Modifying a firearm in the UK

[Ben98]

Ahh don't sweat it - the military don't use rimfire anyway!

Get a 10/22 and work it out from there. My wife and I started with identical rifles.

Mine ended up like this


1022 Snake Ruger Small by British Red, on Flickr

My wife's ended up like this


Dragunov Ruger small by British Red, on Flickr

They are fundamentally the same rifle, just different weights, barrels, stocks, triggers, recoil buffers etc.

Which bits are the same there BR?

Sent from my ARCHOS 80G9 using Tapatalk 2

 

[santaman2000]

The action and receiver (the actual gun)

 

[British Red]

Just so. Different barrels, sights and stocks - and some other parts, but the bit in the middle - the receiver - is the part that is legally a gun (which makes sense as its the bit that fires bullets). My wife hates heavy guns so hers is all carbon fibre and other synthetic materials. Mine is very fitted and quite heavy - I come from a target shooting background and that feels right to me. In terms of the moving parts they are identical though, the rest is about how it fits you and how you want to use it. Just thought it might be a good illustration to Spandit of what can be achieved with a 10/22. They are in fact based on the same gun as the wooden bullpup shown earlier in the thread.

 

[Lister]

THinking of getting one of these kits are you? http://www.redjacketfirearms.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16&Itemid=72

 

[spandit]

THinking of getting one of these kits are you? http://www.redjacketfirearms.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16&Itemid=72

Not a bad price actually - too military looking for my tastes but I do enjoy watching them on telly and would be cool to have something from them!

 

[Rod Paradise]

I have tried the Saigas and, to be honest, found the stock uncomfortable and the magazines unwieldy. Even the 8 shot box mags are huge. I haven't yet found a magazine fed shotgun I like

I liked the one I fired - although it was at static targets.

 

[santaman2000]

THinking of getting one of these kits are you? http://www.redjacketfirearms.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16&Itemid=72

You're trying to get me to spend money aren't you?

 

[Countryman]

Just to correct you. Any pressure bearing component of a gun is treated as a gun. Modification of any gun outside an RFD is therefore tough in the UK. So the receiver, the bolt, the barrel are all individually firearms. You probably won't have enough slots on FAC to hold the additional parts and gun.

Secondly the bullpup conversions of the Ruger 10/22 are pants. The trigger linkages are long and sloppy. Without proper trigger control (which suffers because) accuracy is B A D.

Not many of the funky .22's are good. Club shooters do relatively superficial mods to 10/22's without touching the legal bits. These shoot gazillions of rounds. Otherwise the S&W M&P AR15 clones are developing a following.

Neither are great for bunny guns as semi autos tend to struggle with Sub Sonic ammo that is the usual fodder for lamping.

Hope this helps

 

[spandit]

Hadn't considered the lack of cycling with subsonics. Are there any .22 semis out there that work better with subsonic ammo?

 

[widu13]

Lots Spanders. My Annie 525 loves subs. Hurry up and get the land (house) and I'll show you. BTW a firearm is "a lethal barrelled weapon". The remainder are component parts. By law a receiver cannot be defined as a "gun" it is a component part.

 

[spandit]

Lots Spanders. My Annie 525 loves subs. Hurry up and get the land (house) and I'll show you.

Trying! Sent contracts back today...

Just been reading the relevant legislation and it looks like it's an offence for a minor to have airgun pellets in their possession... Also looks like tracer rounds are illegal in the UK which is a shame

 

[British Red]

Many 10/22s handle subsonics just fine - as do Remington 597s. Its undeniable though that a manual cycled rife (bolt or lever action) will handle a wider variety of loads.


You don't need lots of slots for a custom build, if you have the parts you select assembled by an RFD. If you held a rifle, you would need a variation to buy a new barrel and fit it yourself, but not if you take it to an RFD and have them swap it (so long as the serial numbered receiver isn't changed) It is a good point on the barrel though...I had forgotten they count as pressure parts - good catch countryman. Its quite possible to pick out the parts you want and have them assembled into the gun you want - places like SYSS do it all the time.

 

[santaman2000]

Hadn't considered the lack of cycling with subsonics. Are there any .22 semis out there that work better with subsonic ammo?

TBH I don't really know much about the difference in "sub-sonic" or other ammo (apart from the obvious that it's a reference to bullet speed) But I DO know that every 10-22 I've ever seen was an excellent bunny gun with whatever ammo we fed them. But that was in the daylight; "lamping" is illegal here unfortunately.

 

[santaman2000]

Just to correct you. Any pressure bearing component of a gun is treated as a gun. Modification of any gun outside an RFD is therefore tough in the UK. So the receiver, the bolt, the barrel are all individually firearms......

Don't know the specific legal definition of "gun" there. Are TBH I don't know the ones of all the different states here (they tend to vary slightly) But when BR and I refer to the receiver as "the gun" it's the common understanding among gun people. The receiver is the actual working part; all else is bits and pieces.

That said, I'm not sure all states allow modification of the barrel (other than cosmetic changes) here either. You certainly can't shorten a barrel beyond legal minimums. Although nothing would prevent anyone from re-blueing a barrel (a pressure bearing part as you say) or any part of a gun for that matter. Are you prohibited from re-blueing (or perhaps changing from blued to chromed would be more of a modification) there? I mean for owners/amateurs, not for professional gunsmiths?

 

[British Red]

No, you can change barrels too - what you can't have is multiple barrels - which you have to have to change the barrel yourself. You can drop it into a gunsmith and have it changed though....its all weird. We have minimum lengths to - 12" for a rifle

 

[santaman2000]

No, you can change barrels too - what you can't have is multiple barrels - which you have to have to change the barrel yourself. You can drop it into a gunsmith and have it changed though....its all weird. We have minimum lengths to - 12" for a rifle

LOL. Some of our regs or laws are a bit weird too. But I think I understand what you're saying; technically it's legal BUT all the details make it impractical to do yourself.

Kinda like me flying as a private pilot here with diabetes. Technically I can do it legally IF! If I check my glucose level every half hour while in flight. All very doable; if I only had four hands!

 

[British Red]

Here's a good one. It is technically illegal to dismantle a cartridge in this country (under the provisions of the Explosives Act 1875, it is illegal to dismantle ammunition other than in a licensed factory). Which leads to two questions

1) What the heck is one supposed to do if a primer fails? Hand it in at a police station? They would be delighted I'm sure

2) Am I breaking the law when I fire a gun? Surely the act of striking a primer with a firing pin causes the cartridge to disassemble??

Okay, I am fairly certain this is because, when the act was passed one could recover explosives (black powder) from ammunition - now you cannot (unless its a black powder cartridge of course). Even BASC have never heard of a prosecution of a reloader with a kinetic hammer...but still....

 

[BillyBlade]

My CMMG eats subsonic .22 quite happily. And all manner of off brand ammo, as .22lr is kinda hard to come by around here at the monent.

Great gun. No complaints from me.

 

[Countryman]

In the US the lower receiver of the AR15 for instance is the controlled part. "The gun"

In the UK "Any pressure bearing part" is considered a firearm in its own right.

You would go to jail for a mandatory 5 years for being in possession of a firearm barrel, bolt, moderator or receiver!

An RFD can change your barrel. You cannot legally own the barrel you changed from and the one you changed to without the extra slot on your ticket.

Welcome to Nanny State!

10/22's are designed for high velocity ammunition. They need its punch to cycle. They are also fussy on ammo brands!

"Many 10/22's cycle subsonics" of a certain brand on a certain day. Usually they pack that up as an idea when actually needed.

Sporting shooters who buy 10/22's for bunnies are a great place for club shooters to pick up a cheap gun from a frustrated bloke who would gladly give you the "piece of ****" because it won't cycle.

Try searching Google for 10/22 won't cycle.

However take that gun and feed it High Velocity and it will chug away a million rounds.

Fun huh?

 

[Countryman]

My CMMG eats subsonic .22 quite happily. And all manner of off brand ammo, as .22lr is kinda hard to come by around here at the monent.

Great gun. No complaints from me.

That's a pretty unusual gun then on a number of levels! I wonder how many over here?

Obviously there is a massive shortage of all sorts of ammunition and reloading components already because the US went into panic after Sandy Nook believing the Government was about to take a dump of their Second Amendment rights. They bought everything. God bless America!

US brands are very hard to find here at the moment but we have a number of European brands that are unaffected.

In Britain we are use to the Americans deliveries arriving late.