Buying first full auto questions.....

[Beowulf]

They buy in bulk, and get a very good price. In 1995 I looked them up on the supply system and they cost about $300 each. I met a guy at the range around 1995 who told me he just sold 2 that he had from before the May 1986 date. Back then, we could go to the gun shop, pay the man about $300 and he would drill the hole and change out the needed parts to convert it to a factory quality M16. I asked him what he sold them for since I knew at the time $4700 was a good price. He replied he sold them for $4700. I replied "Each?" "He said no, for the pair" I bet the guy offered $4700 each, and the guy misunderstood and sold them both for $4700 not knowing how much they went up in price. He paid about $1000 each for them so he figured he did ok. The M16 is one of the most versatile machine guns out there. I wonder how long before people just start becoming manufacturers. $500 per year license to make as many as you want, and as long as you keep the license, you keep the items. You get tired of being a manufacturer and you give up the toys. At $20,000 per gun, you could have a manufacturers license for 40 years and build every gun you ever wanted, then give them up when you have had enough fun. MP5's, M16's, newer models that you can't even buy because they are past the May 1986 date. A manufacturer can modify an AR15 to an M16 by simply changing out $300 in trigger parts and drilling a single hole. I am sure many have gotten the manufacturing license for that reason, even though it is frowned upon like becoming a gun dealer just for deals for yourself friends and family.

The cost today is simply because it is a LEGAL machine gun with papers that keep you out of prison for possession. You could say you are paying $1000 for the M16, and $19000 for the Form 4 to make it legal. A legal machine gun stolen has little value, because it is registered to the owner and anyone caught with it faces very stiff penalties. $250,000 fine and 10 years in prison last I checked. A crime committed with a NFA product adds about 30 years to a sentence at one time, so criminals don't really want to use them in a crime unless they are planning to die in the process.

Sadly, getting an 07/02 isn't quite a simple as paying the $500 for every 3 years. You also have to pay an annual ITAR registration fee, which is currently $2800 each year... and then you have to maintain a place of business and business hours (doesn't have to be a lot, but you have to have regular hours... though some dealers seem to get away with having them be on appointment only).

 

[HoughMade]

Well, don't worry about that. The M4s they are still giving the guys in the field still cost way less than $1000 and the government was just basically giving away the old A1s and A2s... just not to us citizens. Clearly, we can't be trusted, you know, unlike the Iraqi National Army (who basically just hands their guns over to ISIS at the drop of a hat).

My first issued rifle was an A1, so even though this was after 1986, it was obviously pre-'86 manufacture. The Drill Sargents were always yelling about it costing $800. Over the years, I qualified shooting left handed and right handed just for fun. The snap-on plastic brass deflector always worked better than the A2 nub and the triangular hand guards sat on the sand bags better...and just looked cooler. I always preferred the A1 even after I was "upgraded".

 

[Hop]

Here's another site I use to track machine gun values: NFA Firearms Ads