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Old June 10, 2013, 12:52 PM   #2
carguychris
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Join Date: October 20, 2007
Location: Richardson, TX
Posts: 7,523
I was going to address the question line-by-line, but the post became really messy, so let me step back and do it broadly.

"Curio or Relic" has a very specific legal definition found in 27 CFR 478.11, as follows:
Quote:
Curios or relics. Firearms which are of special interest to collectors by reason of some quality other than is associated with firearms intended for sporting use or as offensive or defensive weapons. To be recognized as curios or relics, firearms must fall within one of the following categories:

(a) Firearms which were manufactured at least 50 years prior to the current date, but not including replicas thereof;

(b) Firearms which are certified by the curator of a municipal, State, or Federal museum which exhibits firearms to be curios or relics of museum interest; and

(c) Any other firearms which derive a substantial part of their monetary value from the fact that they are novel, rare, bizarre, or because of their association with some historical figure, period, or event. Proof of qualification of a particular firearm under this category may be established by evidence of present value and evidence that like firearms are not available except as collector's items, or that the value of like firearms available in ordinary commercial channels is substantially less.
(emphasis mine)

There are three important things to understand.
  • Replicas are disallowed by default. There is NO allowance in the law for C&R replicas as there is with legal antiques. Even if a Serbian factory produced a flawless replica of a C&R M57, including faked vintage proofmarks and faux finish wear, it cannot be C&R until it turns 50 years old or is certified to fall within categories (b) or (c).
  • The ATF book's primary purpose is to list firearm models that fall within categories (b) or (c). It is not intended to be comprehensive with regards to the 50-year rule, nor concerning otherwise ordinary individual firearms that fall under category (c) due to unusual provenance (e.g. ownership by a former U.S. President). If the list was comprehensive, it would be encyclopedia-sized, rather than weekly-news-magazine-sized!
  • The ATF book listings and subsequent update letters are very specific. It doesn't matter if the CZ 70 is largely similar to the CZ 50. (I'm not familiar enough with either model to comment.) Here's what the book says, on page 22:
    Quote:
    Czechoslovakian, CZ50 pistol, cal. 7.65mm.
    Only the CZ 50 is listed, so the CZ 70 doesn't make the cut. If this upsets you- so sorry for your bad luck.
  • The ATF book contains considerable dead weight, e.g. exhaustive listings of minor variants- or even individual serial numbers!- that are C&R by default due to the 50-year rule. The ATF does not necessarily cull the out-of-date information from the book. I surmise that this is done for consistency with past editions.
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Last edited by carguychris; June 10, 2013 at 12:59 PM.
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