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Friend inherited an 870 door breacher

daveyburt

daveyburt

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Looking for some guidance.
A friends dad passed and left him a tax stamped 870 door breacher. It's value is to be split among siblings.

He's LTC licensed, but that's all. He wants a legal way to sell. He said he's got all the paperwork. I read in another thread that he'll want to keep the death cert. along with the files?

-Just go to a dealer/smith with it?

Thx!
 
whatluck said:
Never used these guys, but they seem to have a SOT

tombstonetrading.com

Tombstone Trading Company, Inc.

Tombstone Trading Company is one of the premier gun shop in Central and Western Massachusetts with a large selection of new and used firearms.
tombstonetrading.com tombstonetrading.com
Click to expand...
Wasn't there an issue with Tombstone a while ago with a gun transfer and a big hassle they gave a guy? I know it's posted here somewhere
 
sstom said:
Wasn't there an issue with Tombstone a while ago with a gun transfer and a big hassle they gave a guy? I know it's posted here somewhere
Click to expand...

Paraphrasing… legal troubles… they accepted the firearms to transfer back to legal owner, then refused because of the muzzle brake on it. They said it was a flash hider, but it wasn’t…

Yeah, that kinda made an impression on me…

Edit: (link to original thread)

Thread 'Another Unfortunate Gun Bonded Warehouse (Tombstone Trading Post)'
Another Unfortunate Gun Bonded Warehouse (Tombstone Trading Post)
 
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There is a lot of bad advice in this thread. First off you just can’t go to an SOT, they would have to follow the same Form 4 process as anybody else. It wouldn’t require a background check to the SOT but it’s still a Form 4. I don’t know Mass law but I think you can’t have an SBS anymore in Massachusetts, somebody would need to confirm this. This means after you pay $200 to the SOT the new buyer would have to pay $200 again to own an 870. This reduces the value significantly.

Here’s what you should do, ignore the bad advice. Add a barrel that makes it legal in Mass and it’s no longer an NFA item. Sell it to anybody in Mass.

@daveyburt
 
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An 870 doesn’t have a high price tag to begin with and in my opinion really wouldn’t be worth the hassle of paying $200 tax to transfer to an SOT and another $200 to someone else.

Normally after a death it could be transferred tax free on a form 5 provided you have all the necessary paperwork. But if your friend is in MA that f***s things up.

In MA to get a SBS I believe it needs to come from the factory with the short barrel (which isn’t happening since ‘94?) or built on a receiver. More details are needed to see if the family could even take possession.
 
steve8140 said:
An 870 doesn’t have a high price tag to begin with and in my opinion really wouldn’t be worth the hassle of paying $200 tax to transfer to an SOT and another $200 to someone else.

Normally after a death it could be transferred tax free on a form 5 provided you have all the necessary paperwork. But if your friend is in MA that f***s things up.

In MA to get a SBS I believe it needs to come from the factory with the short barrel (which isn’t happening since ‘94?) or built on a receiver. More details are needed to see if the family could even take possession.
Click to expand...
All of this is why it’s probably more profitable to put a non NFA barrel on it or sell the receiver only.
 
Mtn_Guy said:
Paraphrasing… legal troubles… they accepted the firearms to transfer back to legal owner, then refused because of the muzzle brake on it. They said it was a flash hider, but it wasn’t…

Yeah, that kinda made an impression on me…
Click to expand...

thanks for pointing this out, I didn't know.
 
He had found what most of you are saying - he talked to some FFL somewhere. It isn't an expensive piece, and it'll take just as much in paperwork as it's worth.
I suggested he just put a legal barrel on it but, he was advised that wound't cut it due to the configuration at time of manufacture.

I told him, whatever he does, double and triple check so he doesn't end up in pound-me-in-the-ass federal prison.

Once he sends me his email address, I'll point him to this thread.

Thx!
 
It seems to me as it sits now it has zero value in Massachusetts as you can't transfer a SBS.

Transfering it out of state where a Shockwave is legal and available makes it worth nothing after tax stamps, and FFL fees/commissions.

Take it apart, leave the barrel with someone that does not own a 870 ( no constructive possession) sell the reciever or put a legal barrel on it to get the barrel over 18 inches and the overall length over 26

You can take a short barrel shotgun and make it into a legal shotgun that's perfectly fine in my opinion but someone who knows more than I can chime in and correct me if I'm wrong what you can't do is take a shotgun and convert it to a short barrel shotgun
 
appraiser said:
It seems to me as it sits now it has zero value in Massachusetts as you can't transfer a SBS.

Transfering it out of state where a Shockwave is legal and available makes it worth nothing after tax stamps, and FFL fees/commissions.

Take it apart, leave the barrel with someone that does not own a 870 ( no constructive possession) sell the reciever or put a legal barrel on it to get the barrel over 18 inches and the overall length over 26

You can take a short barrel shotgun and make it into a legal shotgun that's perfectly fine in my opinion but someone who knows more than I can chime in and correct me if I'm wrong what you can't do is take a shotgun and convert it to a short barrel shotgun
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This. If it’s not in the NFA configuration it’s not an NFA item. This can be proven on the ATF q&a.
 
Did the dad leave it to the “son”? Or did he leave it to the “siblings” to split the cost?

If it’s in the Will that it was left to the sibling, are any of them in a different state?

If someone is in a different state that can legally possess a SBS then they can do a tax free form 5 like I said earlier. Once they legally take possession they can then transfer it or reconfigure it with a longer barrel.

I don’t know what the legalities are of reconfiguring a gun with a different barrel if you don’t technically own the firearm yet. That’s something for the experts.

If all siblings are in MA then for the cost reasons of you can’t just change out the barrel and sell it then a local SOT might be interested. Let them pay for the stamp to transfer it to them and the family won’t really get anything other than less headache.
 
steve8140 said:
Did the dad leave it to the “son”? Or did he leave it to the “siblings” to split the cost?

If it’s in the Will that it was left to the sibling, are any of them in a different state?

If someone is in a different state that can legally possess a SBS then they can do a tax free form 5 like I said earlier. Once they legally take possession they can then transfer it or reconfigure it with a longer barrel.

I don’t know what the legalities are of reconfiguring a gun with a different barrel if you don’t technically own the firearm yet. That’s something for the experts.

If all siblings are in MA then for the cost reasons of you can’t just change out the barrel and sell it then a local SOT might be interested. Let them pay for the stamp to transfer it to them and the family won’t really get anything other than less headache.
Click to expand...
If it is willed I wonder if the ATF would disapprove a Form 5 transfer in Mass or if it would be approved.
 
JRT said:
If it is willed I wonder if the ATF would disapprove a Form 5 transfer in Mass or if it would be approved.
Click to expand...
It’s rumored that the ATF follows state laws. When Maura did the deed in 2016 they supposedly stopped approving SBR’s some people were saying. They eventually came around to approving again. I never saw any proof of denials but it’s been posted here by a few people.

Either way it’s not a federal law they would be breaking, it’s strictly a MA thing.
 

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