I don't know what hinckiness was afoot, but BATFE is Anal when it comes to records.

and by anal I mean that is where they shove the 747 loaded with paperwork into you if/and/or/when you F-up...

BATFE is creepy when it comes to how perfect records have to be kept. Every T dotted, every I crossed perfectly, or you get fined out the ass. The second a 4473 has a dot of ink on it, it's a legal record, and the gun shop I worked in kept EVERYTHING. Was especially hilarious when people failed filling out 4473s more than a few times, because we had to paper clip them together with the perfect copy on top.

That said, some places are way more lax, and perhaps just running the edge of the knife with inked-in corrections and approximates filled into the non-critical areas the ATF doesn't ask for over the phone. Who knows when the hammer of the law is gonna fall on some people. Some people skirt by forever, and some get nailed down to prctical crucifixion as an example to others.

Which is why more and more shops are going to the digital 4473s as well. Cabelas near me uses both digital and paper back up.

Damn that sucks about the whole paperwork thing, but seriously, you're a major manufacturer, why would you risk having unregistered machine guns as well as registered ones (but not belonging to you or the company)? Though, for the unregistered ones, I suppose they could be in the process of being made, before they get the serial number. Not sure if Stag did machine guns or not. .-.

they also had 67(?) automatic rifles that were unregistered with the ATF