Transfer Times

[UWone77]

That's kind of where my head is at, but in my Googling, I've found that while there's a dB difference, at the shooter's ear (on an AR), it's not noticeable. Probably the biggest thing that had me rethinking this was I was able to slide the Mini onto the end of a Noveske 16" gun in the shop. Now the gun itself was fairly light to begin with, but the feel of the added weight at the end was noticeably less than when I put my 212 on the end of my SR-15 (my lightest 16" gun that has a mount on it).

Of course the much bigger problem is that if I'm worried about weight/mobility/run and gunning, I'm just going to use my fantastically agile 12.5" CA-barreled gun. Other than my MK18, that thing really is just the most fun AR I own.

I forgot to ask you when you originally posted this. How do you like that 12.5" ? I have 1 12.5" upper, but I have yet to shoot it because John Noveske himself put together the upper, which he gave to Stick, and Stick gave it to me as gift, still unfired. After he passed, I wanted to keep it as it was. In true Noveske fashion, I should just shoot the shit out of it, which I probably will. However, I have no other 12.5" to compare it to.

[UWone77]

In case you guys don't read the Silencer Shop Blog, I thought their latest entry was informative: http://www.silencershop.com/eforms-2...ry-roundtable/

Since eForms went down, the NFA Branch has worked to keep wait times down by throwing more people at the pending applications. This isn’t a long term solution, and they appear to realize that; but, it is definitely helping in the short term.

Some of the statistics they threw out were:

Over the last month, the NFA Branch has been able to drop one month from the wait times – and our statistics back this up. They also said that they have dropped from a peak of 86,000 unprocessed applications in February to just over 50,000 today; so they’re heading in the right direction in spite of an uptick in submissions.
Last year, as most people know, there were only 9 NFA Branch examiners who were handling every single submission. As of today there are 15, with another 11 in the pipeline – which will bring the total up to 26 examiners.

The goal, with both paper and eForm 4 submissions is to get the wait times under 6 months and keep them there. It actually sounded like they may have an internal goal to keep it closer to 3 months.
The ATF is also training field agents to help with the NFA approval process while they work through the existing backlog – which shows they are serious about bringing wait times down.
Even though this ‘surge’ is just a stop-gap measure, the major upside is that the new examiners will still be around when eForms 2.0 finally comes online – so we could see some serious drops in wait times over the next year or two.


Eforms 2.0

Although the NFA Branch is throwing serious resources at pulling wait times down for paper forms – it sounds like any rumors of Form 4 submissions coming back to eForms in the coming weeks aren’t correct. It’s possible they may try to bring Form 3′s back online; but, there appears to be some internal debate over whether the system can even handle that load.

With the return of Forms 1 and 2 (and potentially 3) to the current eForms Carrousel, the ATF is placing a clear emphasis on bringing Form 4 submissions to the new 2.0 platform first.

There were a lot of great ideas provided at the roundtable, and I hope those ideas will result in a better/more stable system for everybody. Honestly, I was a bit doubtful that this roundtable would be worthwhile at all since it’s easy to fall into the traps of either ‘over-designing’ or just whining about the current system. I’m very happy to have been proven wrong – and I’m optimistic that eForms 2.0 will deliver what the industry is looking for.

It sounds like they would like to have a working system up and running in 3-6 months; but, with the bureaucracy that’s involved, it could be as long as a year. Personally, I’m going to root for the 3-6 month option. :)

I will admit that I’m a little surprised that they aren’t going to try improving the back-end of the current system to hold everybody over until eForms 2.0 is released – but it doesn’t sound like that option is on the table.


Conclusion:

I’ve been a software developer for all of my adult life and I’ve seen several great projects that were never actually released because of ‘feature-creep’. In some ways, the best possible approach to eForms 2.0 would be to get a minimum viable product out the door that works well – and then add to it using an iterative process. Unfortunately, I don’t think the gov’t processes will allow that type of approach.

Regardless, I think the ATF is definitely moving in the right direction by pulling industry participants into the design process. I’m also happy that they’re finally attacking the wait time problem that has gotten so severe over the last couple of years.

[gatordev]

I forgot to ask you when you originally posted this. How do you like that 12.5" ? I have 1 12.5" upper, but I have yet to shoot it because John Noveske himself put together the upper, which he gave to Stick, and Stick gave it to me as gift, still unfired. After he passed, I wanted to keep it as it was. In true Noveske fashion, I should just shoot the shit out of it, which I probably will. However, I have no other 12.5" to compare it to.

I absolutely love it. I had to make it my competition only gun for a month or so because I wanted to shoot my other guns and didn't want to become dependent on how light and flat the thing shoots. Between the Spike's buffer and the SF brake, it's just a joy to shoot unsuppressed. The one issue I've had is that it's a tad long when trying to "sling" it and transitioning to my pistol. But hear me out...

The local monthly carbine match is kind of a weird beast. I'm convinced at least a quarter of the people are there to play dress up, and some of the stages are pretty gamer (but not all). That said, their two big rules (besides the normal ones) are a) you can't sling a hot rifle (fair enough), and b) you're still held to the 180 rule, including a slung rifle. Both rules by themselves make sense, but together, it causes this weird weapon manipulation when transitioning. You can't sling/push the rifle to your off-hand side (the barrel will point behind you, even if it's in its little 3 foot circle around you), so you end up having to drop it between your crotch. If you have to move while shooting the pistol, you end up looking like you've taken a dump in your shorts. As a result, I find in the summer when wearing shorts, it's easy with the 12.5" barrel for the brake to touch my left thigh. It's a tad warm when that happens.

Again, this is something specific to my situation, and as it cools down sometime in the next decade, pants will help, but it is the one issue I've had with that barrel length. Otherwise, it's been the cat's pajamas.

I hear you on that Noveske. While not the same circumstances as yours, I have an 18" upper from before he died. It has 1095 rounds on it and was fantastic, but I just don't have a need for it right now. But I can't really bring myself to sell it. So in the cabinet it sits.

[UWone77]

E-File:

Item: SBR
Form Type: Form 1 Trust
Sent: 03-13-14
Check Cashed: Electronic Funds Transfer
Submitted/In Process: ?
Approved: 07-28-14
Examiner: Nickie Dudash

[tappedandtagged]

That's not too shabby!

I'm currently waiting on a form 3 to my dealer in a rimfire can. Then I get to mail in my Form 4. Uhg. They seriously need to get the E file system back to running all the forms again.

[mustangfreek]

E-File:

Item: SBR
Form Type: Form 1 Trust
Sent: 03-13-14
Check Cashed: Electronic Funds Transfer
Submitted/In Process: ?
Approved: 07-28-14
Examiner: Nickie Dudash

Im jealous......

[UWone77]

That's not too shabby!

I'm currently waiting on a form 3 to my dealer in a rimfire can. Then I get to mail in my Form 4. Uhg. They seriously need to get the E file system back to running all the forms again.

They really do. The 3-4 month waiting times are very bearable. The 8+ months I've been waiting on a couple of paper Form 4's is not. Hopefully with the additional hires they cane speed up all areas.

[gatordev]

Form 3 Paper:

Item: Suppressor(s)
Form Type: Form 3
Sent: 7-02-14
Check Cashed:
Submitted/In Process:
Approved: 8-11-14
Examiner: UNK

Getting a little longer on the Form 3s, apparently, but still not terrible. Hopefully I can get the Form 4 done this weekend, assuming UPS does their thing fast enough.

[UWone77]

I plan to e-file another Form 1 SBR on a Noveske Gen III Lower. Should match up nicely to a Gen III 10.5" Switchblock Upper.

In the mean time, my other SBR Lower is enroute to the engraver. While I'm waiting, this NFA goodness might have just left the garage shop:

[Ride4frnt]

You guys are all bad influences. The silencerco/noveske video yesterday didn't help either. I'm gonna be in the market for a SDN-6 or a Saker 762 here soon...

[UWone77]

You guys are all bad influences. The silencerco/noveske video yesterday didn't help either. I'm gonna be in the market for a SDN-6 or a Saker 762 here soon...

Yes, yes we are!

E-File:

Item: SBR
Form Type: Form 1 Trust
Sent: 08-14-14
Check Cashed: Electronic Funds Transfer
Submitted/In Process: ?
Approved:
Examiner:

[Ride4frnt]

Yes, yes we are!

E-File:

Item: SBR
Form Type: Form 1 Trust
Sent: 08-14-14
Check Cashed: Electronic Funds Transfer
Submitted/In Process: ?
Approved:
Examiner:

SBRing my pistol is still on the fence... Since md made the length >29" I may be cutting it close with a 10.5" barrel.

[UWone77]

SBRing my pistol is still on the fence... Since md made the length >29" I may be cutting it close with a 10.5" barrel.

10.5 with a muzzle device has been running...27" ish...

[Ride4frnt]

10.5 with a muzzle device has been running...27" ish...

Rats. Maybe a MOE fixed carbine stock? How much does that gain?

[Slippers]

Item: SBR
Type: eForm 1 Trust
Filed: July 25, 2014
Approved: August 18, 2014
Examiner: Sandra Snook

3 weeks...If you ever wanted an SBR, now is the time!