No4 Mk1 Cutaway (Skeleton) Action

[Beerhunter]

I saw a couple of No.4 skeleton actions for sale at Beltring last year with deactivation certificates. Would the proof house have passed them 'as is',

The Proof House certainly shouldn't do that. The Primary Legislation (1988 Firearms Amendment Act) points to set of deactivation rules which the Proof Houses must stick to. Those rules are extremely prescriptive and neither Proof House can vary them.

I have to agree with Thunderbox. In my opinion, they are clearly Section 5. This is partly based on my having fired a No.4 Skeleton at school (it has to be admitted only with blank) by simply replacing the bolt with one out of a service Rifle.

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[Brit plumber]

"I have spoken with the Proof House and the Pattern Room and various Police Forces and this item is NOT a firearm. Any skeleton action that has the SKN serial numbers was made by the manufacturer and has never been a 'firearm' it therefore does not need putting 'on ticket'. Any skeleton action that does not have the SKN number has been converted by MOD Armourers, the Gun Trade etc. and therefore has been a firearm. (Once a firearm, always a firearm !!!) and therefore they would be a section 1 firearm.
The only Police Force that will not accept the SKN ones as non-firearms is Yorkshire who insist they are scetion 1"

Now bring on the SKN marked Brens!

[Thunderbox]

It was interesting that the auctioneer (before the auction started) made an annoncement about this lot :

"I have spoken with the Proof House and the Pattern Room and various Police Forces and this item is NOT a firearm. Any skeleton action that has the SKN serial numbers was made by the manufacturer and has never been a 'firearm' it therefore does not need putting 'on ticket'. Any skeleton action that does not have the SKN number has been converted by MOD Armourers, the Gun Trade etc. and therefore has been a firearm. (Once a firearm, always a firearm !!!) and therefore they would be a section 1 firearm.
The only Police Force that will not accept the SKN ones as non-firearms is Yorkshire who insist they are scetion 1"

The auctioneer was quite wrong then: many/most SKNs clearly bear remains of their original marks and are in no way any different to armourer-prepared skeletons.

The fact remains that any UK owner remains at risk of being charged with possession of a prohibited weapon (barrel length) and/or an unauthorised Section 1 firearm, as SKNs clearly do not meet old or current de-activation criteria. The only "safe" option is further deactivation, which Birmingham accept as a pinned chamber, slotted receiver ring & chamber, ground bolthead and cut firing pin.

[Peter Laidler]

Surely chaps........... if they are allowing them by virtue of the 'other means of deactivation' clause and using the 'bleedin' obvious' criteria, then maybe we should graciously accept what is being allowed/offered.

In other words....................................

[Peter Laidler]

Let's stop what I'm going to call 'silliness..................' There is only one current DP spec and it is the L59A1, to the EMER specification. Nothing halfway, nothing inbetween. We're talking about the UK MoD spec L59 A1. Twist the tail of the lion, in this case, the Home Office or the Proof Master and they'll bite you back

[Alan de Enfield]

Let's stop what I'm going to call 'silliness..................' There is only one current DP spec and it is the L59A1, to the EMER specification. Nothing halfway, nothing inbetween. We're talking about the UK MoD spec L59 A1. Twist the tail of the lion, in this case, the Home Office or the Proof Master and they'll bite you back

Peter - in the post I referred to there was no mention of the L59 (until 5 posts later) hence my question as to which level of DP was under discussion.

......in facAs a matter of interest, the decision regarding that was made with us here at Warminster with all the paperwork. But, all of the SKN rifles started their lives as 'rifles'. They were converted in the 50's by LIST and Co at Dagenham under a big Enfield factory contract programme. List also did the Bren Guns too. But it's good to know that another official Enfield can be collected. To be honest, I think that they form a great part of a collection.

As I understand it, again with guidance from here, the DP's will soon be classified similarly. Maybe they already are. Can EFD help heret that

".......

[Peter Laidler]

The only one that they'll accept is the UK MoD 'standard' that's done to the drawing spec. That's the L59

[Peter Laidler]

Maybe you should sensitively/sensibly modify the bolt to deact status and ask the local police to take it off your FAC as being '...unable to be proofed and incapable of supporting...........' etc etc.

Many Officers and Sergeants messes had these and L1A1 rifles deactivated by their parent workshops to display on mess and office walls. Many were also presented to those retiring and no doubt your popular mans got the special treatment. Alas, many fell foul of the official deactivation rules