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I really like the look of the Armscor muzzle loading revolvers that Alan Westlake sells but on showing our range owner them the other day he said that he had been invited by the home office to apply for Sec 7.3 authority for the range and not to waste my money on the Armscor as we should in the near future be able to store and shoot Sec 7.3 handguns, so i'm in a bit of a quandry as to what to do, i have looked into both a bit more and have come up with the following pro's & con's

Muzzle loader

Pro's
Relatively cheap to purchase and maintain
Cheap to reload (can i use reclaimed range lead to mold the bullets? as it seems to suggest soft lead bullets for this gun?)
Can keep it at home for cleaning and storage
Can use it on range whenever i want
Spare cylinders are available, so can load several for quick reloading on the range for comps
Can be used in competitions
Can let others in the club touch/use the gun on range

Con's
Not as powerful or accurate as cartridge handgun
not as quick to reload (although using several cylinders helps this out)
Possibly limited bullet choice
May not hold its value

Sec 7.3 handgun

Pro's
Real handgun
Possibly increase in value over time
Quick reloads using cartridges

Con's
Extremely expensive to purchase
Can't take it home to clean and store
Can't use it on range when i feel like it, only in lock in situation with other Sec 7.3 users
Can't let others touch it
Can't legally have competitions
Can't have ammo on your license for it, only purchase from designated range, so limited choice and range could charge what they wanted.
Storage costs

I really fancied a Sec 7.3 until i researched it a bit and now i know Sec 7.3 is really for historic handguns and for occasional firing and that the price of them is exhorbitant as i was offered 2 1917 in .45acp for around the £2k each mark, i think our range owner who is a millionaire sometimes forgets that some of us are normal working folk who have to save up for their guns, how nice it would be to be in his position with your own range and so much money you dont even have to think about the cost and can have your own lock ins when you feel like taking your historic handguns out for a blast.

So what would you guys do??

For me with my limited funds i think i will be going down the Armscor route but will need to put in for a variation but the gun can be stored at the range for the moment.

Incidently has anyone on here got an Armscor?
how are you finding the purchase is it good or do you wish you had never brought it?
can you use range reclaimed lead to mold bullets or do you have to use pure soft lead?
and can you use different bullet profiles apart from wadcutters as i have a semi wadcutter Lee mold in .38/.357 i would like to use.

Thanks in advance

Simon

My mate got into it. He never got over the pistol ban. Well at it hammer and tongs for six months or so, then it has wained considerably. Once the novelty value wore off, the legislation around the "owning" and shooting heritage pistols became an issue for him.

As ardent a pistol shooter and collector that he is, he doesn't think it was "worth" all the hassel and half measures. And he's an RFD wich makes some aspects such as reloading his ammo at home, a lot easier.....

Funny that your range has been invited to apply, ours has been trying for a number of years now and has got nowhere. Maybe its something to do with the proximity of other S7 clubs? Have you got any others near you?

As for would I buy a S7, probably not. I like to be able to shoot my guns whenever I like and I thought that the point of S7 was more to do with "the study" of rather than the shooting of handguns.

majordisorder wrote: I thought that the point of S7 was more to do with "the study" of rather than the shooting of handguns.

That'd be more S7.1 where the gun CAN be kept at home, but with no ammunition

saddler wrote:

majordisorder wrote: I thought that the point of S7 was more to do with "the study" of rather than the shooting of handguns.

That'd be more S7.1 where the gun CAN be kept at home, but with no ammunition

I still thought that 7.3 was only for occassional shooting and mainly for polishing? Or is it just that it must be stored at the club and not touched by anyone other than the owner/amourer?

majordisorder wrote:Funny that your range has been invited to apply, ours has been trying for a number of years now and has got nowhere. Maybe its something to do with the proximity of other S7 clubs? Have you got any others near you?

i dont think we have any other S7 ranges in the area, we had temporary section 5 during the summer as we had one of the olympic UK female pistol shooters training at the range (although she never mentions it in any of the magazine interviews she has done) but lost it after olympics finished, the owner is on some Home Office commitee, we do the maritime security license training and in the process of getting authorisation for Dorset police to use the facilities for training (bizarrely the home office said yes but we still had to get police approval), so i'm guessing we will possibly get sec 5 back for the police.

Hi Primer.

Like you I did the same scenario and justification and joined a section 7.3 club but never got around to buying one, instead I ended up with LBP, LBR and a muzzle loader. When it came down to it I couldn’t go through the hassle of only going to the range on a Sunday and leaving the dam thing behind, I want to shoot when I want to and if this means that couldn’t take it home then I’ d rather not bother. Furthermore I was having to pay £150 for membership and they wanted a further £60 for section 7 storage for something that I could only shoot maybe handful of times a year. I’m sure there are others that don’t hold this view and would go though the hoops for a pistol, instead I just went and got a .50 BMG tesnews

As for your pro / con list here is my 2p worth .....

Pro's
Relatively cheap to purchase and maintain – Yes there is one in the for sale section ... mine
Cheap to reload (can i use reclaimed range lead to mould the bullets? as it seems to suggest soft lead bullets for this gun?) – Why bother, you can get good quality cast wad cutters already, life’s too short
Can keep it at home for cleaning and storage – Yes and they feel really sweet in the hand

Con's
Not as powerful or accurate as cartridge handgun – This is subjective, load the cylinders equally and it will be, the pistol doesn’t know its not a cartridge gun
not as quick to reload (although using several cylinders helps this out) – True, this does take IRO 2 minutes to load and can be mitigated with other cylinders ..... but its really not that much of an issue to reload each time
Possibly limited bullet choice – Yes, wad cutters are recommended
May not hold its value – Buy mine and its already lost its new residual :lol:

But seriously .... if you think these are a replacement for a cartridge hand gun they are not, you have to enjoy them for what they are ... a clean muzzle loading pistol which doesn’t have to be dropped into boiling water 30 minutes after shooting, doesn't need an explosive licence and are very near to a hand gun .......... but still not one

Thanks for your replies guys.

Leeroy have you given up on the muzzle loading revolvers now then?

Primer wrote:Thanks for your replies guys.

Leeroy have you given up on the muzzle loading revolvers now then?

Not given up per say with pistol shooting however this would be an exit out of muzzle loading for me as this is the only ML I own.... I can't be done with the black powder !

I used to shoot pistol at my local club which included muzzle loading and this isn’t something I’ve done activity over the last 12 months. Some of this is due to work commitments, others are that I am shooting small bore rifle standing to help me in some stages for practice rifle. I tend to review my firearms annually and consider letting go the ones that I don’t use often, this frees up slots and cash for other investments for changes in disciplines.

I’m quite happy for to own something for a period of time and then move on, all my firearms are for sale at anytime as long as I get the right price to replace in the future....