Adventures in transferring a rifle

[esheato]

Good news: my Cooper rifle is completed early, should be shipping very soon to the store I ordered it from in SD. All I want to do is get a copy of an FFL so that I can get the gun shipped from SD to CA and start the paperwork on it.

Bad news at Store #1: my local dealer (where I'm good friends with him and spent lots of money) refuses to give me a copy of his FFL to send to the store in SD...citing that it's illegal to make me a copy. His response, "What if someone gets ahold of it and makes a copy of it?" Alright, we can play this game...I go to a different store.....

Bad news at Store #2: Oh sure we can give you a copy of the FFL and we can take care of the transfer. No problemo, that'll be $25 for DROS, $50 "handling fee" and 10% of the cost of the gun. On a $2,000 rifle, that's $200 bucks! So, for a simple transfer, where all he is doing is receiving the gun and running my DROS, it's going to cost me $275. Now I'm getting mad. On to Store #3....

Decent news at Store #3: "My transfer fee is usually $100, but for you......hmmm....how does $30 sound?" I couldn't take it anymore....yeah, fine, just do it....The bad news? One hour drive back and forth....so as long as I don't burn up $275 in gas to get the gun, I'll be .

Yeah right.....

Ed

 

[Henry Bowman]

Why couldn't dealer #1 just send the signed copy of his FFL directly to the store in SD?

 

[esheato]

I don't trust him to mail it....Everything he orders sits at UPS for weeks until he can scrounge up enough money to cover it. (even items that were pre-paid)

Ed

 

[spacemanspiff]

refuses to give me a copy of his FFL to send to the store in SD...citing that it's illegal to make me a copy

keeeripes....before i was coerced into patronizing a honest to goodness gunshop i always had a signed copy of the ffl from the pawn shop i got all my guns sent to, in case i found something i 'had to have' and didnt want to bother going back to get another copy.

as long as its signed in blue ink no one really cares.

 

[esheato]

as long as its signed in blue ink no one really cares.

My thoughts exactly Spiff...

Ed

 

[Valkman]

You should let dealer #1 send it in for you - I don't really blame them for not wanting to give out copies. I'm looking at having to do this to buy receivers and figured the dealer could send it, and I'll just call the maker and see if they have it.

 

[Jim K]

Whether to give out signed FFL copies is a decision by the dealer; it is not illegal. I routinely go to out-of-state shows with copies of a friendly dealers FFL because it saves time in getting the gun shipped.

There is also no requirement that a dealer handle any transfers, and some do not, although many of those will order anything you want and add a markup. Actually, I don't mind that; at least I know where I stand and one dealer who does that is very reliable and charges a reasonable price.

It is also up to the dealer if/whether he charges a handling fee and how much. I urge dealers to use a flat fee simply because both ends of the scale are unfair otherwise. Ten percent on a $50 gun really is not enough to pay for the service, where the same percentage on a $2000 gun is much too high.

Jim

 

[Sleeping Dog]

Store #3 sounds like a decent deal. An hour drive time? Doesn't sound too bad. A lot of folks drive further than that just to get to work. Or to get to the store at Camp Perry, OH.

 

[SapperLeader]

I would definitly drive to store 3. A hour drive with a decent transfer fee(at least for california ) Its probally the fastest and cheapest way to get your rifle. We will want pictures and range pics ASAP though.