Harrington & Richardson Model 4 survival rifle

[Tom William]

While on vacation I stopped by to see a friend and he showed me a rifle he had gotten from his late grandfather. I know that you will tell me that it is not legal to own in its present configuration. The rifle is in mint condition and I doubt that it has ever been fired. The serial number on both the action and the barrel match-45,XXX. When was it made, what would it be worth if it could legally sold, and how would a person go about getting it registered so that it could be legally owned. It is a cool little piece of history. Thanks for the help.

[jmoore]

All I can advise you at this point is that since you have posted knowledge of a unregistered NFA weapon, it must be turned in to ATF. Anything else is a violation of all sorts of laws.

[Tom William]

I will pass that on.

[emmagee1917]

Plan 1 -Sell barrel assmly to someone. He now has a reciever with no barrel and it's now no longer a SBR . Register the reciever as a SBR on a Form 1 ( making form ) . When the paperwork comes back , buy a barrel assmly ( be sure to get a dated bill of sale on it ) and attach it ( you just made a SBR ) .
Plan two - attach an extension to the bbls to make them legal length . It needs to be pinned on with a blind holed pin and welded . Again , no longer a SBR , so legal.
Chris

[Tom William]

I will pass this on to him the next time I am out his way. If it was mine, I would go with plan 2. Thanks

[jmoore]

Well, it's all fine except for the current contraband status. If you can sort paperwork, then that's fine. Excellent, in fact. But there's the small matter of what happens beforehand...

[emmagee1917]

If it is indeed with a friend and not in Tom's posession , Tom's OK . They can't track Tom's friend through these posts. Tom has no legal requirement to tell them anything about his friend , even if asked. I do not feel this gun is likely to be used in a crime . Once the gun has been made legal , it's legal. If it was me , I'd go with plan A to preserve history . If Tom's friend lives where SBRs are not allowed , then Plan B would be used.

But , yes , Jmoore is correct too. If you live in a bad area ( gun law wise ) and not on first name terms with many of the local LE people as I am , well , error on the side of caution. I sometimes forget how good I've got it here.
Chris

[jmoore]

I'm cautious only because the outcomes can be vastly different depending on the attitude of the individual enforcement officers that may or may not feel like pursuing the proscecution of a vicitmless crime.

[Tom William]

It does belong to a friend-I tried to buy it but no luck. I am sure that it will go in a closet and never see the light of day until his kids end up with it