Is a 4473 Search Possible?

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Grayrock

Grayrock

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Is there any way to find out if a 4473 was filled out on a rifle purchase made about 45 years ago? Family inheritance dispute would be clarified if we could determine the original purchaser through legal documentation rather than just hearsay passed down through generations.
 
Your first stop to finding a 4473, regardless of age, is to go to the gun shop where it was filled out. Being 45 years ago, I would say the chances are pretty slim they are still in business to pull it out of their files.
 
Grayrock said:
Is there any way to find out if a 4473 was filled out on a rifle purchase made about 45 years ago? Family inheritance dispute would be clarified if we could determine the original purchaser through legal documentation rather than just hearsay passed down through generations.
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Sure:
-if that gun shop is still in business and likes to store thousands and thousands of 4473's.
-if the form is available, Federal law allows a dealer to destroy 4473's after twenty years.
-if the gun shop changed ownership at any point its likely a new FFL was issued, meaning the 4473's that were under 20 were sent to ATF with bound books.
 
4473s have been around 51 years thereabouts.

Started after the GCA of 1968.

Yeah. What was said just above there.
 
If you know the shop where it was bought then just ask them. Otherwise start with the manufacturer. Find out who they shipped it to, if they will tell you. Contact that shop and see if they will pull the form, assuming they still exist and haven’t destroyed it.
 
If you can locate the shop that sold the weapon - and they're still in business (a really big "if"), they might have kept their old sales records... That's an alternate source of the same information. Was there any custom work done on the firearm? If so (another of those "ifs" ...) then whoever did that work is another possible source of records...

And of course - y'all could always draw straws with the winner taking the prize.... Families are fun - families disputing inheritances... probably not much fun...
 
For a 4473 that old you would have to know WHEN it was purchased for some old gun shop (if in business) would be able to even begin where to look

They would then need to search through a bound book to even get close to what box the 4473 is stuffed in..

Slim to NONE.
 
Rule3 said:
For a 4473 that old you would have to know WHEN it was purchased for some old gun shop (if in business) would be able to even begin where to look

They would then need to search through a bound book to even get close to what box the 4473 is stuffed in..

Slim to NONE.
Click to expand...

The bound book would show whom it was sold to.
 
armabill said:
So I assume that you don't have a sales receipt.
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When I worked for a certain large retailer that might not exist much longer, I once had a lady bring in an old exercise bike with her receipt from twelve years previous and want her money back. No, it was not a safety issue but merely she was moving and her new house was too small for the bike.
 
boom boom said:
When I worked for a certain large retailer that might not exist much longer, I once had a lady bring in an old exercise bike with her receipt from twelve years previous and want her money back.
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Receipts are one thing, I'm pretty anal about keeping files. What I find amazing is the number of people who keep the boxes things come in. I've had ten year old stereos brought in that were back in the original boxes.
We had a bb pistol sold to us with the original box and to show how old that gun is the makers address was "Brooklyn, 1, NY". Pre zip code. Now a pistol box I can understand, but I've had some several year old rifles, definitely not collector pieces, come in with those original boxes. I wonder if they're storing them that way.
 
Original boxes massively increase resale value even on cheap or broken items (yeah, you can sell a broken camera, stereo, etc for good money). If moving, boxes help a lot. You can return broken items with the original box more easily than not, and returns can go up to a year or more depending on the type of item. I keep boxes for most things. Every few years I go in the attic and purge the oldest ones.
 
FlSwampRat said:
Receipts are one thing, I'm pretty anal about keeping files. What I find amazing is the number of people who keep the boxes things come in. I've had ten year old stereos brought in that were back in the original boxes.
We had a bb pistol sold to us with the original box and to show how old that gun is the makers address was "Brooklyn, 1, NY". Pre zip code. Now a pistol box I can understand, but I've had some several year old rifles, definitely not collector pieces, come in with those original boxes. I wonder if they're storing them that way.
Click to expand...
I have folks who collect S&Ws pay hundreds of dollars just for an older empty box in decent condition - no gun - just the cardboard box.
 
Plus, even if the shop is still there and has the file, they don't have to show it to you, unless you are an LEO in an active investigation.
 
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