Talk about rip-off Britain.

[artie]

Would you be happier if someone did start whingeing?

no

 

[pidgeonpost]

Obviously some committed shooters on here. I've had a few air rifles over the years. Started off with a BSA Cadet, then a couple of Airsporters and HW97K which I sold a couple of years ago and bought a BSA Ultra SE. We moved house and the 97K made a hell of a rattle which I feared was going to upset the neighbours. I must admit I don't use it much these days but it is nice and quiet.
Other stuff? We'll pass swiftly on from the highly illegal Webley Service Revolver that my father brought home as a souvenir from WW2, also the pump-action Winchester .22 discovered while clearing a derelict workshop. Another WW2 relic was my Lee Enfield SMLE MK3. Many of these were bored out to .410 and sold as such. We lived in a valley at that time and the sound of a 3" Magnum cartridge was quite something.
I didn't use it much, but one year the local bobby didn't show up to check I was storing it safely. I rang the Police station and the officer's level of interest went up a couple of notches when I mentioned the type of gun. He asked if it had a removable magazine, which it did of course. Mine was only single shot but I'd heard they could be modified to multi-shot. He then told me that the removable mag made this a firearm not a shotgun and that if an officer called to inspect the premises he would have no option but to arrest me.
To cut the story short I took it to a gunsmith who was to weld the magazine in place and send the gun for reproofing. The gun mistakenly ended up with others that were to be deactivated so it was bye-bye Lee Enfield. I was not a happy bunny.

 

[Lons]

I sorted out the workshop of a good pal a number of years ago after his death and discovered a rusty old rifle clearly not fired for many years, originally a .22 but bored out. His widow said he had used it on a farm to control vermin but she was scared of it and wanted it gone. I took it home with a nice old ammo box with mixed shells and blanks, that was a Sunday morning and after looking at it later I was a bit concerned so at around 9pm I rang the Northumberland police HQ and told them the whole story asking where I could take it to hand in the next day.

So after listening, the guy says "do you have a licence?" - NO, I already told you that. "Err....is it in a locked gun cabinet?" - No, it's locked away in my fully alarmed workshop as I've explained. " Well you can't hand it in as you're not allowed to transport it anywhere or keep it" - But as I explained I've already transported it back to my home as the owner, a breathed old lady was scared of it, anyway you've just finished an amnesty where guns and knives were being handed in by people travelling on busses ffs. "Just a minute sir give me your details again and I'll pass on to firearms department who should be in touch with you tomorrow."

5 minutes later I get a 'phone call "we're on our way" and within 20 minutes there are two burly armed policemen on my doorstep, by this time 10.30pm. I just held out my hands and said "put the cuffs on " They had driven at speed they said nearly 25 miles and were at the end of their shift so should be off duty but they were great. Looked at the ammo and took all the live stuff but left the blanks which surprised me then when they came through to my office for details of the owner they noticed empty 303 shells on a shelf and I saw their expression change until I showed that I make pens out of them, an example of which one of them would have bought but he didn't have any cash and I wouldn't give him credit.

My next door neighbour was at the time a DCI and one a few doors away a retired police firearms instructor and both doubled up laughing when I relayed the story. The DCI just said "you dozy tw*t, should've just given it to me and I'd have taken it in." DOH

 

[Puggers]

@pidgeonpost I'm aware of a number of similar incidents where the firearms have ended up being deactivated when they weren't meant to - absolutely gutting for the owner. Have you seen the asking price for some deactivated firearms now with the full certification? Absolutely amazing and occasionally more than an activated piece.

Regarding your Lee Enfield, I owned a number of them over the years and they were a pleasure to shoot although I didn't own any of the US/Canadian, etc. models. As a service rifle, they are of course one of the true icons and were very much 'recycled' when they became damaged back through the factories so they can live another day, albeit, the replacement wood they sometimes came back with looked odd if you were prone to a bit of OCD...

The one I had a love/hate relationship with was a No5 Jungle Carbine which was an utter beast to shoot given the shorter barrel and its lesser accuracy for that reason. When I first got it I used it for a couple of hours over 100 yards and in the morning was wimpering with the genuine pain in my shoulder - I should have known better given it had a steel butt plate. If anything it heightened my admiration for the lads that used them during times of service.

The K98 was also a superb rifle and as you'd expect, very well put together and slick to shoot, dare I say it, probably smoother than the Enfield.

 

[pidgeonpost]

@pidgeonpost I'm aware of a number of similar incidents where the firearms have ended up being deactivated when they weren't meant to - absolutely gutting for the owner. Have you seen the asking price for some deactivated firearms now with the full certification? Absolutely amazing and occasionally more than an activated piece.

Regarding your Lee Enfield, I owned a number of them over the years and they were a pleasure to shoot although I didn't own any of the US/Canadian, etc. models. As a service rifle, they are of course one of the true icons and were very much 'recycled' when they became damaged back through the factories so they can live another day, albeit, the replacement wood they sometimes came back with looked odd if you were prone to a bit of OCD...

The one I had a love/hate relationship with was a No5 Jungle Carbine which was an utter beast to shoot given the shorter barrel and its lesser accuracy for that reason. When I first got it I used it for a couple of hours over 100 yards and in the morning was wimpering with the genuine pain in my shoulder - I should have known better given it had a steel butt plate. If anything it heightened my admiration for the lads that used them during times of service.

The K98 was also a superb rifle and as you'd expect, very well put together and slick to shoot, dare I say it, probably smoother than the Enfield.

In fairness to the gunsmiths they replaced my Lee Enfield with another one but it was a 'bitsa' and all the metalwork had been blacked whereas mine had been all original with a nice patina on the stock and metalwork. When I bought it there was a competition sight fitted so I guess it was used for full bore target shooting in a previous life.
I was gutted at the time, but a combination of domestic circumstances and tighter rules led me to eventually trade it in.

 

[skeetstar]

Pigeonpost, your no 5 should have had a thick rubber butt pad, if that was missing I can imagine you suffered.

 

[Puggers]

@skeetstar In principal, I agree about the pad as some research before I finally bought it indicated as much but other findings also referenced the steel ones. The steel one I had was serial marked and corresponded with that shown on the butt itself although that could of course have been done deliberately as an aftermarket addition.

Some of the rubber ones I'd seen had started to delaminate and I preferred the look of the steel so I wasn't overly fussed whether it was an original fitting or not and after its first outing I just treated it with more caution

 

[NeiljohnUK]

Go to Shootcert, they do it for 65ukp, and your doctor gets nothing but is legally obliged to supply them the requisite info.
Doctors are not asked for opinions, they are simply asked for facts, I think the system imposes nil risk on doctors if they do all that is required, ..but I don't think that has been tested in court,
Lastly leaving you have left it far too late, even for renewals I think the police recommend 8 weeks in advance. My last one was three months before the termination date.. but the FLO performance was absolutely stellar and I got my new cert turn around in less than 48 hours.

Nice to hear some constabularies can get things done efficiently, mine advises renewal can take more than 8 weeks from submission, which I might have made if my GP practice had followed their contractual timetable and forwarded my medical file (a few key strokes) in side the 28 days as specified, they took nearer 60 to do so to Medcert (£65 as well), so lodging will be needed.

Hopefully our old head of licencing won't be made the UK head of licencing training as one of our ex-chief constables at the National College of Policing has been proposing, or everyone else may start suffering the same foot-dragging obstructionism he was infamous for... Though he wasn't popular with the Home office according to a friend and senior FEO with another constabulary, and with Full Economic Cost Recovery pricing being implemented in February the usual claims of underfunding and understaffing won't wash anymore.

 

[NeiljohnUK]

Just waiting for the comments about the 'Full Economic Cost Recovery' price increase starting next month, still they won't be able to complain about underfunding, and thus understaffing, anymore.