Are they legal to own?? Where could they be bought?? Anybody know about the laws?

 

Some states allow private ownership of full auto firearms and some don't. Federal laws also enter into the equation. Do very careful research prior to purchasing. A local gun range would be a good place to start gathering information. You could also contact the National Rifle Association for the latest laws and restrictions.

 

Special license needed I believe

 

Firearms that fall under the NFA definition are illegal to own unless you have the proper license. Being that you're asking this question tells me that you don't have that license. This is how hard they are to get: I'm in my 19th year as a State Trooper and the ATF won't grant me a license for one. Things have been VERY strict since 9/11.

Sorry.......CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

 

Not to mention the fact that getting into the whole NFA class III weapons game is very expensive. Not only the fact that you're going to be jumping through tons of legal hoops and signing away some of your constitutional rights such as the 4 th one there are a very limited supply of legal machine guns in circulation hence they are quite valuable and cost a lot of money. Of course they are unbelievably fun to shoot and they will eat ammo at an incredible rate so they cost more to own obviously. Hey, you're gonna be tearing through ammo like nobody's business or you wouldn't be wanting one.

It would probably be more cost effective to either go to a range that rents them to try one or learn to “bump fire” which can give you a pretty good full auto fix and eat up a mag of ammo in a couple of seconds.

By the way one of the real tragedies of the NFA is that short barreled rifles and shotguns and sound suppressors are listed in it. Sound suppressor in particular are something that are desperately needed back in the general shooting community both for medical reasons to protect hearing and to stop noise issues. There is no reason why they should be restricted like they are. None. The same with short rifles and shotguns but sound suppressors need to come out of the NFA regs immediately.

 

Not to mention the background checks they're gonna do. And not just on you. Family members too. You don't work for the post office do you? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img]

Your local armed forces recruiter will be glad to enroll you in their leasing program. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Some info on NFA Class 3 weapons:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu...st/nfa_faq.txt

State by State Chart of NFA restrictions:

http://www.mp5.net/info/sbsconr.htm

It's not an inexpensive hobby. Values have exploded over the last five years to where entry level is about $3k for a cheap thrill MAC10 most people can't hit a full-sized car with at 50' on full-auto. A decent MP5 will run a minimum of $15k. Scarce models of everything get very, very pricey. At a minimum cyclic rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute, ammo gets real expensive.

If you decide to go through the long legal hassle and expense of owning an NFA weapon, be very cautious on what you buy. There are a lot of shot-out rental pieces out there.

I suggest going to a rental place and actually firing a few full-auto weapons before you make a decision to own.

 

If I had to pick a weapon for some nimrod to shoot at me with I would hand him a full auto mac 10, cobray or a full auto tec-9. Hopefully he's seen enough rap videos and inner city gangster movies so he holds it sideways and “pumps” it at me while he's shooting too. You simply can't get better odds than that.

 

Lots of hoops to jump through if it is legal in your state to own. And not all ranges will allow them so having a place to shoot is important.

The ones I have bought took about 8 months for the paperwork and I was in LE. Don't forget the $200 tax stamp that goes with each purchase and maybe a 2nd $200 stamp if it comes from out of state. Sometimes that can be negotiated in the deal as to who pays for it but it has to be paid. Except between Class 3 dealers that is.

The guys are right on the Cobray/Mac guns. Hard to hit with accurately because of the open bolt slamming back and forth. Accessories can be installed to soften the bounce and improve accuracy, but they are still just a bullet hose. If you could shoot it full auto and keep within about a 4 " group at 10 yards, you would probably be doing good.

Checked my M11/9mm on my Pact IV timer and it cycles at 1248 rounds per minute. With a 30 round mag, that gets you about 1.5 seconds of shooting. Not like the movies at all.

Unfortunately, Class 3 gun prices have gone through the roof. Wasn't that long ago you could get an M16 for $4500 and now over $10K. My friend bought an MP5 in the mid 80s for $2100, sold it 4 years ago for $8500, and now they are over $14K. There are even M60s, SAWs, and other exotics available but they are $80K and up.

I agree that suppressors should be easier to own, just for the noise alone. Here in MO, suppressors are LE/Govt agency only and no individual can own one, even if in LE. At least the full auto is still legal.

I seldom shoot mine because it takes so long to reload mags for such a short time of shooting. I also don't care to make my neighbors nervous if I shoot full auto in my backyard, even though I live in the country. I still shoot other guns quite a bit in back but leave the FA stuff for when I go to an actual range.

I figure the M11 I have is an investment as I bought it new in '97 for $375 plus tax stamp when a dealer sold several at his cost to finance a larger purchase. Wish I had bought about 50 of them back then. I will keep it until they are no longer allowed for private citizens or the value gets too high to ignore and I cash in.

 

Which I learned a few months ago and found absolutely baffling no pun intended. Why there would be such a weird part of Missouri law which conflicts with federally licensed class 3 holders is really bizarre. Something the legislature should try to fix. Wonder how that ever happened? Probably got jammed through with all those ill conceived bogus laws that banned things like “switchblade knives” or “brass knuckles” "poison gas guns" (such a thing never existed by the way) or other dastardly sounding things. Speaking of which. Automatic opening knives are another wondrously useful item that are banned for no good reason. Grandpa had one he carried around the farm for years and years. Came in especially handy when he got arthritis. I know two older ladies who carry them right now for that very reason their fingers don't work anymore. Yup they're grannies and great grannies and they're dangerous thugs you know.