Aside from the legal questions. Lets say the guns for boat trade happens at 2PM on a Sunday afternoon on the property of the Indiana resident. The guy drives away with the boat and the new owner of the guns admires and handles and maybe even shoots his new guns.
Does it really make sense to you that the new owner of the guns report to an FFL Monday morning at 8AM to determine that he is legally able to possess these guns? Or maybe he should say to the person that is trying to trade him the guns, No, I can't possess these guns until the federal government advises that I am legal to own these guns.
The 4473 does not transfer an individual firearm from one owner to another. It merely verifies that the new owner of a firearm is not prohibited from possessing a firearm.
I choose to not lick anybody's boots.....But I still don't think the transferee has to jump through these hoops....
I think you're misinterpreting the transfer process. It's not simply to determine if the new own is able to legally possess the firearm. The Form 4473 is required for record keeping purposes because it is a interstate transfer - it doesn't matter how the firearm arrived or where the transfer took place. The important fact is that the transferee and transferer live in two different states.
Someone else should chime in if I'm wrong, but the transfer process requires the dealer to log the firearm into his bound book and then immediately back out, thus meeting the rules set out by the BATFE. The Form 4473 and NICS background check would be, in this case, a formality that, while we agree is not pragmatically necessary, a legal requirement.
Furthermore, in the example you presented, the receiver of the firearm took possession before this process was completed, thus being in violation. I'm not sure how a dealer would feel if the receiver showed up with gun in hand and said, "I got this gun from a guy in AR, who's long gone, transfer it to me."
And to the OP, you mentioned meeting half way - well one option is to meet at a gun shop and examine the gun. When you're satisfied, buy the gun and have that dealer ship the firearm to your dealer in IN where the transfer will actually occur. I'm sure the cost of shipping wouldn't exceed the cost of gas on that trip!