The A&D Bound Book: Essential Requirements for FFL Compliance
If Form 4473 is the most scrutinized document in your FFL operation, the Acquisition and Disposition book is the most comprehensive. Your A&D bound book is a complete, running record of every firearm that has ever entered or left your licensed premises. Every acquisition. Every disposition. Every transfer, sale, receipt, return, theft, and loss — all of it, logged in one place.
The ATF reviews your A&D records during every compliance inspection, and they cross-reference it against your Form 4473s, your physical inventory, and your NICS records. If the numbers don't match — if a firearm is on your shelf but not in the book, or in the book but not on your shelf — you have a problem.
This guide covers what the A&D bound book is, what federal law requires you to record, when entries must be made, how A&D records connect to Form 4473, the most common violations FFLs get cited for, and best practices for keeping your book audit-ready at all times.
What is the A&D bound book?
The Acquisition and Disposition (A&D) bound book is a permanent, chronological record of every firearm transaction involving your FFL. It is required by federal law under 27 CFR § 478.122–478.125 and must be maintained at your licensed premises for the life of your license.
The "bound book" name comes from the original requirement that records be kept in a permanently bound volume — not loose-leaf pages that could be removed or rearranged. Today, the ATF allows A&D records to be maintained in several formats:
Traditional bound book — a physical, permanently bound ledger with pre-printed columns for acquisition and disposition data
Computerized records — electronic A&D records maintained in software, provided the system meets ATF requirements for permanence, accuracy, and accessibility
ATF-approved alternatives — certain point-of-sale systems that integrate A&D recordkeeping, such as Bravo Store Systems
Regardless of format, the records must be permanent (entries cannot be deleted), legible, organized chronologically, and available for inspection at your licensed premises during business hours.
What must be recorded: acquisitions
Every firearm that enters your premises must be logged on the acquisition side of your A&D book. This includes firearms you purchase from distributors, receive from other FFLs, take in on trade or pawn, or receive from individuals.
Required acquisition fields
Date of acquisition — the date the firearm was received at your premises
Manufacturer and/or importer — the name of the company that manufactured or imported the firearm. If both apply, record the importer
Model — the manufacturer's model designation
Serial number — the complete serial number as marked on the firearm. If the firearm has no serial number (such as certain antiques), note "NSN" or "None"
Type — the type of firearm: pistol, revolver, rifle, shotgun, receiver/frame, or other
Caliber or gauge — the chambering or gauge of the firearm
Name and address (or FFL number) of the person or business the firearm was acquired from — if acquired from another FFL, their FFL number is sufficient. If acquired from a non-licensee, their full name and address are required
When to log acquisitions
Acquisitions must be logged by the close of the next business day following receipt of the firearm. If you receive a shipment of 20 firearms on Tuesday, every one of them must be entered in your A&D book by the end of business Wednesday.
In practice, most well-run FFLs log acquisitions the same day the firearms are received. Waiting until the next day is allowed but creates risk — the longer you wait, the more likely entries get missed or details get confused.
Privately Made Firearms (PMFs)
The 2022 ATF rule on Privately Made Firearms added requirements for logging PMFs in your A&D book. If a PMF comes into your possession (such as through a trade-in, consignment, or for repair), and it does not already have a serial number, you must mark it with a serial number within 7 business days of receipt and record that number in your A&D book. The marking must include your abbreviated FFL number and a unique serial number.
What must be recorded: dispositions
Every firearm that leaves your premises must be logged on the disposition side of your A&D book. This includes sales to customers, transfers to other FFLs, shipments to manufacturers for warranty work, reported thefts or losses, and firearms destroyed.
Required disposition fields
Date of disposition — the date the firearm left your premises
Name and address of the person or business the firearm was transferred to — for sales to non-licensees, this is the buyer's full name and address as recorded on the Form 4473. For FFL-to-FFL transfers, the receiving FFL's license number is sufficient
Form 4473 reference — for dispositions to non-licensees, you must record a reference that ties the disposition to the corresponding Form 4473 (such as the 4473 serial number or transaction number)
NICS Transaction Number (NTN) — or state equivalent, for transactions that required a background check
When to log dispositions
Dispositions must be logged by the close of the next business day following the transfer. Same rule as acquisitions — and the same advice applies. Log dispositions the day they happen.
Dispositions that don't require a Form 4473
Not every disposition involves a 4473. FFL-to-FFL transfers are logged in the A&D book but do not require a Form 4473 — the 4473 is only required when a firearm is transferred to a non-licensee. Other 4473-exempt dispositions include:
Shipments to another FFL for repair or warranty service
Returns of a firearm to the person from whom it was received (under certain conditions)
Firearms reported stolen or lost (these must also be reported to the ATF and local law enforcement)
Firearms destroyed
In each case, the disposition entry must still include the date, the recipient's information, and the reason for the disposition.
How A&D records connect to Form 4473
Your A&D book and your Form 4473 records are two halves of the same compliance picture. The ATF expects them to match. During an inspection, an IOI will routinely:
Pull a Form 4473 and look for the matching A&D disposition entry — verifying that the firearm described on the 4473 was properly logged out of your inventory
Pull an A&D disposition entry and look for the matching Form 4473 — verifying that the sale to a non-licensee has a corresponding, completed background check form
Compare firearm descriptions — the make, model, serial number, type, and caliber on the 4473 must match the A&D entry exactly
If there's a mismatch — a 4473 with no corresponding A&D entry, an A&D entry with no corresponding 4473, or descriptions that don't agree — the IOI will flag it.
This cross-referencing is one of the strongest arguments for using a digital system where the Form 4473 and A&D records share the same data. When firearm details are entered once and flow into both records automatically, the consistency errors that come from manual double entry disappear.
Physical inventory reconciliation
One of the most stressful moments in an ATF inspection is the physical inventory check. The IOI selects firearms from your A&D book and verifies they're physically on your premises — then selects firearms from your shelves and verifies they appear in your A&D book.
Every firearm on your premises should have a corresponding open acquisition entry (no disposition yet) in your A&D book. Every open acquisition entry should correspond to a firearm physically present. Discrepancies require explanation, and unexplained discrepancies are serious violations.
Common causes of inventory discrepancies
Late A&D entries — a firearm was received or sold but the entry wasn't made yet
Firearms moved between locations — for multi-location FFLs, firearms shipped to another location must be logged as dispositions at the sending location and acquisitions at the receiving location
Unreported thefts or losses — a firearm is missing but was never reported or logged
Data entry errors — wrong serial number, transposed digits, or a firearm logged under the wrong manufacturer
Consignment confusion — consignment firearms on your premises must be logged in your A&D book even though you don't own them
Best practice: periodic inventory checks
Don't wait for the ATF to reconcile your inventory. Do it yourself on a regular schedule — quarterly at minimum, monthly if your volume supports it. Pick 20–30 firearms at random from your A&D book and physically verify them. Then pick 20–30 from your shelves and verify the A&D entries. Document what you find and correct any discrepancies immediately.
The most common A&D violations
Based on ATF inspection data, these are the A&D-related violations that FFLs are most frequently cited for:
1. Failure to record acquisitions or dispositions
The most basic violation — a firearm came in or went out and wasn't logged. This is most common in high-volume stores where the pace of business outstrips the discipline of logging every transaction.
2. Late entries
Entries that were clearly made days, weeks, or months after the actual transaction. The ATF can often identify late entries by comparing dates, ink, or digital timestamps. Logging entries in batches at the end of the week instead of daily is a red flag.
3. Incomplete firearm descriptions
Every field must be filled in: manufacturer/importer, model, serial number, type, and caliber/gauge. Missing serial numbers or generic descriptions like "pistol" without a make and model are violations.
4. Discrepancies between A&D records and Form 4473s
The serial number on the 4473 doesn't match the serial number in the A&D book. The manufacturer is recorded differently. The caliber is listed as .223 on one and 5.56 on the other. These inconsistencies get flagged.
5. Discrepancies between A&D records and physical inventory
Firearms on the shelf that don't appear in the book, or entries in the book for firearms that can't be found on the premises.
6. Failure to record consignment firearms
Firearms on your premises that belong to someone else (consignment) must still be logged in your A&D book. Many FFLs overlook this.
7. Improper corrections
If you make an error in your A&D book, the ATF requires you to line through the error with a single strike (so the original entry is still legible), write the corrected information, and initial and date the correction. Whiting out entries, erasing them, or overwriting them is a violation. In electronic systems, the original entry must be preserved with an auditable correction log.
A&D best practices for FFLs
Log entries the same day
Don't wait until tomorrow. Don't batch entries at the end of the week. Log every acquisition the day the firearm arrives and every disposition the day the firearm leaves. This is the single most effective thing you can do to keep your A&D records clean.
Use consistent descriptions
Decide how your store will record manufacturer names (Smith & Wesson vs. S&W), types (pistol vs. semi-automatic pistol), and calibers (.223 Rem vs. 5.56 NATO) — and be consistent. Inconsistency across entries makes cross-referencing harder and raises questions during inspections.
Match your A&D entries to the physical firearm
When logging an acquisition, verify the serial number against the actual firearm — not the packing slip, not the invoice, not the distributor's website. Read the serial number off the gun itself. Transposed digits from shipping documents are a common source of errors.
Cross-reference dispositions with 4473s
When you complete a sale, verify that the firearm description in your A&D disposition entry matches the description on the Form 4473 exactly. If your digital 4473 system integrates with your point of sale, this happens automatically.
Train every employee
Every employee who handles firearms — receiving shipments, processing sales, managing inventory — needs to understand A&D requirements. It's not just the manager's job. A single untrained employee receiving a shipment and not logging it can create a discrepancy that surfaces during an inspection months later.
Conduct regular self-audits
Review your A&D book regularly. Look for incomplete entries, missing dispositions, and open acquisitions for firearms you know have been sold. Cross-reference a sample against your 4473 records and physical inventory. For guidance on conducting a full self-audit, see our ATF inspection preparation guide.
Secure your records
Your A&D book — whether physical or digital — must be maintained at your licensed premises and available for inspection. Physical books should be stored securely to prevent damage, loss, or unauthorized access. Digital records should be backed up regularly.
A&D records and digital systems
The ATF permits computerized A&D recordkeeping as long as the system meets federal requirements. The key requirements for electronic A&D records are:
Permanence — entries cannot be deleted. Corrections must preserve the original entry with an auditable trail
Completeness — all required fields must be captured
Accessibility — records must be available for inspection at the licensed premises during business hours
Printability — records must be printable on demand for ATF review
Backup — electronic records should be backed up to protect against data loss
Point-of-sale systems that integrate A&D recordkeeping with Form 4473 processing offer a significant advantage: the firearm description is entered once and flows into both the A&D record and the 4473 automatically. This eliminates the consistency errors that come from entering the same serial number, manufacturer, and caliber into two separate systems.
What happens if your A&D records are lost or destroyed
If your A&D records are lost, stolen, or destroyed — by fire, flood, theft, or other cause — you must notify the ATF immediately. You'll need to reconstruct your records to the best of your ability using whatever supporting documentation is available: distributor invoices, Form 4473 copies, shipping records, and insurance documentation.
This is a painful process and one of the strongest arguments for maintaining digital backups of all records. If your A&D system is computerized and backed up — and your Form 4473 records are stored in the cloud — recovering from a loss event is dramatically simpler than reconstructing a handwritten bound book from memory and paper invoices.
The bottom line
Your A&D bound book is the ledger of your entire firearms inventory — past and present. Every firearm you've ever received, every firearm you've ever sold, and every firearm sitting on your shelf right now should be accounted for in its pages.
The FFLs that get through ATF inspections cleanly are the ones that treat their A&D book with the same discipline they apply to their financials: log every transaction the day it happens, verify descriptions against the physical firearm, cross-reference with Form 4473 records, and reconcile inventory regularly.
It's not complicated. It's just consistent.
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