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Dewat re-activations


ar15usa
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I have four transferable Dewat machine guns need to be re-activated - including a very rare FG42, I already got approved From1s back. Any recommendations for gunsmiths with experience in repairing and restoring? I was told Bob Naess at Black River Militaria in Vermont was really good, but I didn't hear back after I tried emailing and calling. I was just hoping to find someone really good.

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Bob would be a good one for sure. What are the other three guns? That might determine who should do the work. What is the level of reactivation needed? eg, do you need parts such as barrel, bolt etc? Do you plan to keep the reactivated guns or sell them. There is a good market for transferable dewats so selling them as is might be an option. Sorry for all the questions , just looking for perspective.

 

Bob D

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Just a point of minor trivia - he who re-activates it should report it. Some operate on a "I file it, you do the work" process - unless you are present when the work is done, it's like filling a deer permit. You have a dead deer and a valid permit but the game warden doesn't buy it.

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LR writes: “ he who re-activates it should report it.” Not sure what is being addressed here as F1 reactivations do not require a “report” of the event such as is required by an 07/02 who files an F2 notification of the reactivation. While in my opinion, ATF misconstrues an F1 reactivation as a form of “manufacturing” and thus requires that the applicant mark the firearm, to my knowledge there is no “report” required of the F1 applicant or by any gunsmith doing the work to ATF or mechanism to do it. Having been doing reactivations for forty years, maybe something has changed about which I don’t know........
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I'm saying the law has no provision for me to register someone else's work. If I re-activate, I register it; if you re-activate, you register it. Even if ATF gives a marking variance, if you build a firearm for me and apply my markings you file the birth certificate and transfer to me. I cannot file the birth certificate for your kid, even though the kid has my name. See 26 USC 5841(b ) - each manufacturer/importer/maker shall register each firearm he manufactures/imports/makes. No allowance for killing a deer to fill someone else's permit.

 

True enough ATF's stance that reactivation (a repair) constitutes manufacturing or making is contrary to law (congress used the phrase "producing a firearm" in defining "make") and likely rooted in the pre-GCA days when a DEWAT was not a firearm (ala Treasury Ruling 55-590 and a couple others that escape me now) - in that time sure enough, a reactivation was "producing a firearm" since you were converting unregulated scrap metal to a product requiring registration. If reactivation was producing a firearm the DEWAT logically would need no registration - cool - but then reactivation would result in a restricted MG which is not so cool. Unfortunately until someone ponies up the $ to get it remedied through congress or a court, that's the reality we live in.

 

While it's probably an academic point, everyone has to make their own decision of risk vs reward. In this case, the risk is unnecessary. If you cannot be present when the firearm is worked on, transfer via F-5, the 07 files a F-2 and returns direct with a F4. Mission complete by the book, same $.

Edited by The Lone Ranger
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