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This is a case of tricky and misleading advertising. Drop in auto sears (DIASs) were originally not controlled as machineguns in and by themselves.
As of 1981, the rules were changed and today a DIAS is a machinegun itself, whether installed in a rifle or not, whether the owner even has the appropriate rifle or not.
Those DIASs made after 1981 and prior to 1986 were registered, have numbers on them, and can be transferred, like any other machineguns. They are listed for sale on some web sites.
So, DIASs made before 1981 are not machineguns and can be transferred without paperwork.
Now here is the trick. The advertiser says, accurately, that those pre-1981 DIASs can be sold and owned legally; no BATF paperwork, no $200, no problem. What the ad does not say is that if you put one of them into a rifle, you have manufactured a machinegun, and can go to prison. The advertiser only wants to make his money by deliberately misleading the purchaser.
The same trick is pulled with "partly machined receivers" and "tubes with templates". Yes, they are legal to buy and own. But if you complete the machining, or if you cut holes in the tube, you are making or attempting to make a machinegun, and thus violating the law.
HTH
Jim
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