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Air guns/rifles or pistols are defined as firearms, by law, as per s1(3)(b) of the Firearms Act 1968. Those that do not fall within s5 (semi, full auto or over 6ft/lbs for Pistols, or those defined by s53 as especially dangerous by the Home Secretary, a la "Brocock type") do not require certification if below the prescribed muzzle energy 6 or 12 ft/lbs respectively.

So yes, airguns are firearms and yes, yours you may find will be decreed as s5...

Sh1t, I know...

Ah well, that's showbusiness.............so what about the pre-charged rifles that have a rotating magazine of some kind, do they not line up a shot with each press of the trigger?

Pete

Pete wrote:Ah well, that's showbusiness.............so what about the pre-charged rifles that have a rotating magazine of some kind, do they not line up a shot with each press of the trigger?

Pete

No, they operate as a revolver would

So each shot requires a press, AND a release of the trigger. The magazine is rotated by means of a mechanical link to the trigger?

Pete

Exactly, those have a mechanical revolving "cylinder".

Difficult to appreciate the logic..............they both require pressing and releasing the trigger to discharge a pellet.
And a .177 pellet at 450-500fps isn't going over 6 ft/lbs.

Pete

Pete wrote:Difficult to appreciate the logic..............they both require pressing and releasing the trigger to discharge a pellet.
And a .177 pellet at 450-500fps isn't going over 6 ft/lbs.

Logic? Who mentioned that

If I had a Steyr in one hand and an Umarex in the other, and pull the trigger on each just once, the Umarex is now empty and the Steyr has already reloaded. This is the crux of the issue.

6 ft/lbs is irrelevant - as long as it's over 1 joule (less than 1 ft/lb) then it is a firearm and it's on the prohibited list if it's self-loading.

It's daft, but I can see their reasoning with regards to the letter of the law. All they needed to do was append 'airguns' to the "self-loading or pump action rifled gun other than one which is chambered for .22 rimfire cartridges" statement. And they may well do so in future.