Grandpa's WWII stuff...

Seanpmc1 · 08-20-2009, 02:32 PM

by Adrian Stevenson

On the weapons issue you are correct. Shotguns and bolt action rifles are legal but have to be registered and licenced.

We're still pretty free on those issues. A permit is required to buy a Handgun, but it isn't an actual license, it just states that your Sheriffs Dept. checked your criminal record. Long Guns don't require a permit, but the dealer has to call the ATF before the gun changes hands. The last time I bought anything from a dealer, everything was over and done ith in about 15 minutes.

We are also allowed to own fully automatic weapons, but the cost of the license, and the amount of red tape involved is more trouble and expense than its worth, in my opinion.

I got a chance to shoot a 50 round clip through a legally owned Mini-Uzi once. The thing was uncontrollable. And the experience also left me with the full realization of how stupid Hollywood is with their portrayal of machine guns in movies. Those 50 rounds went through that gun so fast, I thought it had jammed.

**Nige H** · 08-20-2009, 10:57 PM

Hi Sean,
the gun and some knife laws here are very prohibitive when compare with the U.S.A. firearms laws are easy basically if its semi or fully auto forget it, rifles, and some types of shotgun are permitted especially if your a re-enactor, as now since some news laws came into force being a re-enactor is legally recognised as a legitimate reason for owning certain types of firearms. Also home made or scratch built blank firing weapons are sort of legal but if I try to explain why sort of, I'll be here till Christmas. Anyway if you built your own gun before 2007 (such as my Mk1*) and it fires only blanks then you can have it full auto

now if you by a blank firer you have to be part of a re-enactment group with a proper membership. As to knives again some British laws are very complex meaning certain items can be kept if already owned, but not transported, or sold on! come to think of it there's quite a few laws like that in the U.K. LOL

Nige.

Seanpmc1 · 08-21-2009, 02:31 PM

by Nige H

blank firing weapons are sort of legal

I never thought about that. I'll have to look around for information on whether we can do that here or not.

I've never seen any 9MM Blanks over here, but they shouldn't be too hard to make. Figuring out the amount of powder to use would be the hard part. Are your blank-firing weapons done with a fully closed bore, or with a restricted bore that won't allow the passage of a projectile?

That would make a considerable difference on loading the blanks. If the bore is partially open, you would have to balance it out where it would still have enough power to cycle the bolt. If the bore is completely blocked though, a very small amount of a fast burning powder like Bullseye or Red Dot would do the job. For that matter, the primer alone may be enough to cycle it with a fully closed bore. Wouldn't make much noise though.

I've fired blanks through an AR-15 before, but that was with a fully operational rifle. They make a clunky looking attachment that covers the flash hider and has a small hole to allow passage of the excess gas. Not much of a bang with them either though, the cycling of the action makes almost as much noise as the blank.

**Adrian Stevenson** · 08-21-2009, 06:23 PM

9mm blanks are easy to buy here but onlt if you are part of a legitimate re-enactment group with full insurance cover, but they are now getting expensive, like all ammo of any kind. £25 for 100 rounds is typical and they might be going up to £30 a 100 or so I have been told. The type we use are made by the Serbian Company, Privi Partizan. It is good reliable stuff.

The weapons we (2nd Guards) use are all original WW2 guns, and these are fitted with a restrictor (grub screw) in the end of the barrel in order to cycle the action full auto. These we can only hire as they come under section 5 of the Firearms Act. This is done for a weekend and costs about £65 with about 50 rounds thrown in for something like a PPSh41 or PPS. To hire you need to be a club member and hand over several forms of ID including your Passport to the firearms dealer doing the hire. This is allowed under the Law as it comes under "Film and Theatrical" use.

Cheers, Ade.

Seanpmc1 · 08-21-2009, 07:13 PM

As far as I can tell from a short internet search, we can't do anything with De-Milled guns except weld them up solid. Lots of conflicting information on the internet as far as US laws go, so I guess my safest bet would be to just weld it up and hang it on the wall...