Bravo allows you to optionally record items in the Black Powder Guns category in the ATF A&D Book during item acquisition. When adding a Black Powder Gun, you can indicate whether or not to include it in the A&D Book by using the checkbox.
Which Black Powder Guns must be recorded in the ATF A&D Book?
According to the ATF, some firearms are classified as antiques and are exempt from the provisions of the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA). The GCA defines an antique firearm as:
- Any firearm (including any firearm with a matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar type of ignition system) manufactured in or before 1898; or
- Any replica of any firearm described in subparagraph (A) if such replica:
- Is not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition; or
- Uses rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition which is no longer manufactured in the United States and which is not readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade; or
- Any muzzle loading rifle, muzzle loading shotgun, or muzzle loading pistol, which is designed to use black powder, or a black powder substitute, and which cannot use fixed ammunition. For purposes of this subparagraph, the term “antique firearm” shall not include any weapon which incorporates a firearm frame or receiver, any firearm which is converted into a muzzle loading weapon, or any muzzle loading weapon which can be readily converted to fire fixed ammunition by replacing the barrel, bolt, breechblock, or any combination thereof.
Therefore, most black powder firearms that are replicas of pre-1898 firearms or that are designed to use black powder or a substitute and cannot use fixed ammunition are considered antiques and do not need to be recorded in the A&D book. However, there are some exceptions to this rule. The ATF has identified some weapons that load from the muzzle and are classified as firearms, not antiques, under the GCA, because they incorporate the frame or receiver of a firearm. These include:
- Savage Model 10ML (early, 1st version)
- Mossberg 500 shotgun with muzzle loading barrel
- Remington 870 shotgun with muzzle loading barrel
These firearms must be recorded in the A&D book as they are subject to the GCA. The ATF also advises that if a licensee is unsure whether a particular firearm is an antique or not, they should contact their local ATF office for guidance.
How to include a Black Powder Gun in the ATF A&D Book
When acquiring black powder guns into Bravo for the first time, an unchecked Add to A&D Book checkbox will appear on the Edit ATF Record header.
If you are acquiring the item as part of a SKU purchase, the checkbox will appear on the Add Serialized SKU Quantity dialog. It will be unchecked by default when purchasing the first item into the SKU. Future purchases will be based on the most recent purchase.
If the checkbox is unchecked, then no ATF Record will be added when the item is saved.
If the checkbox is checked, then the Edit ATF Record panel will expand, allowing you to verify the details that will be saved to the ATF Record when the item is saved.
The Add to A&D Book checkbox and the Antique checkbox work together in the following ways:
- The Antique checkbox will be automatically checked if you check the Add to A&D Book checkbox, indicating that the black powder gun is an antique firearm.
- You may uncheck the Antique checkbox and keep the Add to A&D Book checkbox checked, to indicate in the A&D Book that the black powder gun is not an antique firearm.
- Checking the Antique checkbox will automatically check the Add to A&D Book checkbox.
- Unchecking the Add to A&D Book checkbox will automatically uncheck the Antique checkbox, since you will not be adding an ATF Record.
Once the item is saved, you will not have the ability to change the state of the Add to A&D Book checkbox. Edits are blocked to prevent sudden removal of existing A&D Book records and sudden creation of A&D Book records for items that may have already been in the store for a long time.
If you re-loan or reconsign a black powder gun, the state of the Add to A&D Book checkbox will carry over from the last time it was in the store.