Earlier, I alluded to section 922r restrictions as to what you can legally do with imported parts kits. You can legally buy imported parts kits for just about any imaginable military weapon. Here is page 941 of that statute:
[[Page 941]]
Sec. 178.39 Assembly of semiautomatic rifles or shotguns.
(a) No person shall assemble a semiautomatic rifle or any shotgun
using more than 10 of the imported parts listed in paragraph (c) of this
section if the assembled firearm is prohibited from importation under
section 925(d)(3) as not being particularly suitable for or readily
adaptable to sporting purposes.
(b) The provisions of this section shall not apply to:
(1) The assembly of such rifle or shotgun for sale or distribution
by a licensed manufacturer to the United States or any department or
agency thereof or to any State or any department, agency, or political
subdivision thereof; or
(2) The assembly of such rifle or shotgun for the purposes of
testing or experimentation authorized by the Director under the
provisions of Sec. 178.151; or
(3) The repair of any rifle or shotgun which had been imported into
or assembled in the United States prior to November 30, 1990, or the
replacement of any part of such firearm.
(c) For purposes of this section, the term imported parts are:
(1) Frames, receivers, receiver castings, forgings or stampings
(2) Barrels
(3) Barrel extensions
(4) Mounting blocks (trunions)
(5) Muzzle attachments
(6) Bolts
(7) Bolt carriers
(8) Operating rods
(9) Gas pistons
(10) Trigger housings
(11) Triggers
(12) Hammers
(13) Sears
(14) Disconnectors
(15) Buttstocks
(16) Pistol grips
(17) Forearms, handguards
(18) Magazine bodies
(19) Followers
(20) Floorplates
[T.D. ATF-346, 58 FR 40589, July 29, 1993]
The link is:
http://www.atf.treas.gov/regulations/27cfr178.html
Anyway, the above legislation is what makes it possible to have military style weapons in the US market so easily.
All you have to do is:
1)buy a parts kit (for maybe a AK47). The parts kit (so long as it has no receiver in the kit) can be shipped directly to your own house. The USA laws do not regard the parts kit as a gun at all. The gun is defined by the receiver and the receiver is absent in the parts kit
2)buy a US made receiver clone. Many US companies make cloned receivers. You can get a "flat" which is a stamped steel cut out, drilled, marked AK47 receiver for under 20 dollars...
3)Fold the "flat" and apply the rivets.
4)Go online and find a US made buttstock, US made forestock, US made trigger, US made disconnector, US made hammer, US made gas piston.
5)assemble the gun with no more than ten parts out of the imported parts kit.
6)take it to a gunsmith to make sure it is ready and properly headspaced and safe. Or just have the gunsmith build it for you in the first place.
7)So long as you are compliant with the laws in your finished product (not fully automatic, barrel long enough, overall gun length long enough, etc.), then you have a completely legal AK47. And, it was cheap to build...
Many of the weapons I have are made in a fashion similar to what is described above. They are all 100% legal.
I have guns (or at least the parts kit core) from Russia, Bulgaria, China, Yugoslavia, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Chile, Israel, Czechoslovakia, Britain, and probably others slipping my mind right now.
It is a fun hobby.