2 tone

[Pissarro]

Hi I am an under 18 airsofter from Essex who has a red two tone m4. My birthday is in a few weeks and I was thinking about doing up my rifle. I was just wondering what the laws were about two tone. I bought it in two tone but is there a percentage of colour it has to stay or can I simply change the coloured parts- not by spraying but my replacing the parts entirely.

Hopefully someone can help me.

Many thanks

P

[dapprman]

I believe it's 51% minimum that has to be in the brightly coloured tone.

[Longshot]

The wording of the VCRA is that a gun is an imitation firearm ('two tone') if it's "principal colour is unrealistic." The idea of 51% is therefore derived from the assumption that anything more than half will count as 'principal.'

 

All that said, if you are 'an airsofter' (i.e. you play airsoft at a proper site and could demonstrate this) then you're well within your legal rights to do whatever you want to your gun in whatever colour you want to do it. Get your kicks.

[Pissarro]

Thank you for the replies,

However just to clarify- if I have a membership card for a site I can have a full black rifle and don't have to have it two tone when I am off site?

Many thanks again,

P

[Yuriski]

From my understanding, as long as you're over 18 and can prove you're a member of a UKARA site, you're fine to do that. If you can't do that however, you might want to look into camo tape as a temporary solution.

 

EDIT: If your parents have a UKARA membership, they can turn your IF into a RIF.

[Airsoft_Mr B]

If you're 18+ and have a UKARA defence I would say you're absolutely fine to go ahead and paint it. If not, then I would be safe and use camouflage tape to cover up the brightly coloured parts.

As long as you only put it on when you get to a site and remove it before you leave then it is okay.

[Pissarro]

But that's the problem as I said in my original topic starter I am under 18...

[Yuriski]

Camo tape should work fine for now then. Google it: there's plenty of different camouflage patterns to choose from.

[Longshot]

See this other thread:

 

http://www.airsoft-forums.co.uk/index.php/topic/21317-camouflage-tape/

 

As gets discussed in that thread there's a 'legal answer' (no matter what age you are you can basically convert IFs into RIFs permanently if you are doing so in order to use them at any airsoft site that has the proper insurance and can show this) and there's a 'safe answer' (in spite of this being the law lots of airsofters are paranoid and think "our sport is constantly under threat! They're watching us all the time!" so they'll get pissy when they see an under 18 with a RIF - even though there's absolutely no law against you having one and no need for you to ever explain to them how/where you got it - and you've also got to realise that the average police officer has no idea about laws surrounding RIFs and is probably more likely to detain and have problems with an under 18 carrying one than an over 18).

[Pissarro]

Thanks for your help.

Lastly that obviously means if I a foregrip, sight etc that my gun does not already have then that would mean that the percentage two toned would decrease. So when I do get these extras I have to two tone more of my gun? Is this correct?

[Yuriski]

I wouldn't see anyone complaining over it. The most it will do is make it under limit by a couple percent, however all of the tone would most likely be visible anyway.

 

There's not much chance the police would take interest anyway, as long as you don't go waving it around in the open.

[Airsoft_Mr B]

I don't think accessories would really matter, as long as the gun itself is two-tone. Like Yuriski said, there's no reason for the police or anyone to be scrutinizing it anyway as long as you aren't displaying it in public and stuff like that.

[Longshot]

Theoretically it would matter, since the 'acid test,' so to speak, in defining whether it is a RIF is whether determining whether it was a real gun or an airsoft gun would require someone to closely inspect the gun itself (the assumption being that if it was all bright orange and someone saw you with it they would 'know' it was a non-lethal toy). If adding sights, scopes, torches, etc. adds to its 'realness' then they add to its 'RIFness.' But this is a ridiculous 'test' since nobody walking down the street with an M4 is going to be ignored if the police officer who turns up can see that the M4 is "principally" orange!

 

Anyway, back to the point. It doesn't matter to you (if you are an airsofter) whether it is 51% unrealistically coloured or not since it is not illegal for you to manufacture or own a RIF. If anyone says: "where did you get that?" Tell them it's none of their business. If an officer of the law asks, then tell them where you got it since you've done nothing for which you are not legally 'covered.'

 

So stick all the accessories or whatever you want onto your gun since, as an airsofter who can prove he is an airsofter if required to do so in order to create a defence against prosecution, you are entitled to do what you want with it. As others have said, just don't be a dick with it and nobody will ever know or care.

[Pissarro]

Thanks