re: Official AR-15 thread

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For you guys that are much more informed on this topic than me: I am thinking about getting the BCM 16 Recce from Rainier and It comes out to $1412 after taxes. Is this a decent deal? From what I have gathered, It is possible to build your own rifle for cheaper but how much would it really save me? If it is only a couple hundred bucks then would it be better to buy a pre-built rifle in case I want to sell it in the future? Thanks for the help!

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It should be somewhere around 10% cheaper if the lower and the individual parts are priced the same as they are in the complete rifle. Whole rifles carry an 11% federal excise tax. The excise tax attaches when the manufacturer sells the rifle, so they pay that tax when they sell it to the distribution network and they build it into the cost of the rifle.

However, a taxable rifle includes a stock, an action, and a barrel, so if you don't buy them all together, there is never any manufacture of a rifle before you buy and there is no excise tax applied to the lower and parts before you buy them. A kit is considered a complete rifle for tax purposes. So, you never buy the barrel, the stock, and the action in a single transaction to ensure it's not construed as a complete rifle. Buying one of the three on a separate day from the other two would be even more insulation for you. Better even would be buying the upper from one vendor and the lower from another, as I've heard of some vendors applying the excise tax if you buy all the items from them at the same time. Different vendors avoids this completely.

When you build your own rifle, you are considered the manufacturer. I have no idea the implications for the excise tax if you sell a rifle that you put together that has not already had the excise tax paid. That might be something worth finding out about.