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ANTIQUE FIREARMS
8.1 Section 58(2) of the 1968 Act exempts from the provisions of the Act � including certificate controls under sections 1 and 2 and prohibition under section 5
all antique firearms which are sold, transferred, purchased, acquired or possessed as curiosities or ornaments. The word �antique� is not defined in the Act and it is for the chief officer of police and for the Courts to consider each case on its merits. However, it is suggested that the categories in this Chapter should be used as a guide in deciding whether a particular firearm might be considered an �antique� for these purposes.

8.2 In issuing guidance on this matter, the Home Office has always taken the view that this term should be taken to cover those firearms of a vintage and design such that
their free possession does not pose a realistic danger to public safety.

8.3 In making recommendations on this issue, the Firearms Consultative Committee (FCC) started from the premise that public safety considerations must be uppermost, and those arms which are commonly used in crime should remain subject to certificate control, irrespective of age.

8.4 It remains the case that where an antique firearm is possessed for any other purpose than as a �curiosity or ornament�, all the provisions of the Firearms Acts from 1968 to 1997 will continue to apply, including those relating to certificate requirements. The intent to fire the gun concerned, even with blank charge or ammunition (for example for the purposes of historical re-enactment displays), would take it beyond the terms of �curiosity or ornament�. This does not preclude the possession of such firearms on certificate for the purposes of collection and occasional firing. Where the �good reason� for possession is collection and not target shooting, section 44 requiring membership of a club to be named on the certificate is not applicable. In the case of such firearms which might otherwise benefit from section 58(2), but where the owner wishes to fire them for test, research, re-enactment, target shooting or competition purposes, no test of frequency of use should be applied: the primary reason for possession may be collection, and the owner may properly not wish to subject such an arm to the wear and tear of regular use. An antique may therefore be brought on to certificate or removed, as the case might be, from time to time or where there is a change in ownership. A signed statement of intent should be sufficient to effect the necessary change of status when required. A variation fee would become payable where an �antique� is brought onto certificate to allow it to be fired.

Part I: Old weapons which should benefit from exemption as antiques under section 58 (2) of the Firearms Act 1968

8.5 Pre-1939 weapons to benefit from exemption as antiques are as follows:
a) All muzzle-loading firearms;
b) Breech-loading firearms capable of discharging a rimfire cartridge other than 4mm, 5mm, .22 inch or .23 inch (or their metric equivalents), 6mm or 9mm rimfire;
c) Breech-loading firearms using ignition systems other than rimfire and centrefire (These include pin-fire and needle-fire ignition systems, as well as the more obscure lip fire, cup-primed, teat fire and base fire systems);
d) Breech-loading centrefire arms originally chambered for one of the obsolete cartridges listed in Appendix 5 and which retain their original chambering;
e) Shot guns and punt guns chambered for the following cartridges (expressed in imperial measurements): 32 bore, 24 bore, 14 bore, 10 bore (2-5/8in and 2-7/8in only), 8 bore, 4 bore, 3 bore, 2 bore, 11/8 bore, 11/4 bore and 11/2 bore, and vintage punt guns and shot guns with bores greater than 10. It also includes vintage (pre-1939) rifles in these bores.

Note (i) � The exemption does not apply to ammunition, and the possession of live ammunition suitable for use with an otherwise antique firearm may indicate that the firearm is not possessed as a curio or ornament.

Note (ii) � The exemption does not apply to firearms of modern manufacture which otherwise conform to the description above. For these purposes, �modern manufacture� should be taken to mean manufacture after the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. Fully working modern firing replicas of muzzle-loading and breech-loading firearms, for example those used to fire blanks by historical re-enactment societies but capable of firing live ammunition, must be held on certificate. This includes replica pieces of ordnance that are to be fired; some replicas have been produced with a true bore size of just under 2 inches, thus enabling possession and use on a shot gun certificate, but with significant counter-boring at the muzzle to preserve the necessary appearance of external visual authenticity