De-activated!!!!!!!!!!!

[enscien]

Whilst we have pretty strict firearms legislation in the UK it is certainly possible to obtain the licence for manually operated rifles as collector's items or for shooting. You have to show 'good reasons' for their acquisition, have secure storage (eg a concealed security cabinet), and an approved place to use them if they are to be fired. Also supply addresses of two referees for your character, have no criminal record, supply four photos etc. If your justification is target shooting the police will check your usage with the rifle club. Then you have to pay a £50 fee for the first 5 years and go through the process again every 5 years. This is worthwhile if you are seriously interested.
However our deactivation standards for bolt action rifles are not as severe as in some countries: the barrel has to be slit, plugged, and secured to the receiver with a welded pin so that it cannot easily be replaced. The bolt lugs are weakened, firing pin tip cut off, and receiver feed ramp cut through. Externally the appearance of the rifle is unchanged, the bolt can be manipulated and the gun field stripped and dry fired. As a non-firearm a de-act can be displayed in your living room, den or whatever without restriction. You would be ill-advised to walk about the street carrying it uncovered however as a police 'armed response vehicle' would probably be summoned!
Many thousands of these de-acs have been sold over the last 24 years since they were put on a proper legal footing and they enable people to collect and enjoy guns without the hassle of licencing, and sell them on easily (and often profitably) when necessary. Most of the Lee-Enfields are not rare: often tired and worn out re-imports from overseas which have been fitted with new furniture and other parts.
It is indeed a shame if pristine, rare, or otherwise desirable guns are ruined by de-activation (as has been the case with too many museums) and one would certainly not advocate that but the alternative could well be total destruction. De-activation has at least allowed many Lee-Enfields to survive in some form and give people the pleasure of their ownership.

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[peregrinvs]

Many thousands of these de-acs have been sold over the last 24 years since they were put on a proper legal footing and they enable people to collect and enjoy guns without the hassle of licencing, and sell them on easily (and often profitably) when necessary. Most of the Lee-Enfields are not rare: often tired and worn out re-imports from overseas which have been fitted with new furniture and other parts.

It also allows UK civilians to legally own various types of prohibited weapon such as MG's, SMG's, assault rifles, etc. In the case of LMG's, the deact spec is relatively benign and they can be cocked and partially field stripped. As owning such weapons live is pretty much a no-no - both in the UK and most of the rest of the world - I would argue the UK deact market has saved a lot of stuff from the smelter.

I can also vouch that a lot of the Lee-Enfields that get deactivated in the UK aren't particularly desirable examples. A friend and I were browsing through the deact SMLE's at Beltring last year and an awful lot of them has obviously been partially or fully built from spares - probably fairly recently.

[Aragorn243]

I've read two of these threads with "interest" although somewhat horrified interest. I'm not sure which is worse, that the guns are being deactivated or that people come to accept these deactivated guns as GUNS. These ceased being that the instant they were deactivated. From an investor/collector standpoint I guess it could be looked at as increasing the value of firearms owned by others as the supply shrinks.

I have not seen many British arms finding there way to the US lately. The last batch of imports I took notice of were about 20 years ago. A good advantage of living in the US is that we seem to be the final destination of all the firearms no one else wants anymore. The former Soviet Union states are padding their finances by selling off the Mosin Nagants and now Nagant handguns to importers in the States.

As an example of differing rights/laws/whatever, yesterday I walked into a major firearms dealer and with no license at all walked out an hour later with a fully functioning Nagant 1895 revolver and a box of ammo that cost me nothing because I used credit card points to make the purchase. I filled out one two sided paper and the front of a second, gave them my drivers license and they performed what is called an instant check over the phone with the State Police computer system.

Enfields typically sell in gun shops for between $200-$400 US with most at the lower end. If they've been sporterized, they often go for even less. Prices are going up for them and collector grade will bring much higher premiums. The Mosin Nagant 91/30's can be purchased commonly for $99 and frequently for as little as $79. The price on my Nagant Revolver was $149.

I really don't know what to suggest to those under gun restrictions, probably never be able to get that cat back in the bag at this point and with each succeeding generation growing up in that environment, it's only going to get harder.