Reply #15: Depends on the clarity of the photograph

[one-eyed fat man]

Here is a picture of a real select-fire AK, a Chinese one, with the safety selector in the "FULL AUTO" position. Just under the lever you will clearly see the three pins needed for the full-auto fire control components.



Any who really spent any time with a REAL M-16 in the past half century would know that the pin that mounts the the auto-sear is located forward of the rear take-down pin and above the hole for the selector.



The M1919 is harder to tell, you have to open the cover to see that the right sideplate is thicker and the cam is different to preclude machine gun parts from being installed. It is, in fact, legal to own every part of any Browning M1917, M1919, M1921, M2 or the AN/M3 series EXCEPT the right sideplate of the receiver. However, someone with a drill press and a good set of files could make one from SAE4130 flat stock. During World War 2, receivers for those guns were turned out by machine shops as far removed from the gun industry as AC, Sparkplug, Frigidaire, Kelsey-Hayes Wheel, National Postage Meter and others. The old line gun companies mostly produced barrels which took specialized machinery. Any high school shop class could build a complete M1919 machine gun receiver from stock steel given a set of blueprints and a clueless teacher.

I spent 26 years as a tank commander in the Army and I have been shooting and collecting machine guns for 50 years. I remember when I could buy stuff like this through the mail, shipped direct to my door. Request the needed paperwork from the ATF, pay my tax and that was that!