L & S 1:1 scale guns

[David J Ross]

I was bidding on ebay last year for two unbuilt LS kits of the .44 Magnum Smith & Wesson and a .45 Colt 1911A1 but gave up when they climbed over £70 each! Both went for over £200 each. We really do live in a stupid country! I've totally given up now, every time I saved up enough money to start some form of shooting as a hobby some moron went loopy with what I was going to buy! I am NOT going to try pea shooters or blow darts so maybe that won't get banned!

Paul Harrison

I have an unbuilt M16 still in its box. If a hand gun went for that much, I wonder how much I could get for it.

[dogsbody]

I have this collection of Denex metal replica American Civil War era pistols.

 

 

Some of them I bought through here, while a couple were purchased at a shop in Edmonton's West Edmonton Mall.

http://www.jastroarmory.com/canadahome.htm

Unfortunately, anything later than a 1890 design cannot be sold in or imported into Canada, even replicas.

Chris

Edited April 25, 2018 by dogsbody
Photo update and Photobucket can suck it!

[HammerUK9]

Sold most of my kit when I was still a student and just needed the money Still got a TM Beretta 92 that's always been really iffy and the mags are now leaking gas.

I really want to get back into it soon - got my eye on the WE M-14 EBR

Tim

[Niall]

On the leaky mags try the following -

Hold the gas release button at the rear of the magazine down and squirt silicone oil down the gas vent hole in the top of the magazine. Leave for an hour or so and fill with gas.

If it still leaks try filling with Abbey Mantenance Gas.

[LotusEspritBill]

Hi, I loved these models, especially the extra challlenge of the moving parts and lots of tiny springs! Lol.

 

I'm not sure if these non-firing plastic kits were still being made or whether importing them was stopped by the VCRA, but they don't seem to be made any more. That said, there are similar kits that have metal parts and when completed will fire plug caps. However, we can't have those in the UK unless you have a defence, such as being a member of a reenactment society.

 

What is odd, is that the VCRA stops us from buying plastic non-firing model kits, restricts metal blank firing kits, restricts Airsoft (plastic BB) guns, yet you can buy a more powerful airgun replica that fire metal BB or pellets!

 

As said previously in the thread, if you already own the before VCRA then it's still ok to own them. It's just more difficult or impossible to buy them.

 

Its a pity, I don't know what happened to my collection of L&S 1:1 scale guns, but I'd be collecting again if they were still available.

[fatalbert]

Back in the eighties,being into the good the bad and the ugly, I bought a peacmaker revolver blank firing replica,the blanks were enormous,full size If I recall,well i only fired the blasted thing twice,once in my bedroom,I was deaf for about five minutes after,and the second time I fired it was on guy faulks night.about a foot of flame shot out the front of the thing and it was bloody loud.curtains were twitching from the neighbors.scared the hell out if me so I gave it to my older brother.as far as I know its packed away in his loft somewhere.I dread to think what would happen if one was caught with something like that now.

Update....

Was talking to my brother last night about the peacemaker,he says he handed it into the police during one of the amnesties,rather.glad about that lol.

Edited April 23, 2018 by fatalbert

[Chillidragon]

I loved those kits.  I had a P38; I and an acquaintance each had one of different brands, and some details differed.  We thought that one of them represented a post-war version.  When I left home, it was given to the nephew.  I only found out when, on a visit, I was called upon to reassemble it.  Good that I never had an Uzi; I would have really missed that.  Shortly after, my whole collection, huge bits box and my stash all ended up in the same place.

 

As for blank pistols; I had a starting pistol, .22 short, top discharging.  Being a science student at that time I took a large Humbrol pot and a hammer; soon I had an expansion and focussing chamber which, when bonded to said pistol, turned it into a non-lethal psychological weapon; a Sonic Demobiliser.  My drinking colleagues of the time assured me - loudly and, strangely, angrily - that it worked.  It drew few compliments, which puzzles me to this day...

 

Note for whomever-it-may-concern, not that I think it ought to:  I no longer possess any such objects nor the means to produce nor arm them.  I present this as a cautionary tale and urge readers not to emulate my actions.

[Bubblearch]

LS We're great . I remember buying most of their pistols in the 70's. My dad had hours of 'fun' having to use woodwork clamps to sort out warping on the receiver of a P38. I had hours of fun playing with them though . I vague recall making an M16 which was so delicate it wouldn't tolerate any rough handling.

on a more current note. I discussed VCRA with a gunsmith recently. He explained airguns are already firearms so can be pretty much identical to firearms !

airsoft aren't really powerful enough to qualify as firearms so are imitations and need to be regulated. I have several air pistols all CO2 powered and they are definitely more powerful than the airsoft equivalent. You really wouldn't want to get shot with the metal BBs pistols like the Beretta etc fire - but ironically I can buy one over the counter with just a driving licence. 

So if you want a realistic looking rifle which isn't orange you have to do airsoft registration process and take part in skirmishing etc.

Edited April 22, 2018 by Bubblearch

[Max Headroom]

I may be wrong but I think that in the U.K. buying and selling replica guns is now illegal. I don’t think that owning one is a problem though.

 

Trevor

 

Edit... see here

 

http://21infantry.co.uk/forum/printthread.php?tid=123

[Black Knight]

Its not illegal - just highly restricted

I have several non-firing replicas for the purposes of making leather holsters

[dogsbody]

I had a plastic kit-type Walther P.38 back in the early 80's. I bought it at a local toy store. If I could have got them, there were caps that could be inserted into the nose of the bullets that would make it work. By the early 2000's it was sitting on one of my bookshelves in my basement room. While looking for a book, I accidently knocked it onto the concrete floor. So ended my P.38.

Now Canadian law doesn't allow such items to be sold here, damn it!

 

 

Chris

[John_W]

11 hours ago, Max Headroom said:

I may be wrong but I think that in the U.K. buying and selling replica guns is now illegal. I don’t think that owning one is a problem though.

 

Trevor

 

Edit... see here

 

http://21infantry.co.uk/forum/printthread.php?tid=123

Correct. 

Ownership was never banned, just restrictions on buying, selling and manufacturing.

Interestingly, a FOI request by an Airsoft group showed that in the ten years the Act had been in place, there had only been 18 prosecutions under Section 36.

 

I had a few of the LS kits. There were a few other manufacturers that had the luxury of metal parts for load bearing items. My own P38 exploded when I let the slide run forward under spring power instead if keeping hold of it.

[Giorgio N]

The resurrection of this thread pushed to do a quick search online to see if anyone still had these kits for sale and I found more than I expected ! A web based shop in Italy has several pistols with prices around €250, really a price that collectors only can be interested in.

Other dealers in Europe have pistols in the €100-150 range. Then there are some in the US but delivery cost alone from there is pretty high. One of the US dealers even have a Sten, didn't know LS did one. Of course for UK modellers none of these could be purchased today unless the modeller fits the VCRA exemptions..

I have to see if I can find a catalogue I had for these guns when they were produced and imported here, would be interesting to see what they costed then and compare to the current price

[Bozothenutter]

I used to have the automag 44 magnum (I think it was called).....very cool!

[fightersweep]

I remember those LS pistol kits. Me and my mate bought the P38 and M1911 repspectively from our favourite little model shop in Chalkwell. Great little kits, and I think they were about £12.99 each...this would have been about 1985. Can't believe what they go for now.

 

I do have a chromed M1911 metal replica which is really good. Picked it up years ago. Does everything the real thing does except fire! If I remember correctly, it's made by the Model Gun Company of Japan. Don't really know much about them or how old it is....I'm guessing 1970s. Are they the ones that used to advertise in Scale Models? I had one of their M16s years ago, and that was amazing too.

Edited April 23, 2018 by fightersweep

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

I remember seeing these briefly in shops in the Chicagoland area sometime late 80’s or 1990 maybe. They were gone within a year or so. I never saw one get built and forgot about them until i joined the forum. 

[mini man]

That reminds me of when I owned a genuine working Martini Henry .45 rifle,I was moving to a place where it COULD NOT GO!! so gave it to a friend in the millitary,he was driving through Heathrow approaching a VCP when he remembered it was in the boot! he near pooped himself but flashed his army id and luckily got away with it.

[Vince1159]

Always fancied a pair of replica Flintlock Dueling Pistols meself,oak case with velvet or silk lining,lovely...

Edited April 25, 2018 by Vince1159

[Don149]

My interest in this subject is WW 1&2 deacts and antique rifles and pistols .All the antiques are in working order except

a 1912 model Broomhandle Mauser 7.63 mm which was deacted because the ammo is still available , a pity, its like having

a pedigree dog neutered ! .A collection of 23 so far , though I don`t think it will go much further as the prices of good

pieces is at an all time high.A fine quality P08 Luger for instance is around the £950 mark, thank heavens I bought mine

some years ago .Pleased to say I`ve got the three I trained on ,No 4 Lee Enfield , Bren and Sten.

        Any more like minded collecters out there

                                                                  Don..

[noelh]

I had a bunch of them back in the eighties. As I recall there was an AKM, M16, M1911, P38, Luger and various revolvers. Had them displayed on the wall of my bedroom. I think some are still buried somewhere in a box. It was surprising that they were available here in Ireland at all given the times. I was serving in the army reserve at the time and there's a picture of me in my uniform posing with the M16. In reality we used the FN FAL.

 

I loved the way you could strip them like the real thing. 

These days though I have three Airsoft pistols. These are full metal and very realistic. They also strip down like the real thing. Great fun to shoot beer cans in the garden. I'm not one for running around a forest dressed as Rambo. Luckily and surprisingly while the laws here are as, if not more strict than the UK. Airsoft can be bought without restriction when over 18. No such thing as having to buy colourful guns. 

 

But strangely a deactivated real gun has to have permission of the local Super.

 

I always fancied a Lee Enfield No.4 which I had trained on when in the reserve. But a de-act costs as much as a live weapon and it's almost worth the rigmarole of getting a licence for the real thing.

 

Not that I can afford the cost or frankly the spare time to go shooting. 

[Giorgio N]

13 hours ago, Don149 said:

My interest in this subject is WW 1&2 deacts and antique rifles and pistols .All the antiques are in working order except

a 1912 model Broomhandle Mauser 7.63 mm which was deacted because the ammo is still available , a pity, its like having

a pedigree dog neutered ! .A collection of 23 so far , though I don`t think it will go much further as the prices of good

pieces is at an all time high.A fine quality P08 Luger for instance is around the £950 mark, thank heavens I bought mine

some years ago .Pleased to say I`ve got the three I trained on ,No 4 Lee Enfield , Bren and Sten.

        Any more like minded collecters out there

                                                                  Don..

 

 

I considered buying deacts in the past, the latest was only a couple months ago when I saw a very nice BAR at a decent price. My problem is that some deacts are even more expensive than working guns that are legal in my country and this thing alone puts me off them. I was once offered a deactivated SKS, a nice piece it was but at €900 ? I can buy a shooting one for €400 ! Others may be a bit more interesting, like the FAL Para I saw for around 900. There aren't many proper military FALs in that configuration around here and they cost 1.5 times that... but the L1A1 is still part of the family and prices here start around €650.  Totally different story for something like a BAR, that would not be available to buy in working order. Of course the problem is that working guns require permits and these here mean a lot of bureaucratic troubles and so on...

Have to say that UK prices of deacts look very reasonable to me compared to Italy while owning working guns of that kind is easier here, If I were in the UK I'd probably have already started collecting them.

 

 

[Mr Bowcat]

I still have a Bruni Desert Eagle blank firer that I bought back in the 80's.

 

Stupidly though, I can't buy the 8mm blanks for it (not being a re-enactor) although my firearms licence allows be to buy and hold .22, .357 & .44 Magnum and NATO 5.56mm & 7.62mm FMJ ( the proper projectile stuff, not blanks).

[mini man]

Found this.

 

[mini man]

Just found an interesting US site.

http://www.historicreplicaguns.com/

[FPDPenguin]

On 26/04/2018 at 22:57, mini man said:

Found this.

 

I know this is an old thread, but I've recently been given one of these by a friend. It is already built but... does anyone know where I could find instructions that came with the kit? Even online digital copy would help. 

 

🐧