Quote:
Originally Posted by rob love
Larry
You are too late by about 5 days. I just sold 4 shot-out barrels on the weekend.
Terry: Deactivated firearms do not have to be locked up. They are exempt from storage and transportation regulations in Canada. The current guideline includes the welding of the bolt and magazine, but the older specification deacts are still acceptable, as long as they are not easily made to fire. A bore diameter hardened pin press fit and welded into a blind hole through the receiver and chamber would likely suffice for a bolt action Enfield.
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Deactivated firearms do not need to be secured like live firearms in Canadian law, there is always discretionary caution. We have an obligation not to alarm visitors at displays. Driving around with a mounted .50 on an anti-aircraft post might be within the rules, but it is unnecessarily provocative. A couple of complaints and the cops and regulators escalate the situation for everyone. There is video somewhere of an Australian policewoman upbraiding a restored Jeep because there was an axe strapped appropriately to the side of the body. That's a dangerous weapon was the line of attack. As if the owner had out a box of live hand grenades with a "take one" sign.
When the Cold War Collection its Ferret out, invariably someone will point at the "thing" hanging on the cupola.
"Is that real?"
"Those are not holograms."
"No, that machine gun?"
"No, it is plumbing fittings."
"Oh, ok."
The expectation is that our authentic vehicle restorations extends to the mounted machine guns, artillery, and main guns, as live firing destructive devices. The complexities of old or new specification deactivation are lost on just about everyone.
What I'm suggesting in this conversation is that to avoid grubby little fingers feverishly unbuckling a few canvas straps to abscond with a live No.4, which then becomes chargeable, the easier security route is to use authentic canvas covers to conceal guaranteed non-lethal plumbing parts and (for now) uncontrolled varnished hardwood, shaped like the real thing. A couple of through bolts doesn't destroy anything valuable, but buttresses our opportunity to educate and display.