doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Deactivated Guns as Art?

I came across this site as a link from UK gun shop SportArm: http://lockyerofengland.co.uk/ Seems to have been established by a lad called George Champ, who has a (short) background as an auctioneer.

I'm really not too sure about this. The video appears to show a sidelock gun with silvered barrels and shortened stock. I'd call that butchery rather than art! However, I can quite see that for some folk, having what would otherwise be a wall hanger converted to a 'sculpture', might be attractive.

Guess that most of us on here would do all we can to keep a gun going as originally intended. If I was to be attracted to having a few deactivated high-end SxS sporting guns on show around the house, I'd want them to be as close to original as possible.

This may be aimed at a totally different audience than us lot. Any enthusiast for 'our' guns would wish to have the real thing over a deactivated gun. Of course, here in the UK a certified deactivated gun may be purchased by anyone, no license required.

With regard to UK law and process, I found this on the Deactivated Weapon Association (yep, it really does exist!) web site:

UK Deactivation standards differ between different types of weapon and also depending on when the deactivation was carried out. The following gives a general outline of the work carried out on the main categories of weapons during the deactivation process (based on the 2010 specification). UK Deactivation was available from 1988 to 7th April 2016. Double/Single Barrelled Shotguns - The barrels are slotted for the majority of their covered length and have a tight fitting steel plug welded into their bores. The breech faces are milled out and firing pins are ground back or removed; the firing pin channel is welded. At times the extractor/ejector is also removed. On box lock guns firing pin channels must be sealed with weld on the breech face. On hammer guns, firing pins must be removed and the firing pin channels sealed with weld.UK Deactivated double/single barrelled shotguns have fully working actions and can be fully stripped. There is no difference between post and pre 95 deactivation standards. UK deactivated weapons will have been submitted to one of two Proof Houses (Birmingham and London) in order to check that they have been correctly deactivated to UK specifications. If this is the case they are stamped accordingly and have a deactivation certificate issued. This clearly states what the weapon is and records its serial number. This certificate provides evidential proof that the weapon is no longer a firearm in the eyes of the law and that it is perfectly legal for an individual to own.

So I'm rather left wondering whether Mr Champ has a viable new business ahead of him.

Tim

Oh no, what if some good guns unwittingly get turned into works of art !

I watched the video and it turned my stomach. What a way to promote the anti-gun view. Thinking of the firearms historical museums in this country, I hope the day never comes.
Karl

I could see buying a refurbished plugged up Damascus double for display for a COUPLE HUNDRED.....what else ya gonna do with them.....

I have a trashed, old Pieper that I intend to turn into a lamp. Why not? It's not good for anything else. I also have to deactivate breech sections when they become too short, (for my segment collection) so I drill holes into the chambers.

This is art

https://www.theexplora.com/

What's linked above, is not.

You guys have to stop that madness over there. Some how, some way.

I don't think anyone would purposely de-activate a gun that was still useable as it is a case of spending money on something to make it much less valuable. I have de-activated quite a few but I would stress that they were beyond all hope of restoration. As it is an offence to sell a firearm here that is in a potentially dangerous condition it is a way of at least preserving something of it and making it such that it is a wall hanger that anyone can own without certification and at least it does have some small value as decorative item. Better than having the whole thing scrapped and melted down; at least it still looks like a gun. It cost me just a little time and about �20 for the Proof House certificate of de-activation so that it can be taken off any Police records. I used to sell them on for between �50 and �75. I do see them for sale for �200 to �300 at some gun shows. They can be useful for teaching gun handling safety or as stage props too. Lagopus.....

Such a pity that market value does not reflect replacement cost.
Then again, the more that are out of the market, the greater the value off those survivors.
I wonder if we will soon experience regret, just the same as we do for the amount of classic & vintage cars we saw go through the crusher.
But, had that not happened they too would be a dime a dozen.
O.M

Here's one that I came across a few years ago reputedly used as a prop.
What a shame - a high end W.R.Pape ejector with classic Celtic Tendril engraving reduced to a hacked up sawn off look alike - I was tempted to buy it as an example of the engraving but there were complications with the buyer regarding shipping it to the USA from the UK. Worst case it could have been sleeved or sold with cut barrels.

(hopefully this attempt at photo links works)

Jeremy

You can't cure stupid.