Old Ad for Fake Guns
Jason Torchinsky is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. Jason has a book out now, Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture. He lives in Los Angeles, where he is a tinkerer and artist and writes for the Onion News Network. He lives with his partner Sally, five animals, too many old cars, and a shed full of crap.
You know how hard it is to find that perfect gift for that special someone in your life who really wants to get killed by a cop, but doesn't want to actually endanger anybody? I think I may have the answer right here. All you need is $44.95 and probably a time machine back to 1977, because I can't imagine this is legal now.
This ad brings up so many questions: who is this targeted at? Even in a theater prop sort of context, I don't see how the weight and feel would matter. Is it for potential criminals, who want the intimidation of a gun but are hedging their bets if they get caught, it won't be with a deadly weapon? It does say "will fool experts," I bet especially if the "expert" is looking down the barrel of it.
The best line is, of course, "Decorate your den, office, rec-room." I can just imagine it. "Oh, your potpourri bowl artfully strewn with pistols is absolutely wonderful!" A few handguns tossed around in just the right spots really makes a rec-room, too.
You know how hard it is to find that perfect gift for that special someone in your life who really wants to get killed by a cop, but doesn't want to actually endanger anybody? I think I may have the answer right here. All you need is $44.95 and probably a time machine back to 1977, because I can't imagine this is legal now.
This ad brings up so many questions: who is this targeted at? Even in a theater prop sort of context, I don't see how the weight and feel would matter. Is it for potential criminals, who want the intimidation of a gun but are hedging their bets if they get caught, it won't be with a deadly weapon? It does say "will fool experts," I bet especially if the "expert" is looking down the barrel of it.
The best line is, of course, "Decorate your den, office, rec-room." I can just imagine it. "Oh, your potpourri bowl artfully strewn with pistols is absolutely wonderful!" A few handguns tossed around in just the right spots really makes a rec-room, too.
the latest
latest episodes
Replica Models, Inc. merged with another company, as is still around today:
http://www.collectorsarmoury.com/ep5sf/aboutUs.ep
You can buy full auto and grenade launchers in half the US.
Everywhere else you can buy 100% accurate airsoft guns and cap guns. Or just a plain old pistol/semi automatic rifle.
Some states need a orange tipped barrel on the toy guns.
I was curious to see what the place looks like today.
View Larger Map
I remember in 1978 one of my classmates (I was a senior in high school) brought one of these to the school. He was showing it off to other students in the student lounge. It was one of those hoity-toity schools for overachievers, so perhaps he figured it was OK.
These days he would have been killed by the police for such a stunt, I have absolutely no doubt of that.
A lot of replica guns are basically the real thing minus a firing pin or some other component, and can easily be made functional again. Not sure why someone in the US in 1977 would be running into gun controls that would necessitate such an approach though. Maybe it really was for decorative purposes.
Well, you can "imagine" what you like, but replica firearms are legal in many jurisdictions.
Brandishing them isn't smart though. And we frequently read on gundefense.net of thugs who thought they'd be able to pull off a quick robbery at low risk with such, who happened to pick the wrong victim: i.e. one ready to defend themselves.
Apparently there's a market for them, and I really don't think the products are for criminals.
Replica Models is now Collector's Armoury, still in Northern Virginia and still mail-ordering both the modern-day pistol pictured, and historical models: Civil War, Colonial, Pirate, Old West, and assorted Medieval and Roman swords and shields, etc.
Not my thing, but I can see the attraction for some people. Must be enough to keep 'em in business - they've been here for 41 years now.
A quick google for "Replica Models, Inc." turns up that, yes, the company still exists, and they still make replica non-firing guns.
http://www.collectorsarmoury.com/ep5sf/20th-century/non-firing-replica-pistols/c60002-p1.html
I believe these were a workaround. You can't sell guns in the mail or across state lines... (or something like that.) This was a way around the law.
They were the real gun, but the firing pin was inactive. You could fix it fairly easily and then it would fire.
Airsoft guns are so realistic that they are frequently used in movies, yet they are inexpensive and available freely without any restrictions at all. They shoot tiny plastic pellets with considerable velocity; they'll penetrate a couple of sheets of cardboard. They are made to simulate almost every imaginable gun, from pistols all the way up to the Dragunov sniper rifle, which is over 4' in length.
Many designs are absolutely identical to their heavy metal counterparts; few come with orange tips to indicate they are not the real deal. Over 10,000 items with the name "Airsoft" are up for auction on eBay, from AK-47 variants to Colt .45 M1911s.
Don't point one at a cop.
Weight and feel matter A LOTfor a prop. The audience can tell when something doesn't feel right or weigh enough. It's like when someone is "drinking" from an empty cup. You can just tell that it's fake.
I could see a potential use in martial arts training (i.e. gun disarms); in that context, feeling like the genuine article would be a good thing. The more common brightly colored rubber training guns do seem to have an advantage in the area of not getting shot because somebody thought you were waving around a real gun, though.
They actually still make these. Models that fire blanks, ones just for show, and resin models etc. Usually don't sell them from magazine ads, but gun and hunting/camping catalogs still sell them. Today they're usually billed as collector's pieces and or props. The resin guys are used for training (my high school ROTC team used resin m1 garands for parade training).
I'd imagine the feel and weight of a gun would actually matter for acting.
The way you handle an object if it feels like a heavy-duty piece of businesslike steel is probably going to be different from how you handle something that feels like a flimsy piece of aluminum and plastic, with controls that don't work but are just stamped in the sheet metal.
The only show I was close to that involved guns (Kalashnikov rifles in this case), used the genuine article, but that had been disabled by pouring lead down the barrels. I think they needed a standard firearms acquisition certificate to be able to use the things, and had to lock them up like real guns.
For example - think of how you handle an empty pop can, and how you handle a full one. Now try to handle an empty one in a way that makes it seem like it's full. You can do it, but it's an acting obstacle - another thing to concentrate on, when it would be easier just to get a full can so you don't have to think about it and can concentrate more fully on other aspects of your acting.
Being a naive Canadian, I always assumed that these were real guns (or at least knock-offs) capable of firing standard ammo once you added a vital missing part like the firing pin.
This company is still in business under the name Collector's Armoury, Ltd. and they're still selling replica guns.
I'm looking for a replica .45 Colt Peacemaker to use as a stage prop. Because the actor has to do a little bit of *business* it should be heavy. Any tips for the best make?
We use a real one but it scares everybody, even the actor who handles it.
I'm surprised their aren't more real guns in Day-Glo colors. (Don't worry; it's not real. Blam!)
I incorporated that into a screenplay once. (Don't steal my idea!) :D
#11, as long as you don't need to point it at anyone, you could safely unload it and use it? You probably will need to violate rule #1 though for your film which is never point a gun at someone you don't intend to destroy, even if it's unloaded and you unloaded it yourself.
I may have spoken too soon the grenade launchers. The issue is the ability to buy live grenades. That you can't do, no matter what the Obama newsies tell you. Not even in south Texas. ha!
Oh, and a Yugoslavian SKS rifle does NOT count as that should be curio and relic but technically under the law it isn't. Most people use them to launch tennis balls or inert grenades. Here's an inert launch in the US. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQwnezOXDPg
And for comparison, a live grenade launched from the SKS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDC7BzYeJL8&NR=1
Years ago, a friend and I came up with quite possibly one of the worst product ideas ever: a wallet shaped exactly like a gun, made out of metal. If the owner gets pulled over and the cop requests ID, this thing gets hauled out of the glove compartment. The kicker: as a security measure, the gun-wallet only opens in response to a loud passphrase being yelled in the immediate vicinity; we figured a good passphrase would be "I'm gonna GIT you, mothahf*ckah!"
I can't imagine this is legal now
As others have pointed out, of course these are still legal, rightfully so, and perhaps more popular now than ever (e.g., Airsoft guns).
What you didn't have back then (at least not on this scale), but you do have now, are real guns which to the undiscerning eye, look fake:
see: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=pink+guns&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=ZZNwSriiNImaMNvJzOAI&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1
No doubt the usual suspects will condemn these as being brazen efforts to market to girls, or to provide baddies w/ gear that sows a critical half-second of uncertainty in the minds of opposing constabulary. I for one think baddies and constables would be facing off against each other a lot less if all guns were required to conform to this aesthetic.
I wish they were still that cheap.
@ #12 JFRANCIS
Y: The Last Man used this as a story element towards the end of its run back in ‘07 or so.
The advantage of fake guns like this (or similar, depending on the make) is that they don't have the same regulations behind them -- they don't require permits, they don't require you go through a gun dealer, etc. This cuts the cost and hassle of dealing with them. If you need a gun, but don't need it to fire, this is a great low-cost, low-hassle way of doing it.
Some versions are made so exact like the model they are imitating that they are part-for-part compatible, but can't be made to fire. I recall seeing an advertisement for a training Glock-17 which was made by Glock and differed from a "real" Glock-17 only in that the receiver lacked the hole the firing pin passed through and the polymer parts were bright orange. It allowed training in gun handling, disassembly and reassembly, repair, replacement of all parts, demonstration of how the gun works, etc.
I can definitely see, for theatrical purposes, the need on occasion to be able to show the gun being loaded, readied, etc, in a way that experts in the seats wouldn't cry foul on but also won't put the actors or audience in any danger.
My crazy-ass junior-high friend told me that they were pretty easy to turn real guns - just drill out the barrel. He claimed to have done so, and even said that the drilling helped in that he now had a rifled barrel in his pistol.
But then, he was not exactly playing with a full deck.
This would've been 77-80.
Au contraire, not illegal at all. My high school had genuine M1903 Springfields (21 model "A3", 3 model "A1") and they were gorgeous. We used them for drilling, and had very strict safety procedures on using them. They were slightly heavier than the real thing though- because they were the real thing with the barrel loaded with lead and weld-capped.
Mine was named Deadbolt, for the slightly finicky bolt action. I spent hundreds of hours with that piece at my sided. We were not permitted to let them out of our sight, play with them, or do anything except throw them five feet in the air with a triple spin and catch them in addition to other manouevres. We had resin mockups for practicing those manouevres, because as long as those suckers had been around, repaired when necessary, and as resilient as they were, you drop them after that and they explode like cherry bombs.
I see a lot of use for them, as others have mentioned they could be used for training and also for theater. Similar fake guns, some with blow back action that doesn't really look real, are often used in indy film- a weapons expert on set being FAR more expensive than just using fake guns.
For decorating the Rec Room- Leave the fake guns out in plain sight and hide the real ones! Criminal grabs the fake, you get the real deal.
These were for collectors who wanted the look, not the real thing, for a variety of reasons, cost being one of them, laws another. You could buy a replica German MP40 submachine gun from them, and not have to worry about gun laws. They sold Man From Uncle spy-ware Walther P-38s, too - with lots of attachments; very cool. Some pistols, like the Broomhandle Mauser the Rocketeer had, used wooden holsters that could be used as a detachable stock that attached to the pistol butt, and it was illegal in some places to own both parts at the same time - replica was the solution. I learned how to field strip one of those with one these very replicas back in the day. Try getting a Thompson submachine gun with a drum magazine in the mail back then - not likely, but the replica was legal in a lot of states. They really were identical looking to the real things. Movie props may be real or with the same heft at times, but not all the time - some stunt guns are rubber or plastic so you don't risk needing an AK47 extraction after rolling around during a gag or something.
I worked at a store that sold the guns from Collector's Armory many years ago. They could not be turned into real guns. The barrels were solid except at the tip, and on sum guns like the 1911 pictured in this add the area where the firing pin went was a solid block of steel. Furthermore all of the pieces were slightly off from the actual size, so no parts were interchangeable with the real guns.
In addition to being used as theatrical props there are people that collect military gear and will set up mannequins with uniforms and gear and want fake guns to put on them. Reenactors can also use this stuff. And if you want to make a nice replica of Han Solo's blaster it would be much cheaper to start off with a replica broom handle Mauser than buying a functional one.
The reality is, that these replica weapons ARE indeed different from the genuine article. Several components are made from different materials such as zinc alloy, as well as bieng dimensionally different, and having some features absent, such as the aforementioned firing pin holes in the slide, etc. Also, the barrel was blocked, and no provision was made to accommodate the "swinging link" part of the design, which is critical for function. So please be careful, McLaren+Torchinsky, your personal political beliefs are showing like a plumbers butt crack.
I don't think these could have been modified into a reliable firearm. The materials, heat treating and machining of the barrel and critical parts like the sear, etc. would be too expensive to make them this affordable. Of course you could probably buy a .44 1911 for $44 in 1950.
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-- Rb
Thanks, #29, 30 & 31. I always thought that my buddy was lying. He did have a pretty complete explanation for everything, though - right down to the fact that the appropriate people had been bribed to certify these gun replicas as legal.
Ahh, junior high. I don't miss it a bit.
The captcha here is "execu- ithacans" Which is amusing as this all happened at Boynton Jr High in Ithaca NY.
What Sea Daddy said. Real firearms are made from high grade steel, even the so called 'polymer' ones. The soft metals used in the replicas could not stand the heat and pressure of firing, even if you could get one to work - it would just explode.
The barrels are solid metal, with bonus hard tungsten rods inside. These rods will destroy drill bits quickly. The company has clearly been thoughtful about preventing the replicas from being made to fire.
Shame on you for using A Directory of Wonderful Things to sound an alarm, not on any real threat, but about tools of the screen and stage.
Besides, where do you think all those 501st legion troops and WWII re-enactors get their mock arms?
I'm Canadian, from the non-hunting, non-gun owning demographic (I understand we're actually in the minority). My husband is, basically, a military technology fanboy (basically against military action, but in love with the toys).
He owns quite a bit of Canadian, American, and NATO military surplus gear, and yes, a couple of replica firearms, along with a "sampler" set of dummy (zero propellant) bullets. Honestly, they make about as much sense as replica swords, which I note you can buy at the shopping mall without any special paperwork. And of course, we own a few, along with an authentic kukri made from a truck leaf-spring.
Other than the obvious use for theater and re-enactors, the major purpose of these replica guns is basically "collectibles". For people who won't or can't own real guns (even my husband wouldn't have a real gun in the house, even a perfectly legal hunting rifle) but have an intense interest in them anyways, these are a reasonably safe alternative.
And yes, of course you don't wave them around in public. Ours have orange rings painted around the barrel to signify that they're replicas, but even assuming the police aren't upset by them, I really don't want our neighbors to think we own actual guns.
1) We already keep odd hours, have lots of sketchy-looking people over on weekends (roleplaying gamers ;) and keep to ourselves. Next thing you know, our front door will be busted in, our cat will be shot, and cops will be ripping apart our furniture looking for a hidden drug lab or whatever.
2) Makes us a glaring target for idiot teenagers looking for valuables to steal.
They're basically risqué art objects - owned for personal appreciation, not for public display.
Just to follow up on my (appropriately) angry post with some actual information, the replicas we had could not be converted to fire real bullets. They were pretty cheaply made. Both had chunks of metal in the barrels. Both had bright orange paint at the business end -- the Uzi had an orange 1" long plug of metal sticking out of the barrel end. Happily, the nice folks at Collector's Armory gave us a "theatrical barrel" that screwed in the place of the orange one. And the 45's orange paint scraped off without much trouble.
Oh, and echoing the "Proper replicas don't have any really useful gun parts in them" notes. I suppose you could use the grips or something, but basically you'd be stamping and machining a whole new gun. It might be useful as a pattern to build from, but unless you really wanted to build a 1911, I don't see why you wouldn't just make some sort of generic zip gun for your nefarious purposes.
Specifically and deliberately illegal in the UK, for the above-mentioned reason that someone can covert it to a real firing weapon (and if the thing is made of soft metal, that won't stop them, and makes the thing even more dangerous).
I can sort of see the sense in this. It was claimed at the time that a large percentage of guns in criminal use in the UK were obtained this way, but I have no way of knowing if this was true.
Jerril - I think realistic replicas are regulated in much the same way as real guns in Canada.
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cfp-pcaf/fs-fd/replica-replique-eng.htm
I remember seeing these ads when I was a teenager, and wanting one. So, combining that with all the mentions of high school in the comments above, and you get the answer to your question: it's aimed at teenagers.
Aside from theater, martial training (situational awareness, take aways, holster practice, pat-downs, etc.) also relies on duplicating the weight and feel of a weapon. Blue Guns mostly owns that market now, but the concepts are the same.
Seriously? Have you never seen "Snatch"?
To Shadowfirebird, you have been under the thumb of your nanny-state overlords for too long. It is apparent that your knowledge of firearms is non-existent, but again, not your fault. However, please confine your statements to what you know, rather than what you assume. Questions are OK though. One of us "yanks" will be happy to answer, I'm sure. Myself included.
Sea Daddy,
"Home Office minister Hazel Blears said: "There is an increasing public concern around relatively low-level crime and anti-social behaviour escalating to more serious offences because people are under the influence of alcohol or carrying weapons."
Last year saw a 66% increase in offences involving replica firearms.
The planned legislation envisages higher sentences for carrying imitation guns, and tougher manufacturing standards to make sure replicas cannot be converted to fire real ammunition."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4071848.stm
Reflecting on 29: Makes me think. A person who owns illegal guns could repair them using parts from legal and hence cheaper replicas.
i don't feel like reading all the comments, but i know who buys these. These replicas are in essence the same thing as a typical pistol, except they have a few key differences: 1) the barrel has been filled with a bit of metal that only allows it to hold only empty casings, 2)the firing pin has been removed. With a bit of know-how, any knuckle dragger could order parts (legally) on ebay to restore these replicas to full-metal armament. similar to the 14 gage signal-flare gun that can be modified to fire 12 gage shotgun shells with an attachment (also found on ebay).
funny article, but it's sad the state we live in.
Dear Arkizzle, I have to point out that you are guilty of letting the media and government overlords do your thinking for you. These are the same people that lied to all of us to 1) Start a war in Iraq and Afghanistan, 2) Have very nearly brought the worlds economies to their collective knees, 3) Tax us into oblivion while maintaining it is for measures to "protect us", and yet you say crime is up. 4) Wish to take you freedom to electronically voice your honest opinions on a given topic away from you, under the guise of inciting hatred, ASBO, and other such nonsense. This is among the myriad of things these people have, and continue to do, and yet you quote them as gospel, a fountain of truth. Please believe me when I say that you are wrong. As sentient beings, we are responsible for our own actions. An inanimate object cannot influence anyone to do anything. Replica guns do not cause even minor crime, just as spoons did not cause Rosie O'Donnell to become fat. Your logic, sir, is faulty, moderator or not.
I admire the ad layout. First, you spot the bad-ass pistol photo and the price below it, and pull out your wallet. Then you spot the words at the top: Counterfeit guns. You sadly start putting away your wallet, until you read the next word, "Authentic!"
Then you gladly pull out your wallet again, hoping someone is willing to break the law and sell you a gun through the mail w/out a license or gov't background check. Bravo, Replica Models, Inc.!
@Anon 46,
No, replica prop guns cannot be made to fire real bullets nor can their parts be used to fix real guns--nor would that even make sense since only the receiver of a real gun is regulated, you are free to buy repair parts for real guns.
And as others have noted their are plenty of reasons to own a replica gun, not the least of which is for safety reasons. A replica gun can be used in displays and in theatrical productions with no worries about the weapon being discharged or worries about breaking firearms regulations, including transport and storage laws.
The world would be a safer place if people only collected fake guns instead of real ones. However, replica guns are illegal in California, while real ones are perfectly legal, which is an entirely stupid situation.
In New York City, anything the shape of a real gun, no matter what color, even if it's made of transparent plastic, is illegal.
Too easy to spray-paint them and commit suicide by cop. Which is, lest we forget, something we do want to prevent. Bad for the unfortunate cop, if nothing else.
I could see someone wanting to keep a replica firearm in their nightstand. Maybe something to scare off criminals without worrying that the kids will get a hold of it?
Sea Daddy,
Why are you speaking entirely in memes? Your comments read like a list of talking points.
It looks like the confusion here between US posters and British ones is that the replica guns being converted to functioning firearms in Britain are blank guns, or "blank-firing replicas," while the US stage arms and collectibles are non-firing replicas which are basically impossible to convert.
One may purchase blank guns for use as starter pistols or theatrical props easily enough in the US, but with our ready access to genuine firearms there is little or no need to convert them. It would be safer to use a non-firing replica as a cudgel than try to convert it to some kind of zip gun.
As an aside, more than one person has been killed or seriously injured by a blank round fired at close range on stage or on a movie set.
OK, lets put this to rest , they were never real guns , they were never just missig a piece to make them work. the parts were always made a bit bigger or smaller than a real replacement part would take. they are also made of zinc (very soft metal). the barrels are also plugged inside. you could NEVER make one of the to fire anything EVER.
Apparently many of the so-called "replica" guns being converted to functioning firearms in Britain were actually "deactivated" collectors guns which could be restored to full functionality with little effort by someone with the necessary skills, parts, and equipment. These are completely different from the genuine, unconvertible replica guns featured in the original article.
When I was a kid back in the 70's, they used to advertise these in magazines (Popular Mechanics? Boy's Life?). I sent off the SASE to get the catalog. I so wanted one of these!
I suspect that some people want a fake gun that looks just like the real thing but can't fire for the same reason that many people want a fake penis that looks just like the real thing (more or less) but can't ejaculate.
Guns are sexy, the same way that cigarettes are--you know that they hurt people, but, still. All those movies and TV shows, the heavy steel, snug in their oiled leather holsters; the brandishing, my God, the brandishing. Look at Stephen King: a dyed-in-the-wool liberal who as far as I know doesn't own a gun (although he may have fired one or two for research), but how about that Dark Tower series?
#18 You can get any firearm you want painted pretty much any color you want. One outfit that does it is Houts Enterprise[http://www.houtsenterprises.net/]. I would guess that most of their business is from folks that are restoring beat up guns or folks wanting camo jobs on their hunting rifles. Of course, there's also the "Bloomberg colors" section specifically for bright, toy like colors.
http://convert-a-pell.com/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/gunsmiths-converted-replicas-used-in-52-shootings-910752.html
SEA DADDY,
You're not new to discussion threads about firearms, are you? I can almost hear the heavy breathing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jts0xxg7P8I
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0873649834/o/qid=958441463/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/103-4342302-3796628
and why is all this silly?
park the car, wait for the cop, smile, pepper spray, club and take gun.
@#25: You can't produce a rifled barrel just by drilling it out. That's ridiculous.
I haven't read tall the comments but I don't believe anyone has addressed another of your comments...
In many places using a fake gun to commit a crime is just as bad as using a real gun. It doesn't matter. As long as your victim thinks it's a real gun, the law sentences you as if it was.
@Sea Daddy:
For the record:
1) It is a fact that realistic replica guns are banned in the UK.
2) It is a fact that the reasons given for this are the ones I outlined above.
At no time did I actually express an opinion about whether this was a good idea or not. I said I could see the logic in the argument; but that is not the same as saying I think it's a good idea.
As you correctly pointed out, having only lived in a country where handguns are banned, I don't have enough information to make a judgment.
And neither, I suspect, do you -- presumably having only lived in a country where they are not.
Man, I lusted after these thing when I was a kid.
#39 - Part of the confusion is that there are several categories of things that I will now dub "gun-like objects".
In Canada, "Replica Firearm" is a legal term, which interestingly does not apply, for example, to an Airsoft gun even if it is designed to look very very much like a real firearm. Our gun-like objects are, for a reason I'm not clear on unfortunately, not considered "Replica Firearms" as per the the FAQ you linked to. They are, however, replica-firearms as per the conversation in this thread.
This confusion over the term "replica firearm" and what it means is why there's an argument in-thread about whether replicas can be converted to operate or not.
#10 Osprey: "They shoot tiny plastic pellets with considerable velocity; they'll penetrate a couple of sheets of cardboard."
That sounds hyperventilatingly exaggerated for the airsoft weapons in North America, although Italy is notorious for allowing higher muzzle velocities.
I think you'd need to use a higher velocity propellant gas (Airsoft weapons use nitrous oxide, not CO2 - changing to CO2 would be a start) and a higher mass projectile to get that sort of damage. And then you'd need to completely overhaul the guts of your airgun, because all the insides are designed to fire light, soft, plastic bbs, not heavy, hard lead ones that leave lead fouling all over everything.
North American spec airsoft weapons can't penetrate flesh (obviously excepting someones poor eyeball - wear goggles, kids). Some Airsoft guns will leave a nasty welt or bruise at short range - but these are all universally "long arm" type airsoft guns.
Getting shot in the face with a long arm and no mask on might result in split skin and bleeding - but only because the skin on the face is thin and prone to splitting on impact, not because you now have a BB lodged in your cheek.
The pistol-sized airsoft guns just can't get enough acceleration from nitrous oxide pressure before the bb leaves the barrel, and if you use the spring-powered ones instead, the only springs you can fit in a pistol-sized gun are downright anemic.
I wanted one of these when I was a kid. These are fetish items.
@Takuan
Re: The Independent article about the "replica" guns in the UK.
The story mistakenly calls the guns replicas, when in fact they were "de-activated" real guns, which were restored to firing condition.
Not the zinc-alloy and pot metal replicas seen here.
Re: I believe the reason replica guns are now often illegal is because they may make people complacent with handling "weapons", and encourage messing about with them. Also, police don't want to face the tragic event of shooting an innocent (albeit idiotic) person who casually pulls one out as a joke. Fair enough.
I live in Japan. Airsoft and cap-firing replicas are pretty popular here, but we never have any reports of people using them in crimes.
When I was in NJROTC in High School, as Drill Team commander I carried a replica 1911 GI .45 sidearm not unlike the one pictured in the advertisement. It was made of plastic and designed to fire blanks (movie prop), and thus a bit lighter than a real 1911. I carried it in a white leather holster, and it had been passed down from Team Commander to Team Commander for a few years. Unfortunately, I tried to twirl it, dropped it, and broke a chunk off of the slide, so I was the last DT commander to carry that replica in competition. It would probably be frowned on today. Anyway, after that the DT commanders carried either Navy swords, or dummy rifles like the rest of the team (mostly de-activated M-1 Garands with firing pin removed and the bolts welded shut, or mock 1903 Springfield rifles).
I can see armchair military Historians being interested in trinkets like this.
Yes, it is legal to own/sell these even today, may it ever be so in these United States.
Sea Daddy,
blah blah blah read this blah blah blah.
Look, the term 'replica firearm' means different things in different places! Get over it!
The ones in the article are fake, F-A-Y-Q-U-E fake. They can't be converted to fire real bullets. There are other things, also called (in other places) "replica firearms," that aren't so fake and CAN be converted.
Next we'll be arguing about 'hood' vs. 'bonnet'. Doesn't this strike you as kind of pointless?
Rats, a spelling error in my previous post. 'Fake' is spelled P - H - A - Y - Q - U - E, of course.
I thought fake was spelt F-U-G-A-Z-I
Arkizzle, please take a moment to check out Sabre Defence Industries, the company referenced in the articles on the "converted replica" [sic] guns in the british press.
Ten seconds on Google took me to their website, http://www.sabredefence.com/index.php which shows that they manufacture and supply REAL guns and parts, mainly to the US military. As such, it appears that the Independent and Beeb are either being willfully deceptive, or merely ignorant.
With proper tools and skill, it is possible to machine the "receiver" of a gun, and add it to a "parts kit" to result in a complete weapon. My guess is that the fellow in question purchased "parts kits" (which often contain everything but the actual receiver) and machined the rest. That process is definitively different from the notion of converting a "replica" into a functional weapon, which as others have stated, is nearly impossible, or at least highly impractical.
Just wanted to try and clear up some of the confusion.
PS- replica guns are also great for practising "quick draws" and Old West-style spinning tricks without blowing your foot off.
Good info, anonymous@78.
However, I think Xopher hit the nail on the head by saying there are simply dfferent criteria for what is acceptably called a replica in the UK and US.
If the guy from the article I linked above was able to ship a case of MAC-10s into the UK, then they were likely classed as replicas.
Separately, here's another article (also BBC), whch clearly divides airguns from other types of replicas, and still says of airguns: "A small proportion of these weapons have proved to be vulnerable to conversion to take conventional ammunition. ... Scotland Yard said 75 per cent of the guns it seizes on the streets are adapted air weapons."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/yorkslincs/series5/gun_crime_replica_weapons.shtml