[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 27, Volume 2]
[Revised as of April 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 27CFR479.102]

[Page 143-144]
 
            TITLE 27--ALCOHOL, TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND FIREARMS
 
   CHAPTER II--BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS, AND EXPLOSIVES, 
                          DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
 
PART 479_MACHINE GUNS, DESTRUCTIVE DEVICES, AND CERTAIN OTHER 
FIREARMS--Table of Contents
 
          Subpart G_Registration and Identification of Firearms
 
Sec. 479.102  How must firearms be identified?

    (a) You, as a manufacturer, importer, or maker of a firearm, must 
legibly identify the firearm as follows:
    (1) By engraving, casting, stamping (impressing), or otherwise 
conspicuously placing or causing to be engraved, cast, stamped 
(impressed) or placed on the frame or receiver thereof an individual 
serial number. The serial number must be placed in a manner not 
susceptible of being readily obliterated, altered, or removed, and must 
not duplicate any serial number placed by you on any other firearm. For 
firearms manufactured, imported, or made on and after January 30, 2002, 
the engraving, casting, or stamping (impressing) of the serial number 
must be to a minimum depth of .003 inch and in a print size no smaller 
than 1/16 inch; and
    (2) By engraving, casting, stamping (impressing), or otherwise 
conspicuously placing or causing to be engraved, cast, stamped 
(impressed), or placed on the frame, receiver, or barrel thereof certain 
additional information. This information must be placed in a manner not 
susceptible of being readily obliterated, altered or removed. For 
firearms manufactured, imported, or made on and after January 30, 2002, 
the engraving, casting, or stamping (impressing) of this information 
must be to a minimum depth of .003 inch. The additional information 
includes:
    (i) The model, if such designation has been made;
    (ii) The caliber or gauge;
    (iii) Your name (or recognized abbreviation) and also, when 
applicable, the name of the foreign manufacturer or maker;
    (iv) In the case of a domestically made firearm, the city and State 
(or recognized abbreviation thereof) where you as the manufacturer 
maintain your place of business, or where you, as the maker, made the 
firearm; and
    (v) In the case of an imported firearm, the name of the country in 
which

[[Page 144]]

it was manufactured and the city and State (or recognized abbreviation 
thereof) where you as the importer maintain your place of business. For 
additional requirements relating to imported firearms, see Customs 
regulations at 19 CFR part 134.
    (b) The depth of all markings required by this section will be 
measured from the flat surface of the metal and not the peaks or ridges. 
The height of serial numbers required by paragraph (a)(1) of this 
section will be measured as the distance between the latitudinal ends of 
the character impression bottoms (bases).
    (c) The Director may authorize other means of identification upon 
receipt of a letter application from you, submitted in duplicate, 
showing that such other identification is reasonable and will not hinder 
the effective administration of this part.
    (d) In the case of a destructive device, the Director may authorize 
other means of identifying that weapon upon receipt of a letter 
application from you, submitted in duplicate, showing that engraving, 
casting, or stamping (impressing) such a weapon would be dangerous or 
impracticable.
    (e) A firearm frame or receiver that is not a component part of a 
complete weapon at the time it is sold, shipped, or otherwise disposed 
of by you must be identified as required by this section.
    (f)(1) Any part defined as a machine gun, muffler, or silencer for 
the purposes of this part that is not a component part of a complete 
firearm at the time it is sold, shipped, or otherwise disposed of by you 
must be identified as required by this section.
    (2) The Director may authorize other means of identification of 
parts defined as machine guns other than frames or receivers and parts 
defined as mufflers or silencers upon receipt of a letter application 
from you, submitted in duplicate, showing that such other identification 
is reasonable and will not hinder the effective administration of this 
part.

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 
1512-0550)

[T.D. ATF-461, 66 FR 40601, Aug. 3, 2001]