Silly questions (posting/classification, etc)

[Character]

Hello,

I have a few questions about posting guns legally. These may seem easy to you, but information about it seems conflicting somewhat.

Firstly, I understand that many delivery firms don't allow the sending of imitation firearms unless they are low-powered air weapons (is this right?), My key question is: what exactly counts as a low powered air weapon?

From what I can gather, airsoft guns are different from BB guns due to firing different type of pellets (plastic-metal), but do these metal firing BB guns count as low-powered airguns or RIF guns?

I don't know how well I have asked it, but pretty much what I am asking is 'which guns can be posted legally?' and 'which of these are RIF/air guns?'.

Any help?

 

[Sitting Duck]

most stuff - not just airsoft stuff probably contravenes against postal/courier's guidelines or prohibited items

batteries - lipo's or a friggin' AAA battery may infringe their long list of bloody items they don't carry

look up on their terms & conditions and you will probably find loads of stuff that they stipulate as forbidden ffs but still stuff gets posted ok

Royal Mail and some other carriers can be picky about gas & batteries

often any gas mags should be empty blah blah blah, but research some feedback what carriers are biggest ar$eholes

The whole friggin' legal side of things is at best a nightmare

Low Powered - hmm what is this a Nerf Gun or a 200fps FANTASTIC sniper/pistol ???

RIF's - well the sale of RIF's requires the SELLER to check the buyer has valid defense and 18+

2-tone buyer must be 18+ but no defense required

Many ship these items as "Sporting Goods" as airsoft is regarded as a sport

Retailers often ship items that may perhaps infringe a courier's guidelines for example

but often these items are shipped in proper boxes to protect the items and properly packed to ensure they arrive intact without items or package becoming damaged or easily opened

An airsoft gun is regarded as a very Realistic Imitation Firearm....

capable of some injury to others but not fatal

yet still the RIF's are so realistic that these toy guns are very hard to distinguish even at close range they are not a real firearm

so appropriate measures are in place and should be followed in accordance with VCRA etc.....

Well hope some of that crap helps - could of just quoted bits n bobs section blah blah blah of sub-section whatyamacallit on page thingy

but that is a rough outline of our responsibilities to selling/posting of stuff - probably totally wrong but a rough load of crap to start ball rolling

Now the VCRA quotations may follow, then followed by all couriers terms & conditions plus forbidden items they will not carry - but often loads of stuff gets through ok if packaged correctly

Best check with courier & ask for feedback as to what couriers are fussy/ultra fussy

Airsoft 6mm plastic bb's

BB guns - can include airsoft but if they fire steel or metal bb's or any ammo outside of 6mm - they are bb guns not our realistic uhm ergh toy guns

 

[Character]

most stuff - not just airsoft stuff probably contravenes against postal/courier's guidelines or prohibited items

batteries - lipo's or a friggin' AAA battery may infringe their long list of bloody items they don't carry

look up on their terms & conditions and you will probably find loads of stuff that they stipulate as forbidden ffs but still stuff gets posted ok

Royal Mail and some other carriers can be picky about gas & batteries

often any gas mags should be empty blah blah blah, but research some feedback what carriers are biggest ar$eholes

The whole friggin' legal side of things is at best a nightmare

Low Powered - hmm what is this a Nerf Gun or a 200fps FANTASTIC sniper/pistol ???

RIF's - well the sale of RIF's requires the SELLER to check the buyer has valid defense and 18+

2-tone buyer must be 18+ but no defense required

Many ship these items as "Sporting Goods" as airsoft is regarded as a sport

Retailers often ship items that may perhaps infringe a courier's guidelines for example

but often these items are shipped in proper boxes to protect the items and properly packed to ensure they arrive intact without items or package becoming damaged or easily opened

An airsoft gun is regarded as a very Realistic Imitation Firearm....

capable of some injury to others but not fatal

yet still the RIF's are so realistic that these toy guns are very hard to distinguish even at close range they are not a real firearm

so appropriate measures are in place and should be followed in accordance with VCRA etc.....

Well hope some of that crap helps - could of just quoted bits n bobs section blah blah blah of sub-section whatyamacallit on page thingy

but that is a rough outline of our responsibilities to selling/posting of stuff - probably totally wrong but a rough load of crap to start ball rolling

Now the VCRA quotations may follow, then followed by all couriers terms & conditions plus forbidden items they will not carry - but often loads of stuff gets through ok if packaged correctly

Best check with courier & ask for feedback as to what couriers are fussy/ultra fussy

Airsoft 6mm plastic bb's

BB guns - can include airsoft but if they fire steel or metal bb's or any ammo outside of 6mm - they are bb guns not our realistic uhm ergh toy guns

Click to shrink...

The restrictions are very confusing indeed.

I ordered a few airsoft guns a while ago from bbguns4less, and they used Yodel to deliver them. But looking at Yodel's list of prohibited items, it would seem as though the only thing that they will accept are nappies ("toy guns" are specifically said to be prohibited by them, yet they delivered them). I wonder how parcel deliverers even check for this stuff anyway.

I've been looking at buying some metal firing bb guns from private sellers. I have been talking to someone offering to send this gun (http://www.pellpax.co.uk/airguns/air-pistols/co2-powered-air-pistols/walther-ppk-s-black/335 - which would be classed as a lowpowered air pistol, I presume?) through ParcelForce's 24 service and not the 48 service that the website says is needed. They also said that they would send some CO2 cartridges and pellets. I know the cartridges aren't allowed, but how would they know?

I literally have no idea if that would even work. Do you?!

 

[Sitting Duck]

Why are you worried about couriers if you are the purchaser of items....

if item doesn't get delivered then you take it up with retailer - it is their responsibility to ensure goods are delivered

if not then you take matters up with card company etc......

CO2 stuff is often too powerful to use at any airsoft site anyway

usually most stuff we use is electric AEG, Green Gas or HPA stuff - a bit like paintball systems

(ooh the hpa guys will lynch me now)

JBBG is $hit - end of

don't know what sort of "gun" you seek for what purpose but tbh you are reading way too much into just the courier's terms n conditions

This is an airsoft forum - therefore most stuff is about 6mm plastic toy guns within UK site limits

As for air pistols or other types of BB guns firing pellets - I don't actually know

CO2 carts or bulbs are available at loads of places - even used to make soda water n stuff

they are usually very safe - only the tip is weakened to pierce when installing

tbh - we don't tend to use CO2 much - as other methods or guns are easier/cheaper to run and can use them without too much power

 

[sp00n]

An airsoft gun fires plastic bb's

An air rifle/weapon fires metal projectiles and the one you linked is an air weapon notice the box that says :-

IMPORTANT! UK Airgun Law

Firearms must be sold on a face to face basis from a Registered Firearms Dealer.

That's why a lot of postal/couriers refuse to send them, to prevent people exploiting the "face to face" part off the vcra law

 

[Character]

Why are you worried about couriers if you are the purchaser of items....

if item doesn't get delivered then you take it up with retailer - it is their responsibility to ensure goods are delivered

if not then you take matters up with card company etc......

CO2 stuff is often too powerful to use at any airsoft site anyway

usually most stuff we use is electric AEG, Green Gas or HPA stuff - a bit like paintball systems

(ooh the hpa guys will lynch me now)

JBBG is $hit - end of

don't know what sort of "gun" you seek for what purpose but tbh you are reading way too much into just the courier's terms n conditions

This is an airsoft forum - therefore most stuff is about 6mm plastic toy guns within UK site limits

As for air pistols or other types of BB guns firing pellets - I don't actually know

CO2 carts or bulbs are available at loads of places - even used to make soda water n stuff

they are usually very safe - only the tip is weakened to pierce when installing

tbh - we don't tend to use CO2 much - as other methods or guns are easier/cheaper to run and can use them without too much power

Click to shrink...

An airsoft gun fires plastic bb's

An air rifle/weapon fires metal projectiles and the one you linked is an air weapon notice the box that says :-

IMPORTANT! UK Airgun Law

Firearms must be sold on a face to face basis from a Registered Firearms Dealer.

That's why a lot of postal/couriers refuse to send them, to prevent people exploiting the "face to face" part off the vcra law

Click to shrink...

I know that the item that I was talking about was not technically 'airsoft', but seeing as they can often be similarly labelled (e.g. as 'BB guns'), I thought it was worth giving this forum a shot.

I was in talks with a private seller who offered to send the gun that I linked in my original post through Parcelforce. I wouldn't be buying it from a retailer; the link was just to a random website that had the gun. As far as I am aware, private sellers don't need to be face-to-face when selling used air guns (air rifles/pistols). So this is where I was wondering whether the gun was classed as a low-powered air weapon or as an RIF pistol. If it's the former, it should be easier to post (?).

I'm also interested in airsoft!

I've seen advertisements for used two tone airsoft guns that are considerably cheaper than 'proper' retailers, so I was also wondering how they could be delivered. Delivery wise, buying airsoft from private sellers still seems risky.

(I replied under both of your quotes as I feel they shared parts of the same response)

For the airsoft that I currently have, I used BBguns4less, not JustBBGuns! They both seem like the most popular.

 

[Sitting Duck]

a RIF of any description should have restrictions as they are very difficult to identify - well yeah that is what makes a RIF so ergh uhm realistic

So the seller - retail or private has a duty/responsibility/required by law to ensure the buyer is eligible to purchase a RIF

The vcra then gets a little less clear on certain matters regarding repainting or manufacturing an IF into RIF if you have defense

if no defense then it is is illegal to repaint an IF into a RIF

A 2-tone IF can only be purchased by a person 18 or over

(hence the tick box on some sites)

A UKARA member must be 18+ and skirmish - no u18 skirmisher can be placed on ukara database

An owner of a RIF can GIFT a RIF to a u18 - eg: my son

BUT no money can change hands, or ANY TRADE of any description - so swapping an IF for RIF

or even a RIF for another RIF will be illegal if parties don't have valid defense etc.....

I could go on about certain things that are a little less clearly pointed out but VCRA is law and the airsoft community among others do our best to follow and abide by it - especially on the restrictions of sale/ownership etc.... to help protect the sport among other things like just being law.

(yes some rules/guidelines/conditions/laws may make prefect sense and others a little unclear but that is what we roll with)

JBBG are mainly $hit

BBGuns4Less are fairly $hit - bit better than JBBG but still mainly a plinker retailer

Some but not much, a few bits are ok but most of the stuff is fairly crap to completely crap

However - you may also look at OnlyBBGuns - this site is possibly the better of the 3 plinky sites

with a bit more "not bad" crap on the OnlyBBGuns site

Also try using " RC10 " discount code - it might still work to get uhm ergh 10% off order blah blah blah

But CO2 stuff - hmmm I'd see about Green Gas stuff instead as you can use it very likely should you ever take up the sport & pop along to a site