Firearms laws and replicas

#1 Belmit

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 01:28 PM

Firstly, greetings all! I was advised to visit this forum by a friend who is both a police officer and firearms enthusiast, who felt my question would be better answered here by people with greater knowledge of the particular laws involved.

I'm hoping it's a fairly simple question regarding the VCR act and the law surrounding ownership and purchase of old West replica firearms. I'm looking to purchase a pair of Colt replicas, more specifically Peacemakers. I'd be using them for two things; as display pieces in the home and to try my hand at spinning them, as replicas are fairly faithful to the original weight and it looks like a great hobby. Unfortunately the info available online isn't too specific and I've found all kinds of statements varying from them being freely available and legal as long as I'm over 18 (including 1873 Colt replicas, even though they're post-1870 and therefore fall foul of the aforementioned act), to being illegal unless I'm part of a specific group like airsoft or theatrical.

I guess my question is simply this; if I just went ahead and purchased from a UK store, or EU importer (such as here: http://www.armsofthe...bd6dc4c22644558), would I be committing an offence? I'm fairly certain that 'replica firearms' also wouldn't look great on a customs invoice! I'm aware that modern replicas at least are required to be brightly coloured so they are somewhat distinguishable from the real thing, but this kind of renders an old West replica somewhat ridiculous for display.

Any advice anyone can offer would be great, as this is something I've been pondering and researching for a couple of months and it's getting to the point where I just have to decide to pursue it or forget it.

Many thanks!

#2 explodJP

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 04:59 PM

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Edited by explodJP, 07 June 2010 - 05:00 PM.