Just got back from speaking with the current FFL owner. He was super-nice and gave me a great explanation of how things work, from his perspective. As I thought, he will wait until just before the 30-day expiration of the Federal paperwork, then call them. If he can't get approval when he calls, he will re-file the paperwork and the 30-day clock starts again. I was kind of aghast at this, but he said that if it happened again, he would find a way to get the gun to me.

All of this is moot, as the 30-day on my CPL will be Friday, so worst case the Federal paperwork expires and he re-files when I bring in my CPL.

Bad, bad news for those who do not have CPLs, thinking they will never carry so why get one.