Suppressors Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

TenZero

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Oct 26, 2011
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Apologies if this has been covered before, I have a couple of cans in the ATF loop right now, and I was wondering whether the NFA market has been turned upside down in the same way the regular gun market has been. And if so, should we be expecting an even more drastic increase in wait times for F1, F3, and F4 Transfer paperwork at the ATF? Experiences and opinions from the SOT dealers on here would be most welcome. Thanks.
 
Re: Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: TenZero</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Apologies if this has been covered before, I have a couple of cans in the ATF loop right now, and I was wondering whether the NFA market has been turned upside down in the same way the regular gun market has been. And if so, should we be expecting an even more drastic increase in wait times for F1, F3, and F4 Transfer paperwork at the ATF? Experiences and opinions from the SOT dealers on here would be most welcome. Thanks. </div></div>

No it has not seen as much of the panic buying as nfa isn't directly being affected.

I do know that applications have gone up though but not a ton.
 
Re: Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

I bought 5 suppressors the end of October 2012. I know that was pre-election, but just to give a time frame for anyone who is wondering..... I received the suppressors on January 9, 2013.

So, it took about 9 weeks from the time I ordered them tip they were in hand.
 
Re: Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Jetspeed8</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I bought 5 suppressors the end of October 2012. I know that was pre-election, but just to give a time frame for anyone who is wondering..... I received the suppressors on January 9, 2013.

So, it took about 9 weeks from the time I ordered them tip they were in hand. </div></div>

How were they transferred or is that just to your SOT?

Form3's are around 9-10 weeks right now.

I have customers with Form4 transfers pending from July and August.
 
Re: Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Jetspeed8</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I bought 5 suppressors the end of October 2012. I know that was pre-election, but just to give a time frame for anyone who is wondering..... I received the suppressors on January 9, 2013.

So, it took about 9 weeks from the time I ordered them tip they were in hand. </div></div>
Did you use a trust? I sent mine in second week of December, check was cashed a week later so I'm at about 4 weeks now and wasnt expecting them til May. 9 weeks is much faster than I've seen reported anywhere else.
 
Re: Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

All the NFA uppers are gone, I know that much. I used to see LMT uppers everywhere, hard to find in stock anymore at the normal price.
 
Re: Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: nf9648</div><div class="ubbcode-body">All the NFA uppers are gone, I know that much. I used to see LMT uppers everywhere, hard to find in stock anymore at the normal price. </div></div>

They aren't just NFA uppers, they are pistol uppers as well. Tons and tons of lower receivers being made into pistols right now because of this freak out!
 
Re: Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

I think sbr sales will be higher than cans.Alot of people went to stores and were trying to get a ar ,and they were gone accept sbr's so they went that route.
 
Re: Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

My guess, NFA will be least affected. Small minority of big pie. And everything is already registered. They shouldn't bother us. But no one really knows , forever is a long time.
 
Re: Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: StalkingRhino</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Jetspeed8</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I bought 5 suppressors the end of October 2012. I know that was pre-election, but just to give a time frame for anyone who is wondering..... I received the suppressors on January 9, 2013.

So, it took about 9 weeks from the time I ordered them tip they were in hand. </div></div>

How were they transferred or is that just to your SOT?

<span style="font-weight: bold">Form3's are around 9-10 weeks right now</span>.

I have customers with Form4 transfers pending from July and August. </div></div>

That's quite disheartening, my form 3 just got submitted and they said that they were expecting about 3-4 weeks. Guess if I see the can this year I'll be happy.
 
Re: Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

The form 3's take much longer at the end of the year due to the holidays. NFA branch is out about 2 weeks over Thanksgiving and 2 more weeks over Christmas and New Years. Things should get back on track now. Especially with 9 additional examiners.
 
Re: Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 317millhand</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The form 3's take much longer at the end of the year due to the holidays. NFA branch is out about 2 weeks over Thanksgiving and 2 more weeks over Christmas and New Years. Things should get back on track now. Especially with 9 additional examiners. </div></div>

The new examiners haven't hit the actual transfers yet as far as I know.

Will call on Monday.
 
Re: Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

On the dealer level, I wouldn't say that I've seen a panic like we've witnessed with ARs...but it IS safe to say that NFA sales have gone up by a decent amount.

Any SBRs that were in stock anywhere can safely be assumed to have sold within a week or two of the shooting. SBR uppers disappeared about the same timeframe. Suppressor sales have been higher than normal over the past few months it seems, but not by 50%. Getting inventory in on a nearly just-in-time basis is very tough with NFA items, and worse when there's even a slight surge. OTOH, it's way too easy to wind up with too many cans that don't sell. From what I've heard, machinegun prices haven't increased by very much yet.

Most of the demand is from new buyers, or people who own a few things but want to stockpile anyways. Those new buyers are just now realizing all of the other peripherals that go along with ARs, and suppressors are part of that package. Anything related to the AR is seeing a distinct uptick in sales because of it, and cans just take longer to get hoovered up.
 
Re: Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 317millhand</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The form 3's take much longer at the end of the year due to the holidays. NFA branch is out about 2 weeks over Thanksgiving and 2 more weeks over Christmas and New Years. Things should get back on track now. Especially with 9 additional examiners. </div></div>


As far as I know the examiners haven't even been hired yet. The approval was in for the NFA branch to hire them but no more has been done yet. In reality even though they will be allowed to hire 9more they will lose a couple of the others to promotions and transfers. I think one may be quitting as well. The net increase may be 5 or so.....some time in the future.


I've not seen any increase in the NFA market and in fact had a couple customers cancel suppressor orders so that they could buy AR15's. Probably not widespread but it does happen.

Frank
 
Re: Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

I talked to my dealer last week about getting a quote on a Sparrow. He laughed at me! He said that all of his suppliers were out of stock.... I should probably go ahead and pick one up somewhere else, but I'd rather do something else with $600 other than tie it up for a year with nothing to show for it. He said his Form 3 transfers were taking forever too.... I can't imagine that he just lost interest in selling junk, so I don't have any reason to believe he's bullshitting.
 
Re: Has the NFA market been affected by panic buying?

Not sure how many of you are old enough to remember but in 1986 NFA guns were added as a tag along bill to the Firearms Owners Protection Act And you had 30 days to register all the full auto receiver's and sears you could before the bill was signed into law .So don't say it cant happen nobody saw it coming and if you can get your hands on some stainless tubing and keep it in a corner of the shop just in case , you can always register the tubes if you had to , But thats just my two bits worth