Small Arms models

Edited By Ian S C on 31/08/2010 15:04:45

Before making replicas or models of any firearm make sure you KNOW what the law says about it. I am very involved with an amateur theatre and we have to be very careful when we hire weapons for use in a play. In many cases if the law thinks it looks real enough to be used for intimidation it WILL be treated as a firearm even if its a childs toy bought from a market stall. Also such "weapons" have to be kept under secure conditions, in our case a locked cupboard inside a locked room, and we have to have a nominated "armourer" who takes responsibility for the weapons at all times while they are outside the secure storage. In July this role fell to me for a production that invoved 3 muskets, 2 flint-lock pistols and 3 swords for good measure - all non practical but very realistic if youre looking down the wrong end.

Keith

If it is the personal decision of the Editor (or the Editorial Committee) not to publish such information then that is OK, but if this decision has been made as a result of pressure being brought by the ‘Authorities’ then that is censorship which is contrary to one of the protocols in the European Charter of human rights. If threats were used under some act then that is downright illegal as Parliament never intended that the act be used in that way. People have been arrested for taking photographs in the street under this act!

In 2002 (the last year I drew books from a U.K. public library) books on gunsmithing and pictures of guns were freely available. You could also buy them from a well known Mail Order book seller who advertises in M.E and MEWS.  A 1/5 scale 0.577 Enfield dating to 1857-8 would have a bore of 0.115” which is 0.006” under 7/64”. Try drilling that hole about 7 to 8” deep.

The problem is when is a gun not a gun?  When is a piece of metal a gun? When it has a hole drilled up it? If that is the case every bit of tube is a gun! Where does this logic end? The pons asinorum is, “Is a quantity of metal ore a gun”? A Chief Constable once said publically that all model engineers spent their time re-activating de-activated weapons.  The answer to him is that well known soap powder 'Brollix'

I suspect that this is all down to our ‘Managers’ in the Hume Office and the gnomes of Elfin Safety who for reasons of ‘Blame’ wish to suppress all knowledge of anything sharp, pointy, or goes bang. They would only allow us to have wax crayons in here as a pencil can be sharp!

Edited By David Clark 1 on 01/09/2010 11:03:40

P.S I wanted to edit my last posting but could not. I wanted to add that: -

The calibre of a gun is the ratio of the barrel length to its bore and not its bore.

Edited By Axel on 01/09/2010 15:32:05