Gun Law’s and Taxes Pertaining to Rifle Barrels

We are asked if barrels can be sent directly to individuals or if they must be sent to a Federal Firearms Licensee. Rifle barrels can be purchased by individuals and sent directly to the buyer. There are no federal laws that prevent this. Rifle barrels are no different than other gun components such as scopes or stocks. The only restricted part of a firearm is the receiver. Further, if you already own a receiver you can send it directly to a gunsmith in any state to have it rebarreled. And the gunsmith can return it directly to you without going through an FFL. The BATF considers this as a ‘repair’. Firearms cannot be sent individual-to-individual.  One of the parties must hold an FFL, which is also a requirement to be gunsmith engaged in the business.  UPS policy of shipping Firearms. It should be noted that pistols and handguns cannot be sent through the U.S. mail. Rifle barrels can be exported to many countries. To do so the seller must be registered with the U.S. State Department Department Office of Munitions Control. Each shipment is allowed through an approved license. Each license application is evaluated by the State Department and is issued depending on the destination country and the intended use. We are registered with the State Department. For more information on exporting – Click Here Rifle scopes can be exported and the authorization for scopes is through the U.S. Commerce Department. We do export scopes. There is no federal excise tax on rifle barrels. If a gunsmith or manufacturer builds fewer than 50 firearms in a year then the manufacturer is not liable for the 11% federal excise tax. This threshold exemption took effect on August 10th 2005. Prior to this date individuals were exempt from the tax because the BATF looked on them as ‘incidental manufacturers’. The law was not applied uniformly to gunsmiths prior to this and has caused confusion and grief for some until the 2005 change. Montana has no state sales tax and we do not charge any tax on our product regardless of the destination.