What is an Unfinished Frame or Receiver?
The frame or receiver of a firearm is the part that contains the fire control group (FCG), which consists of (among other things) the trigger and the hammer.
On a handgun, the frame contains the FCG, and on a rifle of shotgun, it is the receiver that contains the FCG.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) regards the frame or receiver as the critical part of a firearm. Thus, it is the frame or the receiver that is required to be serialized, cannot be purchased from a dealer with a Federal Firearms License (FFL) without passing a background check, and cannot be shipped through the mail.
Parts of a firearm that are NOT a frame or receiver do not require serialization, can be bought and sold freely, and can be shipped via regular mail.
Frames and receivers are often made from either polymers or aluminum. A block of material is, therefore, capable of becoming a frame or receiver, but, being just a block of plastic or metal, is not considered to be a firearm by the BATFE.
At what point, then, does a block of plastic or metal go from being just a block of plastic or metal, to being a firearm subject to a myriad of federal and state laws? While the government has not adopted a threshold, manufacturers have submitted partially-completed frames and receivers to the BATFE for a ruling on whether or not they constitute a "firearm", and have found that 80% seems to be the cut-off.
These rulings by the BATFE have given rise to a niche market for what is known as "80%" receivers or frames (officially referred to as "unfinished" frames or receivers, or frame or receiver "blanks".
These 80% parts can be completed by individuals (so long as they are not prohibited by law from possessing a firearm), and do not require that they be serialized upon completion (generally speaking; those who live in "those" states - you know who you are - are subject to additional regulation). Furthermore, no background check need be conducted for the sale of an 80%, and they can be shipped through the mail service lawfully.
The process of completing the final "20%" of the firearm is not terribly difficult, but does require patience, confidence, attention to detail, in additional to various tools and equipment.
YouTube has no shortage of instructional videos on how-to complete an 80% frame or receiver.
Your local hardware store most likely carries all the tools necessary to undertake the process.
The benefits to making your own firearms from 80% frames or receivers are numerous.
The obvious is that if there were ever to be registration as a pretext for confiscation, there would be no record of your firearm. When a firearm is manufactured and serialized, a record is kept of that firearm up to and including the moment it is transferred from an FFL to a private citizen. The FFL records the sale on a BAFTE Form 4473. If the government managed to pass a law requiring that FFLs scan and send all copies of their 4473s to the BATFE, it would not take long for the government to have a de facto registry of firearms, but only those that have been serialized. While it might seem paranoid or conspiratorial, the fact is that laws that have sought to - at least - move us in that direction have, on more than one occasion, only come down to a handful of votes. It is not remotely unlikely that a future Congress, emboldened by a sympathetic executive, and unencumbered by the harsh light of an adversarial press or respect for the Constitution, passes legislation to do just that.
The not-so-obvious benefit is that by completing the manufacturing process yourself, and building your own firearm from (near) scratch, you gain knowledge and appreciation for how your firearm works. That knowledge and appreciation cannot do anything but make you a safer, more responsible firearm owner.
Lastly, customization has become incredibly popular over the years among gun owners. Buying a stock firearm, and then upgrading the individual parts, paycheck-by-paycheck, can be both expensive and time-consuming. Building your own from scratch allows the gun owner wishing to fully customize his or her firearm to avoid the costs and hassles of buying stock and then swapping out pieces one-at-a-time, and build a fully unique firearm from the get go.
I'm certain that there are other benefits that I've overlooked. Please share your ideas in the comments below.
On a handgun, the frame contains the FCG, and on a rifle of shotgun, it is the receiver that contains the FCG.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) regards the frame or receiver as the critical part of a firearm. Thus, it is the frame or the receiver that is required to be serialized, cannot be purchased from a dealer with a Federal Firearms License (FFL) without passing a background check, and cannot be shipped through the mail.
Parts of a firearm that are NOT a frame or receiver do not require serialization, can be bought and sold freely, and can be shipped via regular mail.
Frames and receivers are often made from either polymers or aluminum. A block of material is, therefore, capable of becoming a frame or receiver, but, being just a block of plastic or metal, is not considered to be a firearm by the BATFE.
At what point, then, does a block of plastic or metal go from being just a block of plastic or metal, to being a firearm subject to a myriad of federal and state laws? While the government has not adopted a threshold, manufacturers have submitted partially-completed frames and receivers to the BATFE for a ruling on whether or not they constitute a "firearm", and have found that 80% seems to be the cut-off.
These rulings by the BATFE have given rise to a niche market for what is known as "80%" receivers or frames (officially referred to as "unfinished" frames or receivers, or frame or receiver "blanks".
These 80% parts can be completed by individuals (so long as they are not prohibited by law from possessing a firearm), and do not require that they be serialized upon completion (generally speaking; those who live in "those" states - you know who you are - are subject to additional regulation). Furthermore, no background check need be conducted for the sale of an 80%, and they can be shipped through the mail service lawfully.
The process of completing the final "20%" of the firearm is not terribly difficult, but does require patience, confidence, attention to detail, in additional to various tools and equipment.
YouTube has no shortage of instructional videos on how-to complete an 80% frame or receiver.
Your local hardware store most likely carries all the tools necessary to undertake the process.
The benefits to making your own firearms from 80% frames or receivers are numerous.
The obvious is that if there were ever to be registration as a pretext for confiscation, there would be no record of your firearm. When a firearm is manufactured and serialized, a record is kept of that firearm up to and including the moment it is transferred from an FFL to a private citizen. The FFL records the sale on a BAFTE Form 4473. If the government managed to pass a law requiring that FFLs scan and send all copies of their 4473s to the BATFE, it would not take long for the government to have a de facto registry of firearms, but only those that have been serialized. While it might seem paranoid or conspiratorial, the fact is that laws that have sought to - at least - move us in that direction have, on more than one occasion, only come down to a handful of votes. It is not remotely unlikely that a future Congress, emboldened by a sympathetic executive, and unencumbered by the harsh light of an adversarial press or respect for the Constitution, passes legislation to do just that.
The not-so-obvious benefit is that by completing the manufacturing process yourself, and building your own firearm from (near) scratch, you gain knowledge and appreciation for how your firearm works. That knowledge and appreciation cannot do anything but make you a safer, more responsible firearm owner.
Lastly, customization has become incredibly popular over the years among gun owners. Buying a stock firearm, and then upgrading the individual parts, paycheck-by-paycheck, can be both expensive and time-consuming. Building your own from scratch allows the gun owner wishing to fully customize his or her firearm to avoid the costs and hassles of buying stock and then swapping out pieces one-at-a-time, and build a fully unique firearm from the get go.
I'm certain that there are other benefits that I've overlooked. Please share your ideas in the comments below.
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