Since I’m new to buying guns in general. I was wondering how to go about buying a gun online.I think I’m leaning toward getting a Daniel Defense M4, but how do they handle the purchase? Especially being that I am in the great state of New Jersey(LoL)?I havnt called my local dealers yet asking about this either but I know they dont stock them all they have are Bushmaster.
You have to find an FFL that will receive a transfer for you. Once you locate an FFL (Federal Firearms Licensed dealer) that will do that, you make the purchase, then your FFL would fax or email a copy of his FFL to the FFL you purchased the firearm from. That FFL would then ship it to your FFL, where you would fill out the background check (ATF form 4473), pay whatever fee he charges for the transfer, and pick up the weapon. Depending on the FFL, the fee could be reasonable, or high. My FFL charges $25 for bringing a firearm in for someone, plus the background check fee that goes to the state, which here it is another $25. All your local FFL is doing is receiving the shipment, and logging it into his logbook, so if he’s trying to charge you $100 or something, I think that’s too much.
First, find a dealer local to you and get a quote them doing the transfer ($20-$30 is going rate).
Second, understand your States laws and what is allowed and is not.
Third, find the weapon you want, order it.
Fourth, call your local FFL dealer and have them fax their license to the place where you purchased the weapon.
C4
First of all, congrats on picking the DD…I think it is a really good set up for the $$$!! I can’t comment on your particular state but buying online is quite simple.
My suggestion would be to contact Grant from G&R here on M4 or one of the other supporters of M4 who carry the dd and let them guide you. Most of the time, it is as simple as paying and having the gun shipped to a prefered FFL dealer in your area to pick up, which the seller will need a signed copy.
Good Luck!!
The basics. Step 1 would be find a local gun shop or licensed dealer that will do ffl transfers. Typically they will charge you a $20-$40 fee for this service. Find the gun you want to buy online. Pay for said gun. Contact your local ffl identified in step 1 to let them know you have a gun coming to them and have them fax or mail a copy of their dealer license to the store/individual where you purchased. Once they online seller has a copy of your local dealer’s ffl and your money they will ship it to your dealer. Then you just go pick up your new gun and start having fun shooting.
I’m sure lots of people are easy to work with but I’ve personally ordered a rifle from Grant at G&R Tactical. Great prices and a completely smooth, painless experience. I would highly recommend you check out his site and see if there’s something that interests you. Good luck
EDIT: Dang I should type faster. 3 people replied just while I was replying:rolleyes:
Fixed it for you. 
Jersey has crazy gun laws. Isn’t that a state that limits the # rounds in a magazine? You might have to make sure the rifle you order doesn’t violate some insane jersey law.
For me, personally, I want to work with a gun shop that is local and has the right attitude. I am lucky that a group of guys have a shop… and they are salt of the earth type people.
In that case I generally go to them first after having done all the research… and they will help keep me “out of the corners” on stuff like “state laws”
A good gun shop will want a customer for life… and will help you with that. I am sure they would rather you buy one of their bushmasters off the shelf… but if you find a shop with quality staff… that is better than extra ammo.
I have used Gun Genie before from gallery of guns and been impressed with their service. They handle all of the FFL and give you a selection of shops where you can choose to make the transaction and pick up. I did a search for the Daniel Defense M4 and they had many in stock. They also listed many dealers in New Jersey where it could be picked up. Hope this helps.
Yeah, I guess step 1 should be “move out of New Jersey”.
LoL:p I would love to!!! This state should just turn to communism.But thats a different story for a different forum…
Thanks for everyones help.
Fifth, call Grant and let him know when to expect the fax from your FFL. 
Buy from somewhere other than New Jersey. Don’t pay sales tax.
Is it even legal for shops to charge sales tax on transfer fees?
I just checked a few sites that list all the shops that do transfers and some charge sales tax. Why are the states not dealing with this?
They are not selling a product so no sales tax can be collected. And if the purchase was made in state the customer would be getting charged 2 times for sales tax. If they are collecting sales tax for no reason I doubt they are sending it to the state, and just scamming customers out of extra money.
Isnt anyone enforcing sales tax laws?
When I got my tax id#, I called about the 4473 service and they told me ‘no sales tax’ for this kind of service. This was for texas.
Other states may have different rules…
I believe that some states (like CA) require it, but I am not sure about any other state.
Any dealer that does it (and their state does not require it) is trying to make as much money off you as possible. I would avoid dealers like this.
C4
I have not visited any dealers that had it listed like that so I do not know if it was a misprint, or if it for sales here and just comes across wrong. I have a small business and didnt know if there was something differnt for gun sales.
The other thing that I saw was msrp on guns being way higher than what is is the actual msrp. It is one thing to price it higher than msrp if it is an in demand item and the store wants to make extra cash, but making up a high msrp just so they can lower the price and still be over msrp seems like a scam.
If an auto dealer changes the window sticker there are severe penalties, but when a gun shop lies about the prices nothing gets said.
Most manufacturers really do not list a MSRP price. If they do, they could care less if the dealer gets over it.
Brownells makes up MSRP prices and then offers a discount to certain groups of people (dealer, LE, Military, etc). These people often believe that they are getting something for actual dealer price. They are not and would actually save more money if they contacted their favorite dealer and asked for a discount on that item. 
C4
Well I just called S&W customer service, they do not want that happening. I didnt give the dealer name so they cant do anything about it, but they said it is not something they want their dealers doing.
If it wasnt about a specific gun that I called about and went in to see I would have said something. I really dont want to piss off a guy that has a gun store full of weapons.
I am not going to buy from him and keep myself safe at the same time.
The gun dealer most likely did not even buy from S&W. Most likely got it from a Distributor (as very few dealers go direct to gun manufacturers).
So S&W could not do anything anyway (as he is not direct).
C4
makes sense, I know in my field that unless you sell WAY MORE than the average small business sells than most manufactures wont even talk to you and they direct you to a distributor.
Knowing that you have to compete with online sellers, on top of other dealers in the area, I would think dealers would try to make money from people that would by online and just use them to transfer.
Yes they will make less than if they sell to someone that doesnt shop online, but like in my situation they make no sale, and I will just get it transferred through a different dealer. Plus next time I want something I will go to the place that helped me out, not the place that tried to screw me.