Czech gun maker refused to provide Royal Museum in Leeds with their firearm due to British gun contr

Status
Not open for further replies.

Snejdarek

Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2014
Messages
735
Location
Czech Republic, EU
Czech manufacturer of Gladiator .500 HD black powder pistol was asked to sell one piece to Royal Museum in Leeds for their collection of modern firearms. This was their asnwer:

"We are honored by your interest in our products. Normally, we would gladly provide our product for your collection free of charge, however...

United Kingdom has extremely restrictive firearms legislation which we consider unjust and harmful to citizens of your beautiful country. Thereby our company decided not to conduct business with any official British institutions and to not provide them with any of our products.

Should you be interested in our products, you can purchase them as any other adult person within the territory of the Czech Republic.

We firmly believe that you understand our decision.

https://www.facebook.com/petr.fabian11/posts/2370201173004319


63977-1_63977--1-ewre.jpg
 
I would like to know more about this gun. A presumably inexpensive black powder derringer? Percussion ignition? That could make it a "non-gun" ("antique") under U.S. law. Not being federally regulated, that could be a viable option for self-defense, for otherwise disqualified people, in certain places.

As for boycotting a British museum, that seems to me to be a futile gesture. But if it garners free publicity for the company, I suppose they cannot be faulted for doing so.

I see some resemblance to the WW2 "Liberator" pistol.

ETA: I see from their videos that the barrel tips up, exposing percussion nipples upon which caps are to be placed. The barrels have to be charged from the muzzle with powder and bullets. It appears that the barrels are smoothbore. Where is the ramrod?
 
Last edited:
Uh-oh, a small Czech company refuses to sell it's ridiculously prized ($660) black powder cap and ball derringer to a museum, that has nothing to do with UK's present gun laws? Sure, why not - we live in a free world after all.

P.S. You know, just call me when you stumble upon such private collection in Czech republic, OK?

A small part of it:
IMG-1264.jpg
 
Good call. Am 50% Czech.
The U.K. is a hajzl. At least regarding its gun laws.
 
Last edited:
So this derringer was made to get around laws in Europe? It IS an interesting looking piece, perhaps CzechmateUSA will bring it in sometime, at perhaps a lower price. :)
 
Uh-oh, a small Czech company refuses to sell it's ridiculously prized ($660) black powder cap and ball derringer to a museum, that has nothing to do with UK's present gun laws? Sure, why not - we live in a free world after all.

P.S. You know, just call me when you stumble upon such private collection in Czech republic, OK?

A small part of it:
View attachment 836153

$660 is spendy.

Here's a Czech gun shop. Pricing can be converted to USD by hitting the upper right hand corner of the page.
https://www.kentaurzbrane.cz/

Used guns:
https://www.kentaurzbrane.cz/bazar-zbrani/

$660 buys this nice semi-auto CZ858 rifle with 30rd mags for $481USD:
https://www.kentaurzbrane.cz/puska-samonabijeci-cz-858-tactical-4v-cal--7-62x39-sklopka-2/
Plus this surplus $198.82 CZ83
https://www.kentaurzbrane.cz/pistole-samonabijeci-cz-83-r-7-65--browning/

Glocks are priced pretty high but this used G17 at $609 would be a better purchase than that derringer:
https://www.kentaurzbrane.cz/pistole-samonabijeci-glock-17c-cal-9-luger/
 
That's not my point, Drobs. Refusing to sell (not give away, sell) your "precious" gun to a museum that specializes in weapons and it's staff do the best they can to spread gun culture and knowledge in the current anti-gun UK reality is simply rude in my book. BTW, I believe that the real problem was the paperwork involved in importing that gun to England and no one wanted to bother... It's quite easy for us to say: "Screw those Brits!" but let me tell you something - I have close friends there who are very pro-gun and they work hard every day to share their knowledge. That picture I have attached? It's from a private collection and the owner repeatedly invites students from local schools to be educated, to learn how to care for those firearms, to simply try to make them more interested in firearm history and to see, that guns are not necessary "evil". At his expense. Those people need all of our support for what they are trying to do and being rude and arrogant is, to put it simply, just stupid.

Here is just one project from the Royal Armouries Museum - doesn't seem anti-gun to me, but what do I know...

https://royalarmouries.org/projects...-arms-factory-enfield-roll-of-honour-project/
 
Yep, turning down the Royal Armouries is an own goal. They don't write the laws.
The armoury has been very helpful with enquires made by members of the public, regarding firearms. It's not a wise move in my opinion.

Let's look at it another way: I can get that derringer on license. I might have been interested in it, and I could have fetched it directly (combine it with a weekend out to CZ).

But now I know that the company is likely to give me no help or service if something goes wrong with the gun.
We have a fairly active muzzle loading community in the UK.

I guess the company doesn't need those sales...
 
$660 buys this nice semi-auto CZ858 rifle with 30rd mags for $481USD:

This is meant as an actually effective self defense weapon for people who do not have a firearms license for one reason or another. It is over the counter no questions asked piece that anyone can carry concealed. This is why they can command a premium. They have also .45 model that is cheaper. They introduced this one due to popular demand for a black powder derringer that would have sufficient stopping power.

Proposal for new firearms law sets higher requirements for these guns - clean criminal record, registrations.
 
They don't write the laws.
The armoury has been very helpful with enquires made by members of the public

They don't write them, true. Have they been vocal during any of the rounds of gun control coming around UK? Including the latest one aimed at .50 cal and MARS?

Here in the Czech Republic the museums were the first ones to be all over the national channels slamming the EU Gun Ban. Suddenly it wasn't an issue of guys with CC licenses or vz.58 being "unreasonable", but reputable institutions churning out well thought out arguments on why the EU Gun Ban is outright dangerous.
 
How did I know when I opened this thread that this little blip on the screen of events in the world today could become a contentious issue...:confused:

Do you know we have so many problems fighting the antis in this country? Because we can’t even talk amongst ourselves without having a p***ing match.

Damn!
 
They don't write them, true. Have they been vocal during any of the rounds of gun control coming around UK? Including the latest one aimed at .50 cal and MARS?

They haven't been vocal at all, as far as I know. And why should they? They are a neutral repository and source of information.
 
This is meant as an actually effective self defense weapon for people who do not have a firearms license for one reason or another.

Not that it has any bearing on either the validity of a request to add it to a collection, or the reasoning why a company may refuse that request...but could you give us some examples of "one reason or another?"
 
Do you know we have so many problems fighting the antis in this country? Because we can’t even talk amongst ourselves without having a p***ing match.

Damn!

Settle down. Relax!
The company has every right to choose not to sell that gun to a UK company or museum. It's their choice.
And we have every right to discuss it and agree or disagree with that decision.
I can see both sides of the argument, I just happen to think it was an unwise move from a business point of view.

It's kind of like a UK suppressor manufacturer refusing to sell to a Czech Republic company because of how tightly restricted suppressors are in the Czech Republic.

It could have gone the other way too: a company like A-TEC in Norway could have given the UK two-fingers and said we don't sell you suppressors because you put them on license.

Probably a wise move that they didn't take that stance. There's more than a few happy A-TEC owners in the UK.
 
Last edited:
I'm not familiar with the legal processes of obtaining a firearm in either country or between countries but I'm guessing it is easier or less costly for a museum to get one than a private citizen and the Czech company is insisting the museum be bound to the same standards as citizens. I wouldn't mind seeing more of that even this side of the pond. It isn't like the Czech company is threatening to sue sue if any of their products are on display unless that is something included in the request the museum made. There are a bunch of legal subtleties that I'm not aware of that would need answers before I can give a firm support either way, until then I'm feeling good about being part Czech.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top