ATF Response to Legality of Full Length Mag Tube on Benelli M4

[MeanGreen]

I recently received back a letter from the ATF's Chief of Firearms Technology in West Virginia regarding the legality under 922 r of putting a full length magazine tube on a Benelli M4, the same Benelli M4 that has the pistol grip stock. I was completely confused by all the stuff posted on the internet by everyone who has their own opinion and everyone will give you a different answer. But this shouldn't come as a surprise when you try and call your local ATF branch to talk to a Special Agent to get an answer and find out that most agents don't know what 922r is or how it applies.

Thankfuly I spoke to an humble agent that told me she didn't know what 922 r was and refered me to the Firearms Technology Branch in West Virginia. Upon talking with someone, who I think may have been the chief that ended up responding to my letter, his warning was that since there are many zealous new agents out there that don't know how 922 r applies, that the best thing to do was to write in and get a response in writting. And then hold onto this letter like it was made of gold. I have to stress the reason for the letter is for my own protection against law enforcement agents that do not correctly interpret the law. I know that most people think it maybe stirring up some interest by the ATF into people that want to change their M4's, but when talking with the person in the Technology branch his response was more like "I do these letters for lots of M4 owners to protect them from zealous agents."

This letter clearly states that there are 13 imported parts (contradicting another letter I've seen online that stated 11) and that it is legal to add a full length mag tube or extension greater than 4 rounds provided that you add three US made parts to get to the magic "No more than 10 imported parts"

I can't figure out how to attach the files. Everytime I click on 'Manage Attachments', it tells me "you have uploaded the maximum amount of 1 files". I have already scanned them in as PDFs so that I can share them. So if someone can give me any tips I'll attach them.

EDITED AFTER POST #17 SINCE I NOW HAVE THE LETTERS POSTED:

Please read my original request to understand the context of his responses

Original Request to ATF: http://i25.tinypic.com/2u7xdzn.jpg

ATF Response pg 1 http://i30.tinypic.com/sxhn2r.jpg
ATF Response pg 2 http://i26.tinypic.com/etwkkn.jpg

Here is a list of the parts that the Chief listed in the letter for quick reference.
1) Receiver
2) Barrel
3) Bolt
4) Bolt Carrier
5) Gas Piston
6) Trigger Housing
7) Trigger
8) Hammer
9) Disconnector
10) Buttstocks
11) Forearm
12) Magazine body
13) Followers

[ShadowShooter]

"I do these letters for lots of M4 owners to protect them from zealous agents."

WTF, that ******* agent should just post that info on the ATF's website....

[Sukhoi_fan]

Thanks for sharing.

I once had a G series FAL stored at a local gunshop. For those who don't know, the G series FALs were originally manufactured as machine guns, and then were subsequently imported and 're-manufactured' by Browning into semi-auto rifles. The receivers remained machine gun receivers. Only three items on the rifles were affected, i.e. the trigger plunger was replaced with a semi-auto trigger plunger, the selector was replaced with a semi-auto selector (which was merely a full auto selector with a tab to block FA and that tab could be ground off on a concrete surface in less than five minutes lol), and the safety sear was removed. From the perspective of the BATF, once a machine gun, always a machine gun. There were 1,836 G-series and GL-series FALs imported from '59-'63 before the BATF caught on. Since these rifles were scattered across the countryside far and wide by the time they caught on, they issued an amnesty for the 1,836 rifles which included the serial #s for all the affected guns (and the guns listed by serial # remained 'legal' so long as there was no evidence of conversion to FA). So when a zealous BATF agent showed up to check the books at the gun shop where I had my G series in storage she freaked out. She was wanting to seize the rifle and take it out of town with her. I had to take a copy of the amnesty letter down to the shop (they had misplaced the one I left with the rifle).

So it really is a good idea to document what the real deal is.

I'd like to have that pdf file. Please email it to me at sukhoi_fan (a t) yahoo (d o t) com

TIA

[shadow77phl]

mean green sir, if possible, please email me the same at shadow77phl@gmail.com. thank you.

[StrangerDanger]

Could you list the imported parts?

[Duggan]

use http://www.tinypic.com/ to temporarily host the PDFs, then link us to them.

I will put on my image server and relink for everyone.

[axhoaxho]

Thank you, MeanGreen, Sir, you just cured my headache.

I am a M4 owner and a long time viewer of this forum, and this thread just encouraged me to post a thank you for your valuable information.

Please, Sir, be kind enough to email me a copy of the PDF file as well (axhoaxho@ yahoo.com) Thanks again.

With best regards,

[pamat]

Would you please email a copy as well?
jimk21123@yahoo.com

Can you provide the address you sent your request to??

13 is great.

Thanks very much.

[LeoAtrox]

I'm curious as to what the 13 parts he listed are. Would a "muzzle attachment" be one of them? In other words, is the choke classified as a "muzzle attachment," and would using a US-made choke lower the number?

[M. OBryant]

And how about a copy to : mnotx@grandecom.net

Thanks!