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Painting Airsoft Guns

stannos

By stannos,
in UK Law

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stannos Newbie

stannos

Posted
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Hi all, im new to the forum and i have some questons about painting IF bb guns, i only have the one and its a bolt action sniper, however its 2 - tone meaning its bright orange and if you are sitting still trying to snipe you are a ( flourescent orange ) sitting duck. you can see my issue so i wanted to know what colours am i legally allowed to spraypaint my sniper? and what about striping? EG a darkish green striped with blue ? and what about Tan ? is that legal ?

[] - [] I DONT PLAN ON OR MEAN THAT I WANT TO - USE ANY BLACK OR GREY PAINT AS I KNOW THAT IM LEGALLY NOT ALLOWED TO DO THAT [] - [] AND IM STLL KEEPING THE ORANGE TIP AT THE END OF THE BARREL -

 

Also i sent an email to UKARA with the same questionso all replies and their email response will be taken into account.

 

Also im under 18 so i dont have any membership of any sort

 

Many thanks, stan.

 

Below are some pictures of the paints i plan to use if im allowed:

 

the blue (left) is "Halfords engine blue Enamel spray paint" http://http://http://http://http://photoEFWEF_zpsfef82697.jpg

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Yawns Community Regular

Yawns

Posted
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Your best bet is to not paint it and just use a ghillie suit-esque gun wrap.

That way, It does a good job of hiding your gun and you don't have to spend the day sweating that someone will enquire about your aquisition of a RIF.

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two_zero Veteran

two_zero

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looks like you need to shake your cans more/harder. also have your spraycan further away and never spray just a spot, always keep the can moving.

use a ghillie suit-esque gun wrap.


and be sure to remove it after the skirmish.

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  • 1 month later...
Cuban-Trog Apprentice

Cuban-Trog

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As far as I can see the painting of a two tone gun is fine as long as you are not the retailer.. I may be completely wrong but the fact that you are only taking the RIF to and from a airsoft site or shop is your defence? I would like to know from other people if I have this completely wrong!!

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NH Shooter Rising Star

NH Shooter

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I believe that if you have a single shot rifle over 370fps with a .20 it's legally classed as an airgun and as such comes under firearms law hence two toning is not necessary.

Airgun and firearm law are completely different things...

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Longshot Collaborator

Longshot

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As far as I can see the painting of a two tone gun is fine as long as you are not the retailer.. I may be completely wrong but the fact that you are only taking the RIF to and from a airsoft site or shop is your defence? I would like to know from other people if I have this completely wrong!!

You have this completely wrong. :)

 

Painting an IF ('two tone') and making it a RIF is illegal no matter who does it.

 

If you have a defence (e.g. you play airsoft at a proper site) you can do it anyway and shouldn't be open to prosecution.

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ikarma70 Proficient

ikarma70

Posted
Posted

Utter bullshit.

Sorry but any airsoft gun producing more than 1.1j is classed as an airgun and airguns are classed as unlicensed firearms if their power is below 12ft.lb for air rifles and 6ft.lbs for air pistols and higher than 1.1j.

 

If you break the law with an airgun as defined above, you are prosecuted under firearms law.

 

I have been shooting air rifles and pistols for over 25 years in most disciplines and have owned shotguns and used many firearms certificated firearms in my shooting life.

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jcheeseright Grand Master

jcheeseright

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yawn, not true, yet another airsoft myth perpetuated by those who have no actually read the law:

 

An air weapon is defined, under section 1(3)(B) and 57(4) of the Firearms Act 1968 as:

"an air rifle, air gun or air pistol which does not fall within section 5 (1) (a) and which is not of a type declared by rules made by the Secretary of State under section 53 of the Firearms Act to be specially dangerous".

Any air rifle, air gun or air pistol which uses or is designed or adapted for use with, a self-contained gas cartridge system is a prohibited weapon: section 5(1)(af) Firearms Act 1968 e.g. a Brocock

An air rifle is "specially dangerous" if it is capable of discharging a missile so that the missile has, on being discharged from the muzzle of the weapon, kinetic energy in excess in the case of a pistol of 6 ft lbs or, in the case of an air weapon other than an air pistol, 12 ft lbs: Firearms (Dangerous Air Weapons) Rules 1969 rr. 2, 3 (Archbold 24-8a.)

Paintball guns are a type of air weapon. The Home Office regard self-loading or pump action rifled airguns (including paintball guns) as outside the scope of the Firearms Act, unless they are sufficiently powerful to fall within the category of a "specially dangerous" air weapon (Archbold 24.8a). Paintball guns could be considered imitation firearms.

Unless an air weapon falls within one of the above exceptions, it is not subject to section 1 Firearms Act 1968.

copied and pasted directly from the CPS website. At no point is any power limit other than the standard 6/12 ft/lb which makes an air weapon section 1.

on the subject of whether an airsoft gun over a certain (1.1j? srsly? my M4 is 1.1 joules and it's full auto!) power is no longer classed as in IF or RIF...

An imitation firearm means "any thing which has the appearance of being a firearm (other than such a weapon as is mentioned in section 5(1) (B) of this Act), whether or not it is capable of discharging any shot, bullet or other missile." section 57(4). This means that an offence requiring "possession" or "having with him/her" a firearm or imitation firearm requires a "thing" which is separate and distinct from a person. Putting a hand inside a jacket and using fingers to force out the material to give the impression of a firearm falls outside the scope of such offences, as a person's bodily parts is not a "thing". (R v Bentham [2005] UKHL18.) R v Morris and King, 79 Cr App R 104, CA: when considering whether a thing has the appearance of being a firearm the jury should consider its appearance at the time of the offence and should also be assisted by the evidence of the witness who saw the thing at the time of the offence.

Unlike with "Realistic Imitation Firearms", it is not always necessary to obtain evidence from the FSP on whether the thing is an imitation firearm. Evidence of the Firearms Officer will usually be sufficient expert evidence.

An imitation firearm will be treated as a firearm to which section 1 Firearms Act 1968 applies if:

  • it has the appearance of such a weapon and
  • it can be readily convertible into a weapon from which a shot, bullet or other missile can be discharged (section 1 (1) and 1 (2) Firearms Act 1968).

See readily convertible imitations elsewhere in this guidance

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jcheeseright Grand Master

jcheeseright

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a little addition:

Section 38 defines a "realistic imitation firearm" as "an imitation firearm which has an appearance that is so realistic as to make it indistinguishable, for all practical purposes, from a real firearm". As a result of "real firearm" (defined in section 38 (7)) imitations of pre-1870 firearms are not caught by the offence.

Whether an imitation firearm falls within the definition of a realistic imitation firearm should be judged from the perspective of how it looks at the point of manufacture, import or sale and not how it might be appear if it were being misused. Section 38(3) provides that in determining whether an imitation firearm is distinguishable from a real firearm, its size, shape and principal colour must be taken into account.

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jcheeseright Grand Master

jcheeseright

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"Nothing has changed in law but most police forces have adopted this as policy, so will very probably prosecute any skirmisher who exceeds them. In simple terms, airsoft skirmishers should now regard these figures as the maximum UK limits for possession, sale, purchase, import and use."

 

That sentence alone rubbishes the whole article. 'Nothing has changed in law' ... 'probably prosecute'? and on what legal basis will they approach the CPS?

 

The fact of the matter remains that while those RFDs are doing it, doesn't mean they understand the law (VCRA, which is separate to the firearms acts I'm sure they're very familiar with) and are compliant with it. Selling a Realistic Imitation Firearm (e.g. an airsoft gun, which is NOT an air weapon as defined in the firearms act 1968) is illegal.

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Cuban-Trog Apprentice

Cuban-Trog

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You have this completely wrong. :)

 

Painting an IF ('two tone') and making it a RIF is illegal no matter who does it.

 

If you have a defence (e.g. you play airsoft at a proper site) you can do it anyway and shouldn't be open to prosecution.

I thought so.. Obviously can't type well!! Thanks for clearing it up.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Longshot Collaborator

Longshot

Posted
Posted

This is an odd one, since, if that gun's roughly the real size of a gun, then it's already a RIF (given that its current colour is not one of those 'bright' colours defined by law).

 

So I guess that means that you can do what you want with it, given that I can't see how it would be a crime to create a RIF out of a RIF.

 

Hope that makes sense!

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