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For anyone wondering, all the guns I brought to the US made it OK. At Heathrow I was pulled to the side and cops had to examine my bags (due to what they thought were three assault rifles and a handful of pistols), but once they saw the they waved me through and I didn't even miss my flight. So for anyone who is thinking about bringing guns to the US, paint the tips orange and clearly label them as airsoft guns, and you shouldn't have any real issues.

It would not be 'illegal' for you to buy the black part, only against that law if you were to fit it to the gun without a defence. If someone else with (or without depending upon how you read greater firearms law) a defence put it back together you would be in the clear - so long as there was no quid pro quo (exchange). Else every time I take my TM G17 slide off I'd be manufacturing a RIF to put it back together and that would be silly.

There is no grey area. This is not true. Substantially not true. I don't mean to be rude, but not only is this also not true but its very misleading, if you purchase a RIF, you are only able to convert it (relevantly speaking from IF to RIF in terms of manufacturing a RIF) if you are 'still' eligible to purchase a RIF. If I buy a RIF when I am eligible, and if I at some point become ineligible (widely accepted to mean having not played a any insured UK airsoft site for a period of 12 months) I would lose my eligibility to also modify that article or any other article (a'la manufacturing a RIF) until my eligibility to purchase was restored. This is still true of an IF - buying (or eligibility to) a RIF doesn't give you carte blanche to convert your old IFs into RIFs. And in fact manufacturing is a far more dangerous offence than sale because sale places onus on retailers, whereas manufacturing attacks the little guy. If a person is eligible to purchase a RIF, they are eligible to "manufacture a RIF". This is not grey, it's black and white. In fact, they are eligible to manufacture a RIF from parts they do not own - on behalf (if acting without remuneration/contract) of a person ineligible to do the same. I repeat, there is no grey area. /notatroll