SMLE without deac certificate

[Peter Laidler]

Sorry Robert (thread 16) but saying that because your old spec deacts dont have (or you have lost the) certificates that they have to be disposed or got rid of is a ludicrous statement. It's like saying that you have to get rid of your car if you have lost the MoT test certificate. Absolute rubbish............ Go to the bottom of the class!

They either ARE or they AREN'T deactivated. The fact that the proof house will not RE-issue you with a cert is neither here nor there.

[Beerhunter]

They either ARE or they AREN'T deactivated. The fact that the proof house will not RE-issue you with a cert is neither here nor there.

Couldn't agree more Peter. On top of which, for post 1988, it is the marks made by the Proof House on the firearm that caries the weight of law.

[Peter Laidler]

Even then not necessarily so Beery, but it does change the onus of proof if it's not blatantly obvious. If the mark was obliteated by, say, bead blasting or phosphating and painting as has been the case, the item REMAINS deactivated.

In one case that I was asked to pass an opinion on for XYZ Police, a deact L2A3 Sterling that had been converted (badly if I had to offer an opinion on the workmanship.....) into a still deacted L34 silenced gun had obliterated the mark during the process. But everyone was happy because once the Officer in the case could see two real ones together and establish in his own mind what had happened he could clearly see that it was the same deact but in a different guise. The same happened with a deact SMLE that the same person had converted into a DeLisle. The problem with this one was that the stamped bolt was mismatched in any case and showed the wrong serial number. But was clearly.......... anyway, you get my drift......

[lugerfan]

Can anyone confirm if the proof mark showing the deact date (and I guess the proof office) stamped on a bolt(in 2 places ?) has to match the deact date etc. on the rest of the rifle? I’ve always assumed that the 2 components have to match for the deact proofing to remain legal (even if the serial numbers don't actually match – given the number of non-matching deacts that are around)

I presume the deact cert take the number stamped on the rifle body as the master number.

I’ve never had to swap deactivated bolts on a deact rifle, but did wonder if this would be an issue if anyone had to.

Presumably it would then require a new recertification by the proof office?

[Robert303]

Hello Peter,
Sorry if I gave the impression that I felt I had to get rid of them as I did not have the Certs. I meant to say 'That I WANT to get rid of'. I know that are properly Deactivated and properly marked and so are NOT firearms under either section 1 or section 5 of the various Firearms acts.

[shop tom]

Sorry shop tom, deactivation can include any weapon, from a bolt action rifle to 15 pound field gun, all depends on if the owner has the right certificate etc to own , if he wants to posess a firearm but not use it and does not want to keep it live then de activation is the way to go.

Thank you very much. I was beginning to think I was invisible.

tom

[conec]

Sad isn't it - that people who are law abiding and indeed law respecting should be subjected to this.

At least as sad as the above is what these old, beautiful rifles are subjected to. Truly sad that...

[Peter Laidler]

Further to that Shop Tom, words like 'bleedin obvious' don't even enter into the equation here in the UK. If you own a Sherman Firefly tank with a 17 pounder gun, guess what you have to do with the breech block and barrel.....................? Yep............, got it in one! Got a 120mm WOMBAT anti tank gun that fires electrically fired/detonated ammunition with a back blast area of a zillion yards, with ammo last made in 1967 mounted on your Land Rover..................? Yep, got it in one!

[Surpmil]

Sad, but true.

[Ben Cartwright]

Wow, and I thought that Massachusetts was bad with a 10 round limit on magazines and the assault weapons ban, you can have them but not bayonet lugs (to stop drive-by bayonettings) or flash hider.

I have two "demilled" a Garand and an 03 but the barrel still has some that is not welded at the last 10 inches or so. I'll put up with Obama for now.