down.
I'm on 38 form 1's over more than a decade. Ive never had one take more than 30 days start to finish with many at two weeks start to finish. Your mileage may vary but if you do your part right and don't try to be creative with the system things generally go smoothly. Good luck.
 
FD-258_Fingerprint_Cards_-_Walk-Through_Guide_720x.jpg
 
Does the ORI have to be filled out when filling as an individual for an SBR? I'm currently finishing my cards at the moment. When I bought my last suppressor it wasn't filled out when done at OSP. Also for place of birth is it going to hurt if I did city and state?
 
The silencer parts market is in a weird place right now. The ATF has come down on some sellers and others are pulling out of the market proactively. Others are requiring a approved form 1 before they will ship. In short of you want to or are thinking about building your own silencer dont waste time. Buy the parts now. They may not be there tomorrow.

Pure Performance Armory for baffles. He ships fast and the parts are top quality. Radials for pistol calibers and 50 to 60 degree cones for rifle calibers. Tubes abound . Pick up 10 baffles or so now and the tube as you decide what you want to do exactly.

As far as wiipes go the most recent word from the ATF SEEMS to be ( not like they ever really let anyone know the rules in this banana republic we live in ) that you can have one set of wipes per can meaning that if are cutting your own wipes you have to destroy the old set first.

 
Does the ORI have to be filled out when filling as an individual for an SBR? I'm currently finishing my cards at the moment. When I bought my last suppressor it wasn't filled out when done at OSP. Also for place of birth is it going to hurt if I did city and state?
The ORI can be left blank. They will fill that in or at least put a sticker on it when they get it at the NFA branch.

What else would you put besides city and state for place of birth?
 
The ORI can be left blank. They will fill that in or at least put a sticker on it when they get it at the NFA branch.

What else would you put besides city and state for place of birth?
All the examples I see it just has the state. Not sure if it mattered or not.
 
Checked my credit card statement for my Form 1 and it shows the ATF made the charge the same day I submitted the application. Funny part is that the statement says it's Form 7CR. Is that normal for a Form 1 request?
 

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