New spec VS old spec , what are your views ...

[severin]

Hello, Sounds very nice, who deactivated the luger? I will not bore people with details but who dectivated my last Mg42 was key and took me over a year to find one.

[Alexander]

I didn't mean to totally imply that newer specs are worse. What I meant by brutish is the whole process nowadays whereby everything moving inside a assault rifle, for example, is removed and the receiver welded shut. Most of the pistols I see are done fairly well, including the newer spec. Bolt action rifles are also done up nicely enough in the new spec, but modern weapons end up basically 'gutted like a fish', as one person put it. I may have been lucky, but my 1994 Colt deact is nicely done. A hole was drilled thru the barrel to insert the pin, afterwards it was filled in and blued over. You can just about see the trace of the weld. By contrast, the plug used to block the cylinder in my S&W is already beginning to rust, two years after it was deactivated. I guess, as you state, it depends on the person doing the deactivation. I would imagine, and hope, that with these pieces becoming more expensive in Europe, more care will go into the work. A poorly deactivated gun will, I'm sure, not hold its value against a good job. Part of the fun of owning a historic weapon is to 'play' with it. I live in the UK at the moment, so I cannot legally own a handgun. However I grew up in the US and within the US military. My dad had a series of guns, Colts, S&Ws and 30-06 rifles. I was able to use M16s as a kid while dad was in the military. I was able to totally strip my fathers' M1911A1 aged ten or eleven. My first gun I ever owned was a Colt .38. I love the feel of a gun, pulling back the bolt, stripping them, etc. Can't do that with the new deacts.

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[HARRY THE MOLE]

Hello, Sounds very nice, who deactivated the luger? I will not bore people with details but who dectivated my last Mg42 was key and took me over a year to find one.

The pistol was deactivated by C & G Firearms Ltd. And a very neat job too! I take the view that some gunsmiths are not too bothered how tidy their work is... 'After all, its never going to fire again is it?' Others really do take pride in their workmanship. I think interpretation of the law in respect of the way the work has to be carried out is another issue as well. Some go beyond what they need to do.

Alexander, I would ask why you would let the cylinder of you pistol rust in such a way. As an ex- squaddie, such a sight horrifies me! The pistol may well be deactivated, and the rust may be out of sight. But surely you could give it a good soaking in oil to kill it off?

[Alexander]

Don't worry, already used oil and a Q-tip to clean it up. I just love the smell of an oiled revolver!

[Gunny Hartmann]

This is the only deactivated weapon i own a new spec DDR MPi KM (AKM) bought from Helston gunsmiths a couple of years ago, just getting it was a pain as for some reason they will only post to a business address?? so i had to have it delivered to a friends tattoo studio.
I don't know who actually did the deactivation but its as rough as hell, huge great blobs of weld everywhere and nothing moves. As somebody said a new spec is really a big fancy paperweight, i'd love an old spec for the mechanical feel of it but the difference in price is amazing, i paid £140 but as you know an old spec AKM/AK47 is £600-£750 way out of my price range.

[ph3s]

I was going along with deacts old or new up to the moment I bough a new spec STEN (I mean WFT?) I really couldn't believe that. From that moment I swear I wouldn't touch any other auto or semi-auto new spec even if someone offers me an MP38 / SVT38 etc for under £200.(Now I'm exaggerating I would buy it off course but just to sell it on gunstar) Don't get me wrong I 'm not talking about cock and dry fire or pushing rounds into barrel. I had enough of hot firing. I just want to be able to desasembele the item to be able to clean and preserve it.

[Time Bandit]

This is the only deactivated weapon i own a new spec DDR MPi KM (AKM) bought from Helston gunsmiths a couple of years ago, just getting it was a pain as for some reason they will only post to a business address?? so i had to have it delivered to a friends tattoo studio.
I don't know who actually did the deactivation but its as rough as hell, huge great blobs of weld everywhere and nothing moves.

I once bought a deact MK1 Bren a few years back and when I got it I was so shocked at how rough the deact process was that it was packed up again and returned for a refund the next day. The people who had submitted it for to the proof house for the deact cert etc was Helston. I dunno if they do the work in house or someone does it for them but whoever it was the workmanship was pretty grim! I didn't buy it from Helston and it was a few years after it had been done when I bought it.
Actually the people I bought it off didn't help the situation either...when I opened the packaging all I could smell was what I thought was paint, a quick look at the gun, or parts of it gave me the feeling somebody had been recently playing with a can of matt black paint...that was a deact I was glad to see the back off I must admit.

[Gunny Hartmann]

I had to grind a lot of weld away where the bolt carrier was welded to the receiver, it was pushing the recoil spring up and making it a real struggle to get the receiver cover on properly. I did complain about the shoddy work but all they said was "none of it is visible from the outside".