FFL Transfer Fees?

[Ben]

I'm just curious what the rest of you pay for FFL transfer fees. My LGS is $30 for regular stuff and $100 for NFA stuff.

From my interwebzzing, outside of commie states like CA, that seems slightly higher than average.

[WLJ]

I've seen anything from from $15 to $45 around town.
MY old LGS before they closed were charging $10. I miss them.

[K Frame]

I think I pay $25 at my local massacretorium.

It's been a couple of years since I brought one in so it may have gone up since then.

[MillCreek]

$25 (rare) up to $ 45 for a handgun is typical in this area.  What with the 10 round restrictions in Washington state, no private sales unless through FFL and 10 day waiting periods, and that my safes are already full, I am not contemplating buying anything for quite a while.  Unless I find a Ruger LCX in 3" in .357.

[Ben]

, no private sales unless through FFL

IIRC, CA took a big jump in transfer fees after the end of private sales there. Kinda sucked that some gun stores took advantage of gun restrictions. I think $75 was the average fee there before I moved.

[Hawkmoon]

The shop at the range where I shoot charges me $25 for regular stuff, and he doesn't do NFA items. But I've been a customer for over 20 years and I have helped him with several issues over the course of those two decades, so I think he gives me a break. Every other FFL I've heard of around here charges at least $50 for normal stuff.

I don't consider $30 to be at all unreasonable.

I am not in California.

[Ben]

I don't consider $30 to be at all unreasonable.

I agree it's not at all unreasonable for a complete rifle or handgun. I was just thinking about getting a few of the funny stripped lowers, just to have extra lowers, but $30 on top of a $75-$100 lower is kinda high. I'm not dissing my LGS - just that for cheap items, a transfer fee kinda kills the "cheap" part. 

[Lennyjoe]

$10 here at a shop owned by a veteran. 

[MechAg94]

My favorite LGS charges $35 for guns or $100 for suppressors.  They have a Silencer Shop kiosk.  Any suppressors bought through them have no transfer fee. 

I guess I am lucky that Primary Arms is just under an hour away from me.  I can just go pick up stripped lowers or other stuff. 


Does your LGS sell stripped lowers?  Can they order them such that the total is competitive?  Might be a  question to ask.

[Ben]

Does your LGS sell stripped lowers?  Can they order them such that the total is competitive?  Might be a  question to ask.

One of the few things I don't like about my LGS is that they are really into their favorite higher end brands. Though I've never asked about lowers, I've asked about some firearms they don't carry and the price is either a bit higher than normal, or they won't even order them. Most all the lowers they stock are pretty high dollar.

There's an Impact Guns in reasonable driving distance from me, and they carry or will order a lot of the Spike's, etc. lowers with the neat sayings on them and at reasonable prices, but that store kinda bugs me. Full of the stereotypical know it all counter monkeys that we like to make fun of on the interwebz. There's no reason I can't suck it up and buy from them though.

[dogmush]

My guy charges me $25. But it's $25 per 4473  so if I do multiples on the same paperwork, it's still just $25.

[Ben]

so if I do multiples on the same paperwork, it's still just $25.

Oh, that's interesting. I need to check with mine on that.

[dogmush]

Lowers come in 3, 5 and 10 packs.  Just saying......

[Ben]

Lowers come in 3, 5 and 10 packs.  Just saying......

Great minds think alike... 

[Hawkmoon]

I agree it's not at all unreasonable for a complete rifle or handgun. I was just thinking about getting a few of the funny stripped lowers, just to have extra lowers, but $30 on top of a $75-$100 lower is kinda high. I'm not dissing my LGS - just that for cheap items, a transfer fee kinda kills the "cheap" part. 

The FFL does the same work whether he's transferring a $75 stripped receiver or a $5,000 custom firearm ...

[Ben]

The FFL does the same work whether he's transferring a $75 stripped receiver or a $5,000 custom firearm ...

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

[230RN]

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

I thought it was worthwhile to emphasize that point.  What rationale is there for charging more for this item than for that item?

Not having actually bought a gun in a while, that kind of struck me, too.

("Completely apart from the fact that all this hoo-ha about dealers is illegal under the highest law of the land," Terry said, feeling compelled to mention that again, all the while recognizing that most people nowadays think the NFA is a force of nature.)

Terry, 230RN

[MechAg94]

Just a thought, but if the 1968 gun law was eliminated, do you think manufacturers would start shipping directly?  I guess the small ones would.  I figure the big manufacturers would still want to go through their distributors for liability reasons. 

[230RN]

Just a thought, but if the 1968 gun law was eliminated, do you think manufacturers would start shipping directly?  I guess the small ones would.  I figure the big manufacturers would still want to go through their distributors for liability reasons. 

Are you forgetting that we the people used to be able to buy and receive firearms through the mail?

"They" made a BFD out of Lee Harvey Oswald buying his Carcano by mail order and by-mail purchasing was condemned "somehow" in the minds of the stupids that if that were not possible, the crime would not have happened.  Hence, eliminating by-mail purchasing became another clever little "choke point" in the anti's long term scheme to eliminate firearms in the hands of the public altogether.

The minds of the stupid often rule by the force of their stupid votes.

And once again it becomes obvious that by sheer virtue of the passage of time, these restrictions <ahem, koff koff> infringements become normalized.

That's how the "erosion" of rights becomes acceptable. 

Terry, 230RN

[MechAg94]

I didn't forget.  Shipping is shipping whether by mail or via Fedex/UPS.

That doesn't change the current legal/liability issues outside of the gun control laws.  I still doubt S&W would start mailing revolvers to customers.  I think the corporations like that separation between the guys making the gun and the guys selling to the end customer.