EP Armory out of Bakersfield, California was recently forced to forfeit over 3,800 of their polymer 80% AR-15 lowers over to the feds. The U.S. Government claimed their polymer 80% AR-15 lowers were a violation of federal firearms laws because they were manufactured and sold without a serial number. As you know an AR-15 lower receiver must be manufactured with serial numbers by a licensed manufacturer and can only be sold by a licensed firearms dealer.

But wait, aren’t 80% AR-15 lowers without serial numbers legal? Yes, they should be. The issue according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento was that EP Armory’s 80% polymer AR-15 lower receivers had cavities with a different color polymer which made it easier for the users to mill it out into a complete AR-15 lower receiver. The feds claimed because the different color polymer in the center was a separate piece of polymer which was added after the lower receiver was molded it was a firearm. The federal government doesn’t consider that a true 80% lower receiver and because EP Armory only had a dealer’s license and not a manufacturer’s license along with the fact they had no serial numbers they were forced to hand them over.

According to this news article federal agents actually purchased 33 of EP Armory’s lowers back in January of 2014 which they found had no serial numbers. They then issued a warrant and seized 3,804 of their lowers with the different color cavities. EP Armory actually had a contract to have 40,000 of them made before the feds came knocking.