Quote Originally Posted by airgunnut View Post
For FAC I was once told, "if it was designed as a rifle no mater what you do (eg shorten the barrel and put a pistol stock on it and lower the power) it will always in the eyes of the law remain a rifle, with a pistol you can lengthen the barrel and put a shoulder stock on it but in the eyes of the law it's still a pistol that's why you canot up the power to more than 6 foot pounds muzzle energy."
I was told directly by someone who was a partner in a UK air file and pistol manufacturer that when they queried the definitition of an air pistol were told that it REMAINS a pistol if that model was designed and left the manufacturer described as a pistol.
IMO the rules and regulations are left vague to provide work for lawyers. The same person told me that the BSA Ultra originally had a 10.5" barrel but a dealer played the barrack room lawyer bit saying they couldnt sell them even at sub 12. After consulting two lawyers and getting two different answers BSA avoided any issues by increasing the barrel length to 12" Because the overall length f the Ultra with silencer was stated in advertising the silencer was made useless by having to recess it over the barrel to keep inside that lenngth. I had one of the first 10.5" barrel Ultras and the silencer before modification did the job.