Why would you want to import a two tone gun? They dont look very good?
If you import it and then paint it black you are breaking the law unless you have a valid defense, then why import a two tone?
aka Stigroadie
AFRA
better by design
"Truth is a shining goddess, always veiled, always distant, never wholly approachable, but worthy of all the devotion of which the human spirit is capable. "
in short yes you can,however poacher has it wrong in that re-painting a 2 tone is ilegal,comonly done i grant you.you can replace the brightly painted parts with real coloured parts but you cant re-paint them,daft but there you are its a far from perfect world.
armoury
m1a1 Thompson,sten mk2,mp40,stg44,sterling,mk2 bren gun,lee Enfield no4 mk1,Mauser Kar98, Walther ppk,smith and Weston m10 and Mauser m712
Give me a big enough hammer and a place to stand and I could fix the world.
i'll kill a man in a fair fight or if i think he's going to start a fair fight or over a woman or.......
a problem shared is a problem halved ,but an advantage shared is no advantage at all
if a job's not worth doing then its certainly not worth doing well
however poacher has it wrong in that re-painting a 2 tone is ilegal,comonly done i grant you.you can replace the brightly painted parts with real coloured parts but you cant re-paint them,
I have it wrong? Here are the parts of the act I feel apply here;
36 Manufacture, import and sale of realistic imitation firearms
(1) A person is guilty of an offence if-
a he manufactures a realistic imitation firearm;
b he modifies an imitation firearm so that it becomes a realistic imitation firearm;
If you take a two tone gun and repaint it you are making it into a RIF?
That is as far as I am aware is modifying an imitation fire arm into a Realistic Imitation Firearm, with out a defense that is illegal?
I'm sure that is what the VCRA act says.
If you replace parts that are coloured with realistic coloured parts you are also breaking the law vis the Act? Painting or replacing amounts to the same thing.
It may be common but as I read the act it is not legal to do so.
aka Stigroadie
AFRA
better by design
"Truth is a shining goddess, always veiled, always distant, never wholly approachable, but worthy of all the devotion of which the human spirit is capable. "
Concur with Poacher.
One additional point - you need to be over 18 to import or be sold a 'two-tone' IF.
In terms of WW2 airsoft, two tone guns would only really be acceptable for open day play - they would be as incongruous as Armalites in a WW2 airsoft event such as those advertised on this forum. It is just possible, if it is a bolt action, you could get away with 'scriming' it with hession for the game but this isn't a great solution.
I struggle to see why you would want to import a two tone?
Are the stalls and stores not full of them?
You have the hassle of Customs delays and fees for duty and VAT.
Some I have seen of late are pushing the envelope as to the colour they are painted.
I have seen OD/khaki greens and Navy blue used. Neither would meet the specification in Statutory Instrument 2007 No.2606 I fear. Not my problem but it's up to a year in pokey and up to £5000 fine.
This is the same document that defines a re-enactor.
aka Stigroadie
AFRA
better by design
"Truth is a shining goddess, always veiled, always distant, never wholly approachable, but worthy of all the devotion of which the human spirit is capable. "
The only reason i could think of why you would import is price. I was looking at importing 2 toned M14's as all the parts i needed for my Garand conversion where not painted. at around $80-$90 (£50) they smashed all the prices of UK retailers even if you added import duties, P&P etc. But in the end i picked up a couple of second hand ones from Zero In which were dirt cheap.
I am aware that repainting is illegal, but on a side question, if you own a 2-tone gun, then get a valid defense is it then legal to repaint/replace parts?
Yes, that's OK.
BUT....
Are you are getting a wood stocked RIF and it is being supplied painted two-tone? I think this may fall foul of the law (heh, argue the toss in court!) as a distributor painting a gun two-tone may not be seen as 'manufactured' two-tone. I seem to remember Airsoft World in Scotland stopped their two-tone painting service for this reason.
EDIT: Just checked - AW are now doing painting service, so I guess it's OK!
Aye, I did edit my post to say AW are painting RIFs now (I'm sure they stopped but I could be wrong). As you say, others offer a painting service so I guess there haven't been problems. In fact apart from Trading Standards interventions with show & shop traders and police seizing kids with bb guns in public I haven't heard of any difficulties at all - i guess the self-restraint and policing of the airsoft community must be working. Importing RIFs is a different kettle of fish of course, where seizures, queries and delays are rife.
