At what point do you 'Break the Law' ?

mry · 13-10-2005, 05:35 PM

You buy a new rifle in say xyz calibre and want to re-barrel it with a barrel in another calibre.

What is it when you have taken the barrel off the action ? is it still the rifle on your FAC?

What do you need on your FAC for a barrel and calibre change - facility for a rifle in both calibres - but that is two rifles and there is only one action and the FAC variations do not have provision for just a barrel unless it is allied to a rifle not just an action eg 243 Blaser with additional 308 barrel. There is no provision to buy just a barrel or just an action because people DONT do that!

Complicated. Yes. Has anyone else found the answer? And is it the same across the UK or just confined to your County Border?

And how about proof? If someone else screws in the new barrel does it mean you cannot have it back before it is reproofed and if so does that mean the person that actually does the screwing (sorry) has to be an RFD and has to submit it for reproof? Even if I don't want it reproofed.

Just to be difficult - what then happens if you screw the original barrel back on? Where do you stand re proof considering it (barrel and action) has been reproofed at the different calibre size? and do you need to notify the police each time you convert the rifle to a different calibre as if it was a one for one change?

Oh why do we have to have certificates at all ! ! ! !

Without them the Police would not be involved ! ! ! !

hkpete · 15-10-2005, 11:59 AM

You raise a good point, I've been looking at the Sako Quad, I wouldn't mind one, but I'll be damned if I know whether I could purchase it or not seeing as it has 4 different barrels, all in a different calibre.

Graham M · 15-10-2005, 01:23 PM

I always thought that an action was a component part and as such would have to be put onto your ticket as a firearm in its own right.
So if you took the barrel off and bought another one, then the new barrel would have to be placed onto your ticket as a separate item.
The problems arise if you buy a barrel blank and then chamber it yourself, because I’m not sure if it would have a serial number on it if it hasn’t been chambered when you buy it.
Not sure but I think that when you get a gunsmith to do the work, the old barrel is scrapped and the new barrel gets re-stamped with the same number.
Or maybe not…………………

G.M.

ForeignGadger · 29-09-2009, 03:01 PM

I would have thought that you need to have all the calibres on your FAC. The fact that the same action is used on all of them should not be all that relevent. Probably a case that the law did not envisage a multibarrel setup, and thus is lagging behind technology..... what else is new??

FG

DJnRF · 10-10-2009, 06:19 AM

Wouldn't it be better to get enough 'clout'
to lobby to get your whole method changed?
I mean, like here in the U. S. the companies
that manufacture the barrels are required to
do a test fire, record, and even put the
bullet with the barrel to sell, BUT, only the
frame serial number of the weapon is what
identifies that firearm regardless of what
caliber it might have been converted to
by an owner, or how many different of
those calibers the owner might have to
make such conversions. All firearms in
our country are identified by the main
part of the firearm, which is the frame,
not the barrel. A frame can be made into
any caliber by using home made materials,
but a barrel can't be. The frame is what
is designed to consistently handle the
stresses for shooting almost forever.
A cheap, homemade, light duty barrel
can be made from a piece of pipe for any
short term use. Such a frame would be
more of a danger to do so, let alone be
wasting a good barrel to mount on such
a frame. Plus, if you make a completely
homemade firearm, there wouldn't even
be any such record in any jurisdiction
to even worry about a violation of the
law. (Of course, to do so would require
the person making such a firearm to
be competent enough, and have the
proper knowledge, and tools to do
the job to last. However, that also
could be done.)

Just lobby to change the way the law
is written, and you will never have to
worry about such a petty issue as if
a law is being broken by merely changing
the caliber. Heckler-Koch had, along with
others, put out a pistol called the HK-4
that came with the ability to change it
to four different calibers in a matter of
seconds. (I had one where it never took
me more than about 30 seconds to make
the change from .22 to 9mm, or another
caliber.)

No matter what barrel I buy today, it is
the frame number that actually ID's the
firearm in any place in the world. Who
cares that I might like that frame in one
caliber, while you might like it in another
if I sell it to you. Countries trace that
firearm by the frame number, not the
barrel number or caliber. Barrels can
be changed on a whim, but every frame
is ID's from the beginning until it is
destroyed. Barrels, and their calibers
are not.