Demilled Firearms
 

Just curious, but can anyone tell me if the Firearm collections in Museums in some other countries, such as England, have been demilled according to law? I cringe whenever I see a Luger or other collectible firearm for sale that has been ruined by this process. :confused:

Lon

Don't know their deactivation process. But British was very aggressive on adding exotic stamps all over the place, such as NOT ENGLISH MAKE, #### of TONS PER 口. All in big fonts, deeply applied, to ensure they can be seen.

In America, I have looked at many guns that were welded in museums. Or were simply display and poor upkeep.

Thanks for the info Alvin, I have yet to have the pleasure of owning a British marked/proofed firearm, hopefully someday I will add one to my collection.

Thanks to you too Ed, I imagine to a collector such as yourself you must have walked away in disgust, I know I would have. When a nice collectible firearm, a piece of history actually, has been mistreated that way it is now nothing more then a paperweight, what a shame.

Lon

I had a chance to visit the national firearms collection in Leeds (which also contains the former Enfield Pattern Room) and I am pleased to say that most of the collection is in fully working condition. Exceptions are rare guns with parts missing, but all the general stuff is 'ready to go' when needed for tests, trials, etc...

Yes, as a Pattern Room, or depository of the world's firearms for study, all the examples at Leeds are functional

Thanks for your responses, Vlim and Doug, that is good to hear.I know we all hate to hear of desirable and historic weapons that have been desecrated to satisfy some senseless law passed by unthinking lawmakers that don't have an appreciation for what we consider to be unreplacable pieces of history.
Lon

I'd like to note that all the firearms I have seen in small, local museums, such as in Normandy and in the Ardennes all looked perfectly functional from the outside.

The larger (and public) museums usually have a firearms permit that enables them to keep and display live firearms.

Smaller museums usually consider it to be too much hassle to bother getting a permit for the few items on display and will choose for deactivation instead (in the UK at least).

In the Netherlands, the gun laws make no difference between a working gun or a deactivated gun (with some minor exceptions, such as old shot guns and bolt action rifles), so any pistol, semi-automatic rifle or full auto gun must be registered on a permit anyway.