This is my Very flare pistol the first photo show its original condition the next after a quick clean, (starting to look good)- the hand grip was missing from the right hand side so I found a suitable piece of wood to construct a new one from. I could have made two hand grips at the same time as I wanted the gun to look in as good condition as possible, but I also wanted it to retain its character, so preservation rather than restoration was the order of the day. (you can see the original grip has shrunk a bit) Because the screws and pins were corroded away the gun fell apart, so I had to replace them to hold it all together. My next step was to ask Birmingham proof house about deactivation and was told that the gun needed to be complete when submitted or a solid mass welded in place, and all appropriate work carried out in accordance with the latest government deactivation specifications. Off to the gun shop it went. Now I was faced with finding the parts or making them myself. It was evident that this was becoming a restoration project, not what I had wanted. The other option as suggested by the Police was to hold the gun in none working order but on a gun licence, this in turn would need to be kept in a locked gun cabinet and not on display. I was hoping for some sort of dispensation as an antique gun, but they said it was a grey area and the law wasnt to clear on exactly what an antique gun was. Talk about catch 22. I opted to restore the gun and to do the deactivation work. Being an engineer myself this wasnt such a problem, but without a pattern or drawing to work from would mean lots of time spent trying to find a complete gun to take measurements from. I was lucky with the hammer and trigger and managed to source them from the USA but all the rest had to be hand made by myself whilst the gun was in safe keeping at the gun shop. The hardest part to construct was the barrel retaining clip I could only work on one part of the gun at a time to keep within the law and as you can imagine this was quite frustrating. The gun shop finally agreed that the Very pistol was ready to send to Birmingham, it passed with flying colours and was stamped up and certified. The most satisfying part was bringing it home and putting it in the display cabinet. I hope you all like the results and thanks to Spotter and waffenamt for you e-mails and encouragement.
British Ordnance Collectors Network
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Very Flare Pistol
- Thread starter ribargo
- Start date
Philip Reinders
Active Member
Nice one, mine was less lucky, I found it on the former LZ at Wolfheze
MissingSomething
Well-Known Member
Yes... very good work..... looks great, nice job :top:
I found this one in the sea, the owner of the site area has let me have this in exchange for other items discovered at the same time, and he didnt want the hassel of the restoration and gun licensing and such (or the bill)lucky me - I made a Promise not to reveal the exact location just yet, but it was deep
