Vintage rifle

scwazrh

I want to buy a lee enfield rifle which I am told is an original from ww2 . I will occasionally / rarely shoot it but mainly want it as a collectors piece.

When applying for a license for the rifle is "collectable " or "historical " reason a good enough reason for the a fca1? I am a member of a range and have another rifle.

Brasros

I have two classic rifles, I am a club member, the reason I give is for classic rifle shooting, I do think you can put down for historic collectable but not 100% sure. John Kavanagh from Fingal sports club would give you the right information.

Cass

IIRC if the firearm can be fired then it requires a license regardless of it's status. If you want it as a collectable you need to have it deactivated, and even then a permission/authorisation to hae it from your Super (not to be mistaken for a firearms license)

goz83

So you will have to decide on what is more important.

A) maintaining the firearm as one which fires and then following the law with regards to safe storage of the firearm.

deactivate it and get your authorisation to keep it as a collectors item for display.

Cass

Here ya go:

Some people will occasionally wish to buy an old or antique firearm, or one which is valuable because of its historical significance, for no reason other than as an investment.
This may sometimes be regarded as ‘Good Reason’ having regard to all the circumstances, and if capable of being fired, these firearms will require a firearms certificate

So the history will be good reason, you just need a license for it.

BattleCorp

Hopefully nobody would deactivate a good working vintage rifle. That's criminal in my book.

scwazrh

Thanks all .

Ive no interest in deactivating the rifle.When I said collectable I meant as an interesting historical piece to have , not as a display item.

My concern with the license application is it seems unrealistic to say that my reason for wanting a 75 yr old rifle is to target shoot when a new bolt action ruger would be more sensible option . . If historical significance is a " good reason " as Cass mentions I should be ok .

Brasros

scwazrh wrote:

My concern with the license application is it seems unrealistic to say that my reason for wanting a 75 yr old rifle is to target shoot when a new bolt action ruger would be more sensible option . . If historical significance is a " good reason " as Cass mentions I should be ok .

There are some enjoyable target shooting with classic rifles, one of them coming up at the end of July in An Riocht, you'll see a lot of nice examples of vintage rifles and you'll be surprised at the end result.