Licence free, What is an air rifle, What is a pistol?

[Antoni]

In another thread I asked for a source of airgun barrel to fit to a pistol. One suggestion (thank you Bighit) was that I buy a low cost sub-12 .25 rifle and harvest 7½ inches of its barrel.

If I did that carefully the rifle may still be useable, but would it still be a rifle - or would it become a pistol?

Spent some time Googling and can't find the UK definition. The important bit is the 6 / 12 FtLb business. If lopping off said amount of a rifle's barrel left it still capable of 6+ FtLb then it would have to retain its status as a rifle.

What is the definition???

The obvious downside to this whole theory is that I'd end up with a cheap rifle but would then be unwilling to carry out the necessary molestation. As we all know, stuff expands to the extent of space available. Not good.