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There still seems to be general impression that for those of us living in the yUK, guns are a 'wow! wouldn't that be great' thang.

Nothing is further from the truth.

Here in UK - all of the four countries that make it up, remember - shooting sports put over £3 BILLION into the treasury on a year-by-year basis, set to increase, BTW, as more and more people take up one form of the sport or another.

So, what can the UK shooter actually possess - legally?

1. ANY manually-operated rifle or carbine, nitro or black powder, up to about 3/4" calibre. I say 3/4" calibre because one London gun company actually makes a .700 Nitro Express double rifle, but nobody [yet] makes an .800.

2. ANY BP loose-loading handgun up to and including 3/4" calibre.

3. ANY rimfire calibre rifle or carbine - no matter how it functions. In theory at least, a manually-cranked Gatling is legal, as it is manually operated. Nobody, however, has tested such a case in court.

Yet.

If you are paying attention, this is where it gets complicated. ALL of the above firearms, unless they are SMOOTH-BORE, as classed as Section 1 [rifled] firearms, and are registered by the police and entered on your Firearms Certificate [FAC]. NOT license, but certificate. If you are not sure what the difference is then I implore you to look it up. It is SUBSTANTIAL, in UK law, that is. However, included in that are ANY shotguns, no matter how operated, that can hold and fire more than THREE cartridges. That apart, there is NO limit on the size of magazine for any Section 1 firearm. No tax on moderators, 24/7/365 countryside shooting, too. No game tags, either.

Okay so far?

Right.

ALL shotguns, no matter how operated, IF they hold and fire three or LESS cartridges, as classed as, uh, shotguns, and go on a Shotgun Certificate or SGC. Every person in the yUK over the age of 18, of sound mind and not criminal, could have a shotgun, if he or she wanted to. That's why there are about 6 million of them. It is up to the police to provide substantial evidence that you are NOT a suitable person if they refuse to issue such a document.

4. ALL rifle/carbine airguns - up to 12ft lbs m/e, are freely available to the over 18's without any kind of documentation or certificate or license. More than that, and they are treated like a Section 1 [Rifled] firearm. Even the smooth-bore historical reproductions like the Lewis and Clark Girardoni pump-up rifle replicas et al, of which there are, uh, none in the yUK. The real things exist here, no doubt, but they are not, generally speaking, in the public domain but are kept as antique curios of substantial monetary value. Air pistols are similarly limited, but this time, to 6 ft lbs m/e. There are NO over-6 ft lb m/e air pistols of any kind legally available in the yUK.

5. The oddballs, included in the documentation, are punt guns - still very much in use on the plentious marshland of the South Eastern part of yUK. Smooth-bore, and up to 2" calibre, they are deemed to be 'not readily concealable'. Well, no s**t, Sherlock.

6. Cannons, either real or replica, are by special arrangement, but there are a good many of them around. Note that the yUK has a THRIVING re-enactment scene, with the Sealed Knot [the English Civil War] and the Blue and the Grey [YOUR recent civil war] having a VERY large following numbering well over ten thousand. A few years back the BATG put on a very realistic representation of the Battle of Shiloh, and comments for your N-SSA were very favourable. So, how do all those worthies in these re-enactment groups get on with licensing their firearms - that shoot only blanks? Simple - each and every one of them is held on a shotgun certificate.

There are a few, very few, bright spots in all this. If you live in Northern Ireland, then there are NO restrictions on the sale and possession of cartridge-firing handguns, unlike the rest of the yUK. The flip-side is that ALL airguns of ANY kind over 1J m/e, are classed as Section 12 firearms.

Meanwhile, back on mainland yUK, that's England, Scotland and Wales for those of you geographically-challenged, the one bright spot to be found lies in the legislation that does NOT exist, and it concerns what WE call long-barrelled handguns. Since they were never even dreamed of in the handgun ban - they did not, in fact, exist per se - they are renamed as 'short rifles' because they have a barrel with a minimum length of 12" and an overall length of not less than 24". Any and all revolver calibres are permitted [I have a Ruger Super Redhawk in .357Mag] - rifle calibres in the case of single-shot, as used in the sport of long-range pistol shooting - but only .22 rimfire are permitted as semi-auto types. I suggest you look 'em up. 'GSG M1911 UK-legal' will get 'em...

Since there are no legally-held public domain rifled semi-auto centrefires of any format, the yUK's specialist gunmakers have devised the manually-operated 'straight-pull' AR and similar. Even even the LMT rifle can be had in .22 as a semi-auto, but in .223 and .308 as a straight-pull, as can the FAL, the M1 Garand, the Dragunov SVD an whole load of AKs, the Steyr AUG and numerous others. These can be used in the Civilian Service Rifle matches run at Bisley and other locations. BTW, Southern Gun Company has just announced a lever-release .308Win AR!!!! Basically, you fire, the bolt goes back and stays to the rear until you use your thumb to activate what looks like a safety catch. The bolt RTB, picking up a round as it does so, and you shoot again. Just about 3-5% slower than aimed fire with a semi.... a truly GIANT leap sideways, most would agree. There is also the not insignificant cost of such a thing - it STARTS at £4750.00 and goes up as you add glass, bipod etc.....

This is a start post - any and all NON-flaming queries will be respectfully answered. Anything less will be ignorised.

tac



 
Last Edited:
"5. The oddballs, included in the documentation, are punt guns - still very much in use on the plentious marshland of the South Eastern part of yUK. Smooth-bore, and up to 2" calibre, they are deemed to be 'not readily concealable'. Well, no s**t, Sherlock."

Always wanted a punt gun to shut up the .338 ninjas... Sure your gun goes farther, but mine is a 2" bore. Top that MF.
 
It's amazing what our leaders will do to keep us safe.

We have a guy here in the hospital.
A stranger walked up to him. Threw gas on him. And then lit him on fire by throwing a book of lit matches at him.

I bet he's glad he wasn't shot? o_O


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thanks for the information! I have wondered about this.
Too bad about the high caliber semi auto ban... but it seems like you guys are finding a way around it. I'd be interested in one of those "side-step" guns.
Can ya tell I like the C-96? Overly complicated, mechanically interesting. LoL
 
(Sarcasm alert) I am surprised that they don't ban muzzleloaders with which for 300 years they conquered and ruled 1\4 of the world with. Just don't say anything about this to those in charge, they might get ideas. Seems like the British Empire starting going downhill with the introduction of smokeless powder and breech loading guns and artillery.
 
(Sarcasm alert) I am surprised that they don't ban muzzleloaders with which for 300 years they conquered and ruled 1\4 of the world with. Just don't say anything about this to those in charge, they might get ideas. Seems like the British Empire starting going downhill with the introduction of smokeless powder and breech loading guns and artillery.
Naw, it is hard to beat the Lee-Enfield as a bolt-action battle rifle. What did the Empire in was butting heads with the Prusso-German war machine. A lot of tonnage went under the waves and a lot of good men went under the ground.
Can Britons lawfully possess/use/carry modern-made black powder revolvers? As in repro Colts or Remingtons?
 

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