Tommikka

Purchased in good faith perhaps - but not compliant with the law due to their construction

The limit is expressed in ‘force’ / energy Low powered air weapons are to be within 12ft lbs for rifles, 6 ft lbs for pistols (16 and 8 joules) The specifics rifle to pistol may not always be what we think, and the specific projectile fired can result in different muzzle velocity & joule creep

He thought that he was posting in the ‘slow questions, simple answers’ thread

Yes. They would be eligible for a VCRA Defence to purchase RIFs, but that wouldn’t really suit their needs, making sense that bright two tones would stand out as trainers

Someone could look towards it and believe it’s a real firearm up on the wall. But, as defined in section 38: 38Meaning of “realistic imitation firearm” (1)In sections 36 and 37 “realistic imitation firearm” means an imitation firearm which— (a)has an appearance that is so realistic as to make it indistinguishable, for all practical purposes, from a real firearm; and (b)is neither a de-activated firearm nor itself an antique. (2)For the purposes of this section, an imitation firearm is not (except by virtue of subsection (3)(b)) to be regarded as distinguishable from a real firearm for any practical purpose if it could be so distinguished only— (a)by an expert; (b)on a close examination; or (c)as a result of an attempt to load or to fire it. Someone could easily believe and report a moulded half dummy shell, but then (in my opinion not tested in court) it wouldn’t be ‘for all practical purposes’ ‘so realistic’ that it was ‘indistinguishable’ , and would not require ‘an expert’ to notice. ‘Close inspection’ could be interpreted, but I would differ ‘being a bit closer’ to ‘close examination’ A case would be required to interpret those key points if the circumstances came up - but another argument for the defence would be the title of the legislation - Violent Crime Reduction Act’ The intent of the legislation is to reduce violent crime, RIFs fall into the act with their potential to be used in a manner of threatening violence - so a lawyer would be expected to highlight the matter of their client waving a wooden panel around. An Act to make provision for reducing and dealing with the abuse of alcohol; to make provision about real and imitation firearms, about ammunition and about knives and other weapons; to amend the Football Spectators Act 1989 and the Football (Disorder) Act 2000; to amend the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and section 8 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998; to amend section 23 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969; to amend the Mobile Telephones (Re-programming) Act 2002; and for connected purposes.

As applying they wouldn’t have access to the real thing …. So a good use for some practice - but no need for it to be a RIF, the colour doesn’t affect the function

….. actually ….. though being qualified firearms officers doesn’t give a defence, they did / do have one potential route to a defence: section 37.2(f): the purposes of functions that a person has in his capacity as a person in the service of Her Majesty But, giving a leaving present isn’t a purpose in service of Her (or his) majesty There are potential concepts for the use of airsoft type guns by firearms officers, such as a familiariasion copy - but they are better off using the real thing in a safe manner Even if an airsoft gun is of use (or a non functioning replica) it would not need to be realistically coloured as a RIF but can happily be a coloured IF ….. and any non real steel use they make of something would be better off with a coloured IF The perfect solution for a display item is a deactivated firearm - but you need the right paperwork You could however make a trip to my local auction They have had two mounted sets (or the same one that was sold a few months ago returned for sale again last week) These have been moulded pieces though, with only half of the body So as a RIF is something that would be indistinguishable from reality - if you have half shells stuck to a piece of wood are they RIFs?

Correct and edited to fix ….. to be fair to me, I had spent 4 hours moving tables to set up a comicon the evening before then got up at 5am to drive back there then posted ….. I’m impressed that the rest made sense You can buy a BB gun without a defence ….. but it would be >50% brightly coloured or one of the other criteria of an IF

@Drdarkjokes The VCRA made the sale, import and manufacture of Realistic Imitation Firearms Defences under the legislation are for museums, re-enactments theatrical and airsoft skirmishing The UKARA is the main recognised skirmishers defence - a non shooting RIF is unsuitable for airsoft skirmishing therefore does not apply to your purchase. (Note that on import your package is looked at on a case by case basis - you could end up with your import being destroyed due to attempting to use a skirmishers defence for a non shooting RIF) Your stated purpose of collecting does not fall under any VCRA defence - you may have made an expensive mistake Adding in a comment that you don’t want something ‘governmental’ sounds alarm bells as to why you want to import something that looks like a firearm, the import of which is an offence, and don’t want the government to know about it. Its hard to justify importing what would be an unlawful item against the legally defined purposes to a government department such as Border Force by stating that you don’t want the government to know what you are doing

That would depend on anyone’s personal definition of veteran. Some countries define it and some don’t In the UK it is any person who has served a minimum of one day in the regular or presence armed forces (and since left), or merchant navy on a military operation. These are the qualifiers for support for service leavers, qualifying under the armed forces covenant and generally by service related charities etc with various different methods of validating that until the introduction of veterans badges and more recently the veterans card. Novritsch ‘claims’ to have trained as a sniper in his national service, and markets airsoft products including ‘sniper’ related gear Its not as if he’s claiming to be the 3rd sniper on the balcony

6 months is the conscription period for Austrian military service, which matches his claim

Relevant legislation and regulations cover transportation and operating fill stations etc, then add the legal issues of HSE compliance even if not a direct legislative requirement These do apply commercially and generally don’t apply to individuals. Be aware if you have a works provided vehicle, even a salary offset car etc - as then commercial transportation does apply. You ought to inform the insurer and display relevant triable/diamond warning stickers (Private vehicles are not required to display the HPA cylinder symbol to carry a playing cylinder - but as discussed with a firefighter friend they would be happier to see the sticker and be prepared than to be cutting into a crushed car and discover an unknown cylinder or cut through one) Sites are obliged to check self fill and staff fill cylinders, plus have a responsibility to keep staff and other customers safe Back in the day there were paintballers using scuba cylinders to self fill on site when either the site only ran CO2 or they were using DOT/TC cylinders with a blind eye turned. This slackness bred and bad practices spread, using unrestricted fast fill stations and youngsters self filling Everyone suddenly paid attention when a series of failures occured in the UK and Europe in rapid succession. One case was a full flash fill explosion of the regulator and cylinder with hospitalisation (luckily “only” chemical burns and “minor” melting of his jersey) the rest tended to be burst disk failures Mostly attributed to slack procedures (including 3000psi cylinders on 4500psi fill stations),dirt contamination, heat (fast fills) and the burst disks failing due to those combinations, some cases of self fitted/changed regulators not correctly fitted and/or thread damage - causing bottle rockets etc The explosion was fully investigated by HSE, it involved a specific ultralight cylinder type (of the brand “safer”) which affected their reputation but was not the cylinder design at fault - the problem was oil contamination attributed to a previous users bad maintenance contaminating the fill station and the fast fill generating heat at pressure plus oil contamination causing an explosion The relevant legislation may not apply to individuals directly but it does affect us all - not necessarily impacting on the individual with bad habits but the others around

The ISO wouldn’t make a cylinder exempt from hydrotesting - Certain types of fibre under ISO standards can be exempt from a final date. (Aluminiums would not normally have a final date) The size situation of a compact aluminium can exempt them from hydrotests. I would guess that a 26ci has a narrow circumference, but probably over 2” The general guidance on exemption is a diameter of 2” (thats from the American standards). Give HPAC a call, I would confirm with Trevor on what’s in/out of scope for compact For an aluminum they typically get marked by manufacturers as due testing at the 5 year point but would be UK legal for 10 years from manufacture http://hpac-armourlite.co.uk

I don’t want to diss the VForce Armour They were my first set of goggles, remained in my lending set until they never came back one day - they will be in the back cupboard of one of my mates , they are pretty much the standard for site rental goggles (A version of the VForce Armour was released as the ‘VForce Rental) and my favourite production set of goggles is the VForce Grillz (I own a number of sets) But - has he tried them on ? They are a good all rounder, but all goggles are dependant on the head that they are put on As he is 11 knocking on 12 he might have a smaller head. I have a big head, and though they are a good all rounder they may be loose on a small head, or as time goes on the strap elastic may loosen Keep a check on the goggle fit over time Like most entry level / rental goggles the main goggle of the Armour is a hard plastic, as you go up in the ranges the Grills etc are rubberised. This can provide more ‘give’ to press tighter or looser for head fit If not already, take him out to a shop if you can to try some on The standard go to in airsoft has been the Dye range. They aim for lower profiles which can often work better for small heads My second goggle set was the i3, and the i4 went even smaller. The i3 was about the smallest that I could take without exposing too much chin The i4, i5 etc do command a higher price in the Dye range though

Since 2023 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/air-weapons-a-brief-guide-to-safety-jan-2011 The police recommend a gun cabinet etc, but the law is about ‘reasonable precautions’ to secure them This is due to a fatality of a young child. Note that this is not just if you have under 18s residing, but also at any time that an under 18 may visit

Being an under 18 rental player on a paintball or Airsoft site would be subject to a parent/guardian/responsible adult counter signing their waiver, and within the ‘loan’ element.

Paintball guns are ‘low powered air weapons’ as far as legislation is concerned (Even when CO2 powered - originally Scotland considered paintball sites to be committing section 5 offences as CO2 was used, whereas the rest of the UK accepted CO2 use as a reasonable interpretation of the intent of the law - that interpretation loophole was subsequently rectified) Airsoft was under the umbrella of low power air weapons, but that changed with the 57a amendment as noted by @Cannonfodder- for compliant Airsoft guns Paintball falls into many grey spots in the legislation, with interpretations from the Home Office backing up paintball - but interpretations are always subject to change at any time

See here for images of the UKPSF HPA1

Note that carbon fibre wrapped cylinders are lighter on a ‘like for like’ basis The fallacy when I began in paintball was that new players were told to buy carbon fibre because it was lighter - but were told that in comparison of a standard 48ci aluminium cylinder vs a ‘standard’ 68ci carbon fibre cylinder - I weighed them and my £30 48 aluminium weighed the same as my £150 68 fibre A carbon fibre wrapped cylinder is made of aluminium, just thinner aluminium with extra reinforcement There are other designs which allow for ‘ultra light’ cylinders which do have a clear weight difference (typically these have an internal air bladder, very thin aluminium and reinforcing fibre wrap ….. and will cost closer to £200 There are many other benefits to a fibre wrapped cylinder. But you only get extra pressure if fills are provided at 4500psi, whereas most sites will have 3000psi fill systems, so the only extra capacity comes if you have a larger cylinder (I in fact have most recently opted for a smaller 4500psi cylinder at 30ci) In Airsoft you should be able to confidently play with a 3000psi 48ci or even smaller 3000psj 13ci - provided the site provides air fills 3000psi and 4500psi are the holding pressure of the cylinder, it will then have an output regulator in the hundreds of PSI (maybe 650 to 800 psi) an Airsoft RIF operating at a much lower pressure which is managed by a subsequent regulator pressure drop Hydro testing of cylinders has a number of lifespans. A typical aluminium cylinder is marked with a 5 year span (but in the UK typically has a legal life of 10 years). They can then be tested every 5 years forever - but due to their purchase price aren’t really worth the cost Fibre wraps usually have a maximum 15 year life - with 5 year test cycles (There are now approved fibre design types that can have an unlimited lifetime - but most manufacturers are marking them with an expiry date still For general air safety with dos and donts keep an eye out for the UKPSF HPA1. I will have probably put up links in more than one of the HPA threads

Fills on sites are best Scuba cylinders are a compromise for playing with air when air fills are not available

Fact

Only counts if you set it up armed Somewhere I (should) still have a banjo missing its strings, which has been awaiting conversion for nearly 30 years into a Mariachi inspired weapon …… and looking back that far - Salma Hayak is 58. She’s still got it. But she’ll still have to wait in line behind 65 year old Susanna Hoffs …….. This weekend my weaponry will be transported in a locked hard case…..

It depends on what you mean by ‘travel’ When driving in your car domestically it’s best practice to use a case, but you’re fine as long as Airsoft guns are not in sight when loading, driving and unloading If travelling in/through countries then comply with their laws When crossing borders comply with the laws of each country, and the terms & conditions of airlines, ferry companies and the channel tunnel Did you mean ‘gear box’ as in components etc or gear (all your kit etc? If it looks like gun parts then treat it as a gun If it’s just internals then package it safely

Spot on with rules as a framework but not impinging on the ability to have specifics for the site/type of event There isn’t a single paintball rule set. There are some basics, and also of course national legislation. In competitive paintball there isn’t a single rule set - there was an attempt at a “world paintball tournament” ruleset - even that had two different sets of “world” and “USA” rules, let alone US paintball politics meaning that every league had its own rules. The Millenium is the major European tournament and other leagues just happily adopt those rules giving consistency for players When UK scenario paintball scene was in its heyday, and pretty much everyone was on the same UKscenario forum a collective of event organisers / sites formed the UKSPC - UK scenario paintball community or collective ? - (this was a decade ago) The standards set things such as bottle checking, providing free UKPSF air safety sessions and only allowing self filling by UKPSF air safety card holders and the rule element of maximum velocity 280fps, 260fps for CO2 or close up/night games - this aided players by not having a range of velocities between sites and events with players previously adjusting every couple of weeks for the next event (Our first event opened the 2010 scenario season and therefore was the first UKSPC compliant event) The UKSPC didn’t need to cost anything for sites to join up etc, it did align with the UKPSF with their recommended standards and air safety training. But the collective was voluntary - it just needed organisers to see a need and take action (back then the scenario scene was pretty much by players for players, so the host of X was also playing Y and Z) The UKSPC is probably forgotten, but the general standards remain whether intentionally or because an organiser today just uses what is common All our paintball rulesets are based on the UKSPC set, and then I refine to the game format. Our Airsoft rulesets have been similar but then handed to the Airsofters for translation

That’s the advantage / disadvantage We play games with equipment that doesn’t really behave as per real life. In airsoft the rules tend to differ by certain classifications, allowing x type player to have a higher velocity but lesser ROF. A well tuned consistent RIF accompanied by practice will be better than a so called super ninja look that has had all the add ons but not properly set up The disadvantage of being more likely to miss is the ‘advantage’ of the suspense and bragging rights