I have a friend who has a nephew who was willed a couple of firearms. These guns are out of state and will need to be shipped and received by FFL. One of these firearms has no serial number. I have no other details except that it was apparently a custom-built rifle made in the 1960s or early 1970s, so I don't know if it qualifies as C&R.

What are the rules for FFLs receiving and shipping non-serialized, non-antique guns?

Para, I have no information as to the details re: FFL.

However, if it was a custom firearm, couldn’t it be quickly serialized with a #1 on the receiver, sidestepping the issue?

Depends on definition of early 70s. Anything 50+ years old is C&R.

But unless it’s an antique ( pre 1898) I’d defer to FFL to FFL legality

Licensees can receive and transfer firearms manufactured prior to 1968 that do not have a serial number. Prior to 1968, there was no legal mandate to serialize all firearms.

Modern Personally Manufactured Firearms (e.g., a Polymer 80 Glock 19 clone) have different rules.

From the FFL perspective, a pre-GCA gun that does not have a serial number is just logged in as having no serial number and goes out on a 4473 as no serial number.

Yes, it's silly since there is really no way to trace it if there's no serial number. But it's all kind of silly, isn't it?

I work at a LGS….we get non-serialized weapons from estates from time to time….no big deal, they just get documented as having no serial number (NSN) along with all the other descriptive of the particular gun (pistol/rifle/shotgun, barrel length, action, etc.)

What has been said above. They are going to want to make sure both the shipping and receiving are comfortable with doing this (some are not).

I realize I’m not answering the question asked, but I just want to make sure that y’all are aware that transfer by will or intestate is an exception to the rule prohibiting transfers between individuals who reside in different states. If they are too far away and need to be shipped, obviously that’s an issue. But the recipient could just personally pick them up. Also, I haven’t researched it as a separate issue, but I would think that anyone who can legally possess a firearm could personally deliver them.

In this instance, that's not possible. The distance is too great.

Thanks for all the responses.

one thing to consider is if the receiving firearm will accept from an individual


if the family member ships to a FFL that will accept from an individual , just make sure the contact info for the person is in the box, toss in a copy of the receiving FFL to be safe, and that the person shipping includes a copy of thier ID for the receiving dealer,