My experience using the SS kiosk to do a form 4 (trust)

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  • erwos

    The Hebrew Hammer
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 25, 2009
    13,866
    Rockville, MD
    (This post might really belong in the NFA section, but since it's Engage-specific, I'll leave it here for now. They can add whatever comments they want.)

    Like many others, ATF 41F put me off of doing any more form 1s or form 4 transfers. I'm lucky in that my trust only has my wife and I as trustees; we're somewhat less lucky in that both of us have time-consuming jobs in DC, and getting the requisite fingerprinting at a police station or Livescan outlet is a nightmare for us schedule-wise.

    One day, I noticed that Engage had obtained a SilencerShop kiosk, AND they were a SilencerCo dealer. I had been saving money for a SiCo Hybrid for years, so I felt like this was a sign that I should "pull the trigger" ("screw on the suppressor"?) and finally get this done. We worked out a time after work we could both make it over to the shop to see if we could make this happen. Alas, Carlos was not around to hold our hands through the process, but I figured that I was smart enough to make it work anyways.

    I'm going to list these steps in the order I did them, but you could do them in nearly any order and probably still come out alright.

    First: everyone on the trust should get their SS accounts set up on the web, even though you CAN create an account at the kiosk. Make sure you've got your email and password in order. SS has a link (which I can't get at work) where you can prefill out your trust details after doing this. Doing so will save you time. I didn't do that, so I did it all at the kiosk.

    Second: go to Engage, and use the kiosk. They nominally have someone who will walk you through this, but it's really rather simple - put in your name, email, and password, and then follow the directions. Most of it is just typing in anything that you didn't put in in step one. Both of us went together, but you could easily do it separately.

    When you are at the fingerprinting step, PAY ATTENTION. There is a very specific place on the pad they want you to put your fingers. I had to redo mine because I put my fingers too far forward. Otherwise, it's a pretty painless process, pretty much the best you could ask for.

    Third: take pictures of the trustees with the SS app on your smartphone. This was surprisingly tricky - the app itself will crop the photo, so you really only need to make sure you get a good upper body shot with the entire head in the photo... I think we stood about five feet away when taking the photo, but YMMV. You can do this before the kiosk, I think.

    Weirdly, the kiosk has a camera but can't actually take your picture. I guess because the background isn't white/off-white? That would be a nice improvement.

    Fourth: buy the form 4 tax stamp off the SS website. It's $205. I assume you can do this any time after step one. (I assume that if you were buying a form 1 item, you'd buy the form 1 stamp and then follow their directions instead of going to step five.)

    Fifth: you pay the shop for the form 4 item, and they set up the form 4 transaction on their SiCo dealer account. You'll get an email you have to digitally sign.

    Sixth: wait forever for your stamp to come back. Oh well.

    All in all, it's a relatively pain-free process and a huge improvement over how things used to work with pics and prints for form 1s/4s. I'd like for the kiosk to give a little more direction about things remaining to be done, but I think they're assuming a guided experience by trained personnel, versus me just poking at it and hoping for the best.

    I am looking forward to using the SS system to do a form 1 in the future, albeit the emails to my wife about my activities may lead to more, uh, "disclosure" than I had with the previous stamps. :)
     
    Last edited:

    OnTarget

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 29, 2009
    3,154
    WV
    Thanks for taking the time to explain the various steps involved.

    Not everyone is happy with the kiosk. My FFL here in WV had one and had it removed. Not sure why.
     

    Cal68

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Oct 4, 2014
    1,978
    Montgomery County
    Thanks for the detailed instructions and do's/don'ts about the SS kiosks. I have not had the necessity to use one yet, but I am sure I will one of these days!

    Cal68
     

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    49,818
    Thanks for the review. I'm pretty sure I'm done with NFA, but you never know.
     

    erwos

    The Hebrew Hammer
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 25, 2009
    13,866
    Rockville, MD
    Pretty sure there's a usage fee billed to the FFL.
    I'm not sure this is really the case, but judging from the quality of the setup, I'm sure it's not a cheap to purchase a kiosk. I don't know if Engage has a standard charge for using it or not, I'll let them weigh in on that.

    OTOH, if you're a shop selling NFA items in general, that kiosk is a HUGE competitive advantage. No more running around trying to get prints for an SBR or AOW... just walk over to the kiosk and take care of business, and then use a smartphone or tablet to deal with the rest. No one's going to buy NFA stuff from a shop that doesn't have one of these once the word gets out about how easy it is to use.

    I give SilencerShop a lot of credit here - they could have said "you can only use it for our purchases", but they did the right thing and opened it to all form 4s and form 1s.
     

    W2D

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 2, 2015
    2,074
    Escaped MD for FL
    I also used it a few days ago. Some prints would only come up POOR, probably because of scars on my fingers. Hope that's not an issue. You can redo each finger as many times as you want to get a GOOD print. Good on them to have the machine qualify the prints in real time.
    I just walked up, pulled up my account and had it done in 10 minutes.
     

    erwos

    The Hebrew Hammer
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 25, 2009
    13,866
    Rockville, MD
    Can you do a form 1 at the same time as a form 4? I want to sbr the lower I'm going to put my next can on....
    I think you just put your info into the system and then it can be used to buy a form 1 stamp on the website or do the rest of the form 4 process. So, technically speaking, it's not simultaneous, but pretty close (you'd buy your form 1 and form 4 stamps, then do your form 1 paperwork online and tell your dealer to proceed with the form 4).
     

    Drmsparks

    Old School Rifleman
    Jun 26, 2007
    8,441
    PG county
    Do I have to worry about tying the pictures and prints to the form 1 or do they just need one set every so many years.....
     

    erwos

    The Hebrew Hammer
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 25, 2009
    13,866
    Rockville, MD
    Do I have to worry about tying the pictures and prints to the form 1 or do they just need one set every so many years.....
    I don't know when they expire, but the prints and picture appear to be tied to your account, not to a particular form.
     

    Rob R.

    Active Member
    Oct 29, 2016
    771
    Harford Co
    Thanks for sharing, my local FFL is not interested in processing a transfer of a Silencerco Omega 9K I'minterested in purchasing due to so many paperwork issues lately.
    He has a Silencershop kiosk in store and said he is strictly selling whatever is on there for the sake of his sanity.

    So I'm confused if I can do most all the paperwork on that kiosk while buying a Silencerco why would it be much trouble?
    I downloaded the Silencershop app several weeks ago to prepare for a couple cans I want GM-22 rimfire and the Omega 9K to start
     

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