Shipping a complete AR lower

[Rescuecity]

I have looked for some answers and find lots of gray areas but long story short, I have milled a couple lowers in my buddies machine shop in Idaho, looking to get them back home to Washington without having to drive ( I had flown out ) Can I legally ship them to myself at home? I know they are not capable of shooting or being loaded but technically are firearms sooooooo ???

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[partsed]

Are they serialized?? If so, I would have them shipped to a FFL that you deal with and do it the proper way. No sense in inviting trouble.

 

[Stomper]

I have looked for some answers and find lots of gray areas but long story short, I have milled a couple lowers in my buddies machine shop in Idaho, looking to get them back home to Washington without having to drive ( I had flown out ) Can I legally ship them to myself at home? I know they are not capable of shooting or being loaded but technically are firearms sooooooo ???

The short answer is.... yes. They are not handguns, so you can even use the USPS.

 

[etrain16]

The short answer is.... yes. They are not handguns, so you can even use the USPS.

I thought I remembered Jon mentioning that lowers are not transferred as rifles in WA, only as either pistols or "other", I think? Either way, with just lowers, going to WA, it may be a bit more complicated. The issue came up with the NWFA lowers - you can't, as an OR resident, buy just the lowers in WA, because they can't transfer them as a rifle. Sounds messed up to me.

 

[11Charlie]

They are labeled and sold in Washington as "Other" and yes its FUBAR!!!

 

[bbbass]

I looked it up when I needed to retrieve a shotgun from NV... YES, you can ALWAYS ship a firearm to yourself no matter state lines. That's Federal law via BATF. Too lazy to cite the rule but it is easy to look up.

Not sure if WA has some flaky rule. Serialized or not, lowers that have been milled out are considered firearms. But shipping them to yourself is still legal!!!

Where people could get into trouble is if they are trying to game the rules and the lowers are actually intended to be used by a diff person or sold to a diff person. Then, then the best thing to do is to serialize them and send them to an FFL. While the serializing may not strictly be required, it makes most FFLs happy and is kind of ambiguous in the rules. (I chased the CFRs endlessly and it was never clear enough for me. YMMV)

 

[bbbass]

Question 6, page 4:

https://www.atf.gov/resource-center/docs/0501-firearms-top-10-qaspdf/download

 

[bbbass]

The other way people with 80% lowers can get into trouble is when your buddy does some of the milling at his shop instead of it being totally you. IIRC, the BATF has ruled that since another party did some of the work, the lower must be transfered via FFL to the party that owned the original unmilled lower. Makes no sense to me tho. There may even be an issue with using his shop tools... not sure.

 

[11Charlie]

There may even be an issue with using his shop tools...

If I am not mistaken you must own the tools to do the work yourself or they can get his buddy for manufacturing with out a proper licence.

 

[bbbass]

If I am not mistaken you must own the tools to do the work yourself or they can get his buddy for manufacturing with out a proper licence.

Yes, I think that was the latest ruling. Didn't some Portland machine shops/gunsmiths run into an issue with this?

 

[11Charlie]

Yes, I think that was the latest ruling. Didn't some Portland machine shops/gunsmiths run into an issue with this?

Not positive but I think you are correct.

 

[Rescuecity]

The other way people with 80% lowers can get into trouble is when your buddy does some of the milling at his shop instead of it being totally you. IIRC, the BATF has ruled that since another party did some of the work, the lower must be transfered via FFL to the party that owned the original unmilled lower. Makes no sense to me tho. There may even be an issue with using his shop tools... not sure.

Well aware of that and it was ALL ME ................

 

[Rescuecity]

Thanks for the info, borrowing a car and driving home to Gray for me !!!

 

[bbbass]

Thanks for the info, borrowing a car and driving home to Gray for me !!!

It's not necessary but that's on you.

Straight from the ATF:

6. "May I lawfully ship a firearm to myself in a different State?"
"Any person may ship a firearm to himself or herself in the care of another person in the State where
he or she intends to hunt or engage in any other lawful activity. The package should be addressed to
the owner "in the care of" the out-of-State resident. Upon reaching its destination, persons other than
the owner must not open the package or take possession of the firearm."

 

[Sporting Systems]

It's not necessary but that's on you.

Straight from the ATF:

6. "May I lawfully ship a firearm to myself in a different State?"
"Any person may ship a firearm to himself or herself in the care of another person in the State where
he or she intends to hunt or engage in any other lawful activity. The package should be addressed to
the owner "in the care of" the out-of-State resident. Upon reaching its destination, persons other than
the owner must not open the package or take possession of the firearm."

Took the words straight from our FAQ, who we took from ATF FAQ. We recommend this all the time, people want to pay us to ship items to themselves. We'll do it, but its a needless cost and time for the owner.

 

[bbbass]

Took the words straight from our FAQ, who we took from ATF FAQ.

Nope... not literally anyway... cut and pasted it myself straight from the ATF link in post #7.