[mriddick]

The curious part is what if your next time dealing with ATF, such as in an audit, you get one of the other 3 people??? Will they make up their own rules or interpret the law differently?

You are correct without a letter in writing it's just one out of 4 agents opinion that means little at audit time. I never felt the small increase in price for an antique was worth the possible payout to fight the BATF at a later date.

 

[mriddick]

Buit I like a good fight with a bureaucrat if its one they can't possibly win. Try it, it's fun!

You have to realize they must go with their own regulations. The antique status and the firearm is the receiver rules were set down by the ATF in their own regulations and they MUST abide by them. This isn't one of those gray areas or one they've avoided addressing and defining for fear it'll break down their cozy bureaucratic empire like the Milsurp military firearm "original condition" rule. The 1898 date is set by Congress and they ignore it at peril of a career destroying loss in court, not that it'd ever get that far.

With a shop it doesn't quite work that way, add up just the costs of what you're saying and see if it equals out (or comes in lower) then the mark up a shop might get from selling it as an antique. Right now what are we talking maybe $50-100 dollars markup? A dink at audit time you might have to fight will cost many times that. IMO if this guy puts his mind to it I bet he can figure out a way to remove this off his books without relying on the word of an unnamed agent that wouldn't stand up to an audit....