Legality of repro Artillery stock?

[Bill_in_VA]

Originally Posted by spacecoast

Here's the 1981 letter "allowing" repro stocks for Lugers and Hi-Powers -

http://www.titleii.com/bardwell/atf_letter58.txt

Here's a 1999 letter seemingly disallowing repro stocks, but only as applied to Canadian Inglis No. 1 Chinese contract and Browning Hi Power 9mm pistols with a "CH" prefix serial -

http://www.titleii.com/bardwell/atf_letter70.txt.

No mention of Lugers or Broomhandles.

I haven't been able to find anything newer. Sorry, don't mean to raise a ruckus, but the admin at The Firing Line raising the question is someone who has credibility on legal matters.

The letters are narrowly written and generally apply only to the question at hand/addressed by the letter. Thus, the second letter (i.e., the one referencing the CH-marked Inglis pistols/stocks) applies only to those guns. That letter does not mention Lugers thus it does not apply to Lugers. It answers only the question that was asked: "...legality of [...] a replica shoulder stock for [a] Canadian Inglis No. 1 Chinese contract Browning Hi Power."

One other tidbit relating to the narrow decisions in these types of BATF letters is that the general rule is they're really only legally applicable to the addressee, and thus should not be construed to automatically apply across the board to everyone. Could your lawyer legally (and successfully) use someone else's BATF letter to keep you out of hot water? Most likely, but not definitively.