Buying NFA machine guns can be nasty business. I will tell you about this, so as to warn potential newbies, who want to get into the hobby.
So I asked the seller to meet me in a parking lot to show me the gun, just to prove that he really owned the gun. I said that if I couldn't come onto his premises, how about meet me in a parking lot? He refused.
He did send me a picture of the gun with a requested hand sign. I was still nervous, as if he was a scammer, he could have posed as fake buyer, called up a real seller, who he found, and asked for a picture of the gun with my requested hand sign. *the version of this scam happens a lot in real estate: a fake landlord calls up a real landlord pretending to be a renter, then gets access to the property; the fake landlord then poses as a real landlord, and shows off the real house to a real renter. The real renter turns over first months, last months, and a deposit to the fake landlord. Obviously, when the real landlord finds out, the real renter is evicted and out the money.
The gun was an M14 that was allegedly uncut. I will not mention the seller, as I do not know if he was real.
I then call up a nationally known dealer. The nationally known dealer points me to some very good facts. If you ever want to buy an M14, read this article...
http://www.fulton-armory.com/\faqs\M1G-FAQs\Weld.htm
The nationally known dealer tells me a horror story about how he bought an M16 from this seller. The nationally known dealer received the M16 in junk condition and not in the represented condition. The dealer says that before I ship a penny, that I must inspect the gun and bring an expert because I could likely be buying a cut gun. Apparently a well welded gun is almost impossible to tell that it has been welded. He says that I should also do a FOIA to find out if the gun is cut and welded (read the above article). The nationally known dealer said to not trust this seller, even if he is real.
On a side note, how would a FOIA request show if a gun was cut and welded?
I call the seller at the listed phone number on the FFL. I leave two voice messages and ask him to call me back from from the caller ID of the FFL listed number. I make this request very clear in my email, and the seller emails back and says explicitly that he will call me back from his FFL listed number. The seller calls me back from a cell phone, NOT from the FFL listed phone number.
I then call up another known dealer who tells me that they have never heard of an FFL that prohibits civilian visits. There is no such FFL license, and point out that even Desert Ordnance allows civilian visits, and they are a contractor for many militaries in the world. They say that they would never buy this gun and they will not help me transfer this gun if I decide to take a chance on the gun.
The last dealer mentions something that was right in front of me, and I missed. I will state this without actually disclosing the name. The seller has been saying that I can not come onto his premises because he is a military and law enforcement FFL; however, the name of the FFL clearly states that they do movies and is not a law enforcement or military FFL. Without disclosing the name, imagine if the name of this FFL is MovieGunprops, Inc. I totally missed that.
I tell the seller that I can not buy this gun without an inspection. Even if he is real, I can not know if the gun is uncut. The guy curses me out and says some very nasty things. He then puts me on his blacklist and says he will never sell me a gun ever. Apparently, he also banned someone else from buying a gun from him.
Now...I did not mention names...and I will keep all names confidential. If the dealer is reading this and wants to contest what I am writing, I have full emails that I am willing to post, if names aren't kept confidential. I even offered, not once, but twice, to meet in a parking lot to have my person inspect the gun. I don't think it is too unreasonable to request that I lay eyes on the gun.
