While going thru online auction houses in the UK,there is the
Stock,Action & For-end only section...I was just looking at Holts..they had a quite a few.
I assume the bbls are out of proof....& are not for sale.
But if you Pinky Promise that you intend to sleeve them, can you get the bbls, or at least the chamber end, with the lugs etc , so you could sleeve them?....or is it just impossible to get any part of the bbl?
I always wanted to know?
Some seem to be going for very cheap money,I'd think if you looked really close you could find a nice candidate for a good sleeve job.
What's the deal here?
I guess that would be the ultimate sawed off shotgun
But damn, some look ok for 25/30 quid
cheers
franc

It depends on the auction site. They should be able to tell you if the barrels are available. If they are they will most likely be cut with a hack saw just in front of the chamber to be sure they can not be used.
Cheers,
Laurie

Holts takes a grinder to them. I've bought several. Just make sure and remind them not to hit the ribs. They did that once on me.

Frank,

The proof house has cracked down on "proof exempt" guns. Too many of them came to the US and there were issues. Now they require slotting the barrels.
I helped get a set of barrels to a buyer a few years ago. They're not a great photos, but you'll get the idea of what to expect.



Joe

YEP, The proof house got heavy a few years back. Prof law here in the UK states that it is illegal to sell or offer for sale any gun which is not in proof. It used to be that the guns would be sold to RFD holders in the Trade so they could be rescued.

Unfortunately a few bad apples used this as a loophole to ship out of proof guns to the US, where there is no proof law protection and therefore a deal of public ignorance about the safety and usability of these guns. Result was that responsible dealers got slapped along with the cowboys and now a lot of nice guns, which may be salvageable are cut before hey can be released to anyone, regardless of Trade status.

So, now if you bid at auction on stock action and forend lots, you will be given cut barrels, as in the photos above.

Thanks very much Smallbore
This is stretching luck, I'm sure,..but would that move a Non Antique gun, steel bbl from the Stock,action, for end lots ,& chopped as shown to some other category where it might be shipped as "Parts" or obsolete , or sonething without all red tape??
I'm thinking nnooooo, to easy
But if was going to go the sleeving rout,I'd have someone like John Foster do it, & have it re proofed...so then I'm back to Importing a "Whole, shootable" gun...grrrrr lol
But I was curious about the cut bbls....And how it might affect getting it to the US
thank you
cheers
Franc
I will be going back to England in august,first time in 10 years mum turns 90, I'll be in Surrey for a week , then a few days B&B down to area in Somerset where I grew up..or was supposed to have
I haven't been to that are in 45 years...it might be an emotional visit...we'll see
thnx again

You can ship the cut gun but it is still a Section 2 Firearm and subject to licencing accordingly. US side, the decider is the age of the gun rather than its usability.

It is illegal to export from the UK any arm that is out of proof or unproofed . The law applies to all firearms including antiques ,whether they be flint locks or other .
Back in the 70's Webley made some single barrel martini actiond shot guns in .310 [I think] for an American company ,could have been Winchester .The idea was to have "indoor " clay shootig galleries . They were not proofed at request of the US customer and I do recall ther was a problem with export even back then .

Does that also include guns that have been "de-activated" i.e. having their barrels slotted like mentioned earlier in this thread?

If the gun is in the UK and has cut barrels you would be better getting it sleeved here in any case. There are more people who can do it, faster and probably better for the price. Sleeving would include re-proof.

You probably could but it is still treated as a licensed firearm ,so would still need all the other relevant paper work,export and import permits .