Full auto conversion.
 

Does anyone know how to convert a firearm to full auto legally? I've heard bits and pieces here and there but never fully understood it. Could someone shed some light on this subject? Thanks.

Only with (expensive) components registered before 1986 and if state allows.

Even if you do manage to purchase a transferable auto sear (good luck!), you've barely scratched the surface. Just about all of the military-style rifles sold in the U.S. are designed specifically so that they cannot be converted back to auto very easily. If you compare the receivers of an AR-15 and an M16, for example, you'll find that the AR-15's lower receiver is filled in the space below the buffer tube, which would prevent the installation of an M16's full-auto selector. In the upper receiver, the bolt carrier channel is narrower than that of an M16, and the bolt carriers themselves are a bit different in design (the AR-15's bolt carrier lacks a certain tab that is responsible for engaging the auto sear in an M16). You'd need to do some serious work on both the upper and lower before you could even begin to think about installing the auto sear.

Quite a few of the transferable machine guns within the chain of commerce, particularly those of non-U.S. manufacture, are actually conversions of semi-automatic weapons. For instance, all of the transferable MP5s on the market are converted from HK94s or other semi-auto MP5 clones. However, most of these were done by Class III manufacturers/dealers who specialized in such conversions - La France, F.J. Vollmer, etc. I'm sure are plenty of people who can and have done their own conversion work after getting squared away with BATF (my Dad, who is a way better gunsmith than I am, is currently trying to learn how to convert my Chinese Poly Tech AK to auto). But most people just send their semi-auto rifle and the registered auto sear to one of these specialists, and pay them a ridiculous amount to do the conversion work for them.

My dad can do stuff like that. He once converted a state troopers AR-15 A2 and MAC-10/9 to full auto back when cops took advantage of that luxiory, since most cops had to fight the pissed of Native Americans in the 80s, as my dad claims. Unfortunately the guy came back and had them turned into semi autos again, and I only got to shoot them after the switch back.

I got to shoot a VERY fun Ruger 10/22 once, with one of those open bolt conversions. Spit out a LOT of ammo quickly. I'm going to delete this soon because god knows who could read this and interpret bad things. :mad:

Sort of like there is a reason as to why I want a G-3KA4 with M-203 mounted on it.

Yes I have handled an M-203 and a G-3( just not a KA4 varient but a relatives unit issues them.)

How is that possible? The ATF doesn't allow full auto guns to be turned back into legal civilian semi autos. They have that stupid mantra :"Once a machine gun... always a machine gun". And they have never backed off of this policy. Also one has to get the federal tax stamp when converting a gun to full auto, even for a police department. If it's before 1986, that was a helluva lot easier than it is today ....

Did you know that ATF changed their rules AGAIN and only allow ONE (!!) post 86 sample of each gun per license? So unless its a pre 1986 transferable, you can only get ONE m16, ONE mp5, ONE G3 .... You can't even get a spare .... Now the only way to get more than one is to (a) already have the multiple guns grandfathered in or (b) get a Manufacturing license and make them under the auspices of a post 86 sample maker. :mad:

It's kind of a loaded question on this. ATF does stat that once a machine gun always a machine gun. But if it's a registered part like a AR drop in sear or a M2 Kit than those are the machine gun and not the weapon they are put into. It's the way they registered the item as the machine gun.

Also semi to full to semi can be done on some systems without permanent mods making it possible to go back and forth. Defiantly not legal as per NFA but people do it all the time.

How legal the full auto conversion was to begin with was questionable.

I don't think this needs to be deleted, but you guys are the admins. Thanks for your input. I ask because it's sort of a dream of mine to get a fully automatic M16A1, or a half decent AK clone (Russian ones are virtually nonexistant, and I'll buy a baseball bat before a Chinese variant). I know how much a full auto M16 costs roughly, and I was just trying to figure out if it was cheaper to get an AR-15 and convert it rather than buying a full auto rifle from the start. Feel free to continue discussing, but my question is pretty much answered.

Actually, the pre-1989 Chinese Norinco and Poly Tech AKs were way superior to just about any other semi-auto AK available in the U.S., especially the crap that's available today. The MAK-90s were of lesser quality (mostly because they were partially assembled in the U.S.), but even they were still better than most of the Romanian SARs and other such shit clones.

Trust me (as somebody who actually owns a Poly Tech AK) - Chinese pre-ban AKs were some of the very best you could buy in the States. The Chinese stereotype about "cheap, mass-produced, low-quality" doesn't apply to their AKs.

It would be cheaper if you did the conversion work yourself. But if you can pay for the sear (which costs $10,000 and up), then you're already going to be taking out a second mortgage anyway, so why not just buy the whole deal? :D