1915 French Chauchaut On Ebay!?!

[billie32]

Check out item number 2210756136. The gun is in Florida, so it's not a European deact. The guy says that the gun has been demilled to ATF specs, however, the receiver is obviously intact, and he states that the gun needs to be shipped to an FFL for transfer?? There's something not right here.....

[Bill in VA]

It's possible that it's a registered dewat, although his statement about "any ATF forms are the buyer's responsibility" leads me to wonder if it was once registered, but paperwork lost (maybe he found it in grandad's attic?), or worse, not at all. It may not be a bad idea to see if the s/n is listed in the NFRTR. Just musing...

[Bill in VA]

Follow-up: I sent the seller an email asking a little bit about the gun. One question was if the gun was [ever] registered. The seller responded that the gun was not his and replied with:

 

"The consigner advised me he had it inspected by the ATF in 1961, but lost all papers. I gave him 7 days to contact ATF and find out if he had indeed registered it. He did not provide me the info, so I had to end the auction."

 

So, it's possible the gun was at one time registered. FWIW, many dewats were not listed in the NFRTR, but some owners have (or had at one time) letters from the ATTU/BATF stating something to effect that they had "noted the gun's s/n in their records" (whatever that may mean.) Of course, if the gun is not listed in the NFRTR and the owner no longer has such a letter, I'd say the BATF would no doubt declare the gun contraband in absence of any contrary evidence, and demand its surrender for destruction.