So the wait begins............(again)

[MikeInTexas]

Seeing the news that the Honey Badger pistol has been arbitrarily declared a SBR by the BAFT, and wanting to get ahead of a bunch of electronic form 1's because of it, I moved up my approvial time-frame and started my 'budget' project.  (This has me concerned as I have a few AR pistols.)

Was going to wait until the supplies arrived next week, to get precise length measurements.
Signed up on eForms.

Got a passport photo app downloaded for the required picture.  Took one. Uploaded it.

Spent a frustrating hour filling out the electronic paperwork and dropping $200.  The system is not very user friendly or fast.

Waiting on the email and instructions for the fingerprinting, got only 10 days to submit those.

I've done eFile before when I used my trust (no photos, no fingerprinting back then), did this one as an individual.




My budget parts should arrive next week for this endeavor.  Scheduled for delivery on the 16th.  Not going to disclose my source until the deal is done and delivered.  The supplier is part of the fun

I am using an old receiver and barrel from a Ruger MkII.  Got a target model that I will swap out the upper half with for this project.  Amazon got me a $12 scope rail designed for a MKIII and MKIV.  The MKII was not drilled and tapped for the mounts like later models are.  So spun up the drill press and after a lot of leveling to find the top, got it drilled, tapped and installed.  Planning on putting the new red dot sight from Bushnell on it when I can find one.

Got an buddy who has a lathe, he's offered to cut and thread the barrel.  Hopefully in the next few weeks we can get together and cut some threads.

Have a phone number for a guy who can engrave the parts when they arrive, if not I'll use Things Remembered in the mall again to get the legal aspects met.
(You have to have a good story about what the parts are, they freak out if you say anything gun related.  If you are creative you can usually buffalo them into doing the work cheap)



As all stamp collectors know, the wait is the hardest part.


I'll get some photos up soon.

[backupr9]

Wishing you the best of Irish luck!  (Actually, I am a Scot) 

[MikeInTexas]

Phase 1

Still waiting on BATFE to send me fingerprint instructions, over 24 hours now and I've got to get them in with only 9 days left.



Anybody else spend last evening listening to Van Halen songs?  They were a good part of the soundtrack of my youth.

Wishing you the best of Irish luck!  (Actually, I am a Scot) 

From what I can figure out with our linage, we passed through there quite a few hundred years ago.  Don't think we were invited though.

 

[tracker]

That would be the Ulster Scots on their way here from Scotland through Ireland. I am also descended from that hardy stock.

[backupr9]

Lindsay Clan with Gordon affiliations.

[tracker]

Aye!

[MikeInTexas]

+$40 or so today.  Got my request for fingerprints yesterday.  They give you 10 days to get them to their office.  Already had an appointment and got them taken and mailed off this afternoon.  They should arrive in at the AFT on Saturday.

'Raw Materials' scheduled for delivery tomorrow.  I'll get pictures up this weekend of those.

Total expenditures so far right around $260 for the stamp/parts and another $20 on getting the pistol ready.

As Carly Simon says:

"Anticipation, anticipation
Is making me late
Is keeping me waiting....."



.

[MRC]

Hey, good luck.

Try getting a gun out of Czechoslovakia when there is a global pandemic.   

[MikeInTexas]

Yeah, I can imagine. I've been following your saga.

[MikeInTexas]

Update: Not happy.

Cancelled my Walmart.com order today after delays on their side.  The items I was going to use to construct this sound suppressor have been stuck between Pitney Bowes (the international shipper) and USPS for two weeks.  Going to have to find those components elsewhere.

Good news is ATF got my fingerprints last week.

This may be a case where getting the stamp is the fastest part.  Who would have thought that possible.



.

[MikeInTexas]

Well, I got the Walmart.com order (the one I cancelled). Called them, trying to figure out what to do with it as I have ordered a replacement set from another vendor on their site.  Haven't opened the package.  Hopefully the vendor will make a reasonable offer to keep me from having to return them.

Anybody had this issue?  You cancel an order, wait and get your money back, then the item gets delivered?

[chrisodasso@comcast.net]

    Why sure!  First a company doesn’t fulfill on a promised delivery date.  Then they disregard a cancellation request and send the product anyway, in hopes that the customer just decides to keep it.  That’s exactly what happened to me with an order for forehead temperature scanners.     
     I ordered more expensive ones, because the delivery date was quicker than other available scanners.  This was at the beginning of the Covid crisis, and I needed them at any price.
    When they didn’t arrive on time, I tried to cancel the order several times.  I received no responses to my requests. About three weeks after the promised delivery date, the scanners arrived.  Sure they could’ve got delayed in China or Timbuktu; I’m certain of it!   I can’t remember if they came directly from Timbuktu or if they passed through the supposed store. Regardless, any good company would’ve acknowledged and processed my cancellation request.  They would’ve apologized for not delivering on time, realizing that they may have put me in a very bad way.  Finally they would’ve made return shipping extremely simple for me, if indeed the order arrived late.
     There are any number of reasons along a supply chain, especially one that isn’t supported with good communication, that could account for a late delivery.  There are circumstances beyond control.  However, a great majority of times, late delivery is caused by a supply chain not committed to fulfilling promises.
Ever hear the story of the UPS delivery man who took the company’s goal of, “Always On Time” seriously? This was told to me about 35 years ago, but I’ve never forgotten it.  It seems it was a wintery afternoon when the UPS delivery man, at a very remote location, received a package to be delivered by the next morning.  Any other day it would have been be a simple truck delivery, albeit a several hour one, into the mountains.  Because of blizzard conditions the day before, all of the mountain roads were closed.  The man had recently attended a UPs training seminar about making and keeping promises...”Always On Time”.  So what did he do?  He rented a helicopter and delivered the package. That delivery cost UPS thousands of dollars more than what the company would’ve made on that singular delivery. What did UPS do? Did they fire him? No, they promoted him.
     That’s a hilarious idea isn’t it? Well it is to the 97% of companies that will go out of business in their first five years. Has UPS been around a little while? Maybe not so stupid...
    There is no excuse.  Whether a late delivery was caused by unforeseeable events or simply a lack of commitment, if your cancellation request was not acknowledged with a sincere apology, your money returned and easy return shipping arranged, it was sadly intentional.

[MikeInTexas]

That is a great UPS story Chris,

I made the decision based on two factors, one who thought you could get a suppressor kit from Walmart?  Second, I trust them more than some of the other internet vendors from overseas.  I've been contacted by the vendor who says they understand the situation, but offer nothing else as to what I am supposed to do.  I'll pay for the items to avoid the hassle of returning them if they give me a price I consider fair.  Hope that is not a dick move, as I gave them plenty of time to deliver the product and plenty of  time has passed since the refund.

Second thing about this project is to show how overinflated prices in the US are on silencers.  The cheapest .22lr can will cost you in excess of $200 (more than 2x the price of it in the UK), yet I an get an almost completely machined 'fuel filter', with 1/2 x 28 threads on it for $30 +/- and all I have to do after my stamp from ATF arrives is drill a single hole in the cap and get it engraved to meet federal standards.  Basically I'll be all in for less than a brand new factory silencer.

I've had a good performing Gemtech can for a number of years now and eagerly anticipate comparing the two on the range to see if homemade one is as good.  I suspect it may be better due to the increased volume inside the tube.


Going to provide some links for you guys to check out.

If you live in the UK, you can get a .22 lr moderator (their word for silencer) for less than $80.  12 gauge Shotgun moderators are a bit over $200.  You are lucky if you can find one in the US for less than $800.  They even have O/U shotguns suppressed, some cool youtube videos on those.

https://www.pellpax.co.uk/rifles-and-shotguns/rifles/rifle-sound-moderators/swift-silencer-proofed-unf/14964
https://www.pellpax.co.uk/rifles-and-shotguns/rifles/rifle-sound-moderators/hushpower-10-detachable-12g/17291

Got this one on order, FedEx has gotten it.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Willstar-Fuel-Filter-for-NAPA-4003-1-2-28-Thread-Car-Fuel-Filter-WIX-24003-Fuel-Filter-Car/844937618

This vendor is the one I originally chose.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/TBP-6-Inches-Spiral-1-2-28-NaPa-4003-WIX-24003-Car-Repair-Accessories-Black/473424738


Everybody stay safe tomorrow.



,

[PhilZ]

I saw the ad for those “Fuel filters.”  I would shoot 22LR through one, but I would be worried about it failing after a few hot large caliber rifle rounds. 

[MikeInTexas]

You are correct.  Could probably get away with some subsonic .300 Blk rounds in a longer/bigger one and may handle .45 and other lower pressure pistol rounds.  Some other vendors offer 'fuel filters' that seem more designed for 9mm.

Depends on how this works out, I may get one of the 10 inch ones and put it on a 10-22 I'm working on.  Cut and thread the barrel to 6.5 inches and pin and weld it on.  Register it as a 16.5 inch silencer.  If this is real quiet, then may go with a 10 inch barrel on the rifle and pin and weld it for legal length.

I've got a titanium can for my 5.56mm and 7.62 mm stuff.