Can I buy a milsurp rifle receiver?

All I read is that it must be a weapon designed to be fired from the shoulder, not that it must have a stock attached.
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If it doesn't have a stock attached, it's not designed to be fired from the shoulder. Don't make it say things it doesn't say. The receiver is not a rifle or a handgun. It does not meet the qualifications of either. In fact, it can not be "designed to be fired" at all, since it has no barrel.

Here is the ATFs 2011 decision on firearms and parts kits.

Here are their definitions for:

Pistol
Pistol. A weapon originally designed, made, and intended to fire a projectile (bullet) from one or more barrels when held in one hand, and having (a) a chamber(s) as an integral part(s) of, or permanently aligned with, the bore(s); and (b) a short stock designed to be gripped by one hand and at an angle to and extending below the line of the bore(s).

Revolver
A projectile weapon, of the pistol type, having a breechloading chambered cylinder so arranged that the cocking of the hammer or movement of the trigger rotates it and brings the next cartridge in line with the barrel for firing

Rifle
A weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed cartridge to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger, and shall include any such weapon which may be readily restored to fire a fixed cartridge.

Shotgun
A weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to fire through a smooth bore either a number of projectiles (ball shot) or a single projectile for each pull of the trigger, and shall include any such weapon which may be readily restored to fire a fixed shotgun shell.

A receiver clearly does not fit any of those definitions.

Further, on the 4473, the instructions for Question 18 say:
Question 18. Type of Firearm(s): Check all boxes that apply. “Other” refers to frames, receivers and other firearms that are not either handguns or long guns (rifles or shotguns), such as firearms having a pistol grip that expel a shotgun shell, or National Firearms Act (NFA) firearms.

ATF regulations can be confusing and stupid, but this one is at least not confusing. It's crystal clear.
 
Brian, is an M44 barrelled action still not a rifle though? I'm talking the entire working mechanism of the gun - receiver, barrel, bolt, trigger group. Just the whole rifle pulled out of the stock. My FFL told me that a bare receiver is an "other" but that my barrelled action was a rifle because the barrel was attached.

I hope that's the case, because I don't want to live in a country where I can buy a rifle but I can't buy that same rifle without the stock attached...

I'm still curious about the point that 44AMP And I touched on. According to ATF, a receiver made into a rifle is always a rifle, isn't it? That's why you can lengthen an AR pistol barrel and add a stock but not do the opposite. If so, the " once a rifle, always a rifle" test is highly convenient when they want it to be. Unless I'm understanding that wrong.
 
Dogtown Tom said:
You have to have both shoulder stock and barrel to be a rifle.
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Correct. But (disclaimer: I am neither an attorney nor an FFL) I believe that definition applies to the original firearm. Thus the rule: "Once a rifle, always a rifle," and the need to use a virgin receiver when constructing an AR-15 pistol.

In the case of a 1903 Springfield action (or a Mauser 98, or a Mosin-Nagant M44 action), the actions were never originally assembled as pistols. Any used action you buy was originally a rifle, and thus "always a rifle."

JMHO. Don't cite it to become a test case.
 
Aguila Blanca said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dogtown Tom
You have to have both shoulder stock and barrel to be a rifle.
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Correct. But (disclaimer: I am neither an attorney nor an FFL) I believe that definition applies to the original firearm. Thus the rule: "Once a rifle, always a rifle," and the need to use a virgin receiver when constructing an AR-15 pistol.

In the case of a 1903 Springfield action (or a Mauser 98, or a Mosin-Nagant M44 action), the actions were never originally assembled as pistols. Any used action you buy was originally a rifle, and thus "always a rifle."

JMHO. Don't cite it to become a test case.
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I agree with what Aguila Blanca said. I am an FFL and a lawyer (but not your lawyer), but this is NOT legal advice.
 
dakota.potts said:
Brian, is an M44 barrelled action still not a rifle though?
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My understanding is that there are two different questions, or situations.

One, the current status. No, it is not a rifle, as it does not meet the definition of a rifle. It is an "Other"

Two, what "can it be" in the future. It can only be a rifle. It was originally assembled or produced only as a rifle and therefore can never be legally made into anything but a rifle (filing forms not withstanding).

What it "could be" is different than what it currently is.
 
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