A firearm that has been reclassified...

Questions about New South Wales gun and ammunition laws. NSW Firearms Act 1996.

A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by big matt » 22 Nov 2022, 2:10 pm

I think I know the answer...but I thought I'd ask a question that may not have been asked before.... :D it may have been...
If you purchased a firearm in NSW as a Cat A or B and it's been reclassified as a Cat D for some stupid (appearance law) perhaps...
And you're allowed to keep it because the law changed AFTER you purchased it....(granfathered) sic
If someone else (licensed) wants to use it on ur property I'm assuming that they must have a Cat D license...yes? :roll:
It sounds silly but I assume that'd be a yes...because of the "new category"...
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by big matt » 22 Nov 2022, 2:14 pm

My thoughts were, that seeing I purchased them on either A or B that I'm the only one now that can use it under that classification...
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by yoshie » 22 Nov 2022, 2:44 pm

I know of a few cat A and B that have been legally reclassified as cat H. Big bore and unlimited handgun silhouette guns.
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by bladeracer » 22 Nov 2022, 4:24 pm

big matt wrote:I think I know the answer...but I thought I'd ask a question that may not have been asked before.... :D it may have been...
If you purchased a firearm in NSW as a Cat A or B and it's been reclassified as a Cat D for some stupid (appearance law) perhaps...
And you're allowed to keep it because the law changed AFTER you purchased it....(granfathered) sic
If someone else (licensed) wants to use it on ur property I'm assuming that they must have a Cat D license...yes? :roll:
It sounds silly but I assume that'd be a yes...because of the "new category"...


Didn't they do this with the lever-guns over 5rd capacity?
I would assume that if it's no longer CatA or B then somebody would have to have a CatD licence to have access to it.
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by Lazarus » 22 Nov 2022, 4:40 pm

In NSW, category D firearms are self-loading, as far as I'm aware it's not possible to convert a Cat A or B to semi-auto.

Appearance is a different ball of rice, that is an esoteric issue depending on the "opinion" of the police inspecting them.

It took me over 3 months to get approval for an XLR chassis because: 1 it was black and scary, 2 it was a "military" looking billet chassis, but worst of all, it has adjustable length of pull.

It was finally approved because the LOP adjustment needed an Allen key, if it was the cam-lock type it is too dangerous FFS.
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by bladeracer » 22 Nov 2022, 4:50 pm

Lazarus wrote:In NSW, category D firearms are self-loading, as far as I'm aware it's not possible to convert a Cat A or B to semi-auto.

Appearance is a different ball of rice, that is an esoteric issue depending on the "opinion" of the police inspecting them.

It took me over 3 months to get approval for an XLR chassis because: 1 it was black and scary, 2 it was a "military" looking billet chassis, but worst of all, it has adjustable length of pull.

It was finally approved because the LOP adjustment needed an Allen key, if it was the cam-lock type it is too dangerous FFS.


You need to get approval to buy a chassis?
As long as it doesn't make the rifle any shorter in NSW I'm surprised you even have tell anybody you have it.
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by Lazarus » 22 Nov 2022, 5:17 pm

bladeracer wrote:
Lazarus wrote:In NSW, category D firearms are self-loading, as far as I'm aware it's not possible to convert a Cat A or B to semi-auto.

Appearance is a different ball of rice, that is an esoteric issue depending on the "opinion" of the police inspecting them.

It took me over 3 months to get approval for an XLR chassis because: 1 it was black and scary, 2 it was a "military" looking billet chassis, but worst of all, it has adjustable length of pull.

It was finally approved because the LOP adjustment needed an Allen key, if it was the cam-lock type it is too dangerous FFS.


You need to get approval to buy a chassis?
As long as it doesn't make the rifle any shorter in NSW I'm surprised you even have tell anybody you have it.


It was the appearance thing, but mostly the length of pull that was the issue.
You can buy a chassis as long as it fits within narrow parameters, no folding, no cam lock lop, can't be too scary looking etc
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by big matt » 23 Nov 2022, 7:33 am

I think the MH12 shotgun was reclassified to Cat D in NSW and the Berika Black ops was reclassified as well but not sure to what Category...because of appearance...
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by Lazarus » 23 Nov 2022, 9:07 am

You're right Matt,

There were a couple changed purely because of appearance.

Some are banned from nsw from the start. The Colt M2012, the Warwicks, just purely for appearance.

It's a ludicrous justification that if someone has a gun pointed at them, they'll be "more intimidated" if it looks military-ish.

Nobody gives a bugger what it looks like, if some clown is pointing a gun at you, all you see is a gun.
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by rc42 » 23 Nov 2022, 12:16 pm

QLD did a re-classification of lever action shotguns from A to B
Since all licenses have both it made little difference, although it would have blocked using them on shotgun ranges that only had cat A approvals.

NT tried to move the Savage A22R lever release 22LR from A to C and notified owners that they weren't licensed for it so had to dispose of it at their own expense,
fortunately that got reverted.

I suspect any future re-classifications will also require owners to dispose of it themselves (before they get a visit to take everything) and nothing will be 'grandfathered' again.
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by Lazarus » 23 Nov 2022, 12:27 pm

When I first read this I thought, "foil hats anyone?"
Ah, the naivety of youth.

Now I see it.

1669161636460_75.png
1669161636460_75.png (555.55 KiB) Viewed 5196 times
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by bladeracer » 23 Nov 2022, 1:23 pm

rc42 wrote:QLD did a re-classification of lever action shotguns from A to B
Since all licenses have both it made little difference, although it would have blocked using them on shotgun ranges that only had cat A approvals.

NT tried to move the Savage A22R lever release 22LR from A to C and notified owners that they weren't licensed for it so had to dispose of it at their own expense,
fortunately that got reverted.

I suspect any future re-classifications will also require owners to dispose of it themselves (before they get a visit to take everything) and nothing will be 'grandfathered' again.


All mainland states moved lever-guns over 5rds to CatD, lever-guns up to 5rds are now CatB in most states.

Lever-guns up to 5rd are now CatB in Qld, NT, WA, SA, NSW, ACT, and Vic.
Lever-guns over 5rd are now CatD in Qld, NT, WA, SA, NSW, ACT and Vic.
In Tasmania lever-guns are still CatA regardless of capacity as far as I can find.
https://fas.police.tas.gov.au/obtaining-a-licence/categories-firearms-licence/

Some states do still allow you to supervise an unlicenced person on private property (except CatH in all states), whether this extends to CatC/D though I don't know.
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by Moondoggy » 01 Dec 2022, 12:18 pm

bladeracer wrote:
rc42 wrote:QLD did a re-classification of lever action shotguns from A to B
Since all licenses have both it made little difference, although it would have blocked using them on shotgun ranges that only had cat A approvals.

NT tried to move the Savage A22R lever release 22LR from A to C and notified owners that they weren't licensed for it so had to dispose of it at their own expense,
fortunately that got reverted.

I suspect any future re-classifications will also require owners to dispose of it themselves (before they get a visit to take everything) and nothing will be 'grandfathered' again.


All mainland states moved lever-guns over 5rds to CatD, lever-guns up to 5rds are now CatB in most states.

Lever-guns up to 5rd are now CatB in Qld, NT, WA, SA, NSW, ACT, and Vic.
Lever-guns over 5rd are now CatD in Qld, NT, WA, SA, NSW, ACT and Vic.
In Tasmania lever-guns are still CatA regardless of capacity as far as I can find.
https://fas.police.tas.gov.au/obtaining-a-licence/categories-firearms-licence/

Some states do still allow you to supervise an unlicenced person on private property (except CatH in all states), whether this extends to CatC/D though I don't know.


Isn't the 5rd limit (For Cat B) only applicable to lever action shotguns?
Any lever action shotgun having greater then 5rd are classified as Cat D
https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/__data/as ... _Sheet.pdf

There is nothing there regarding lever action rifle (not lever action shotgun) with a greater then 5rd magazine capacity having to be a Cat D.
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by bladeracer » 01 Dec 2022, 4:12 pm

Moondoggy wrote:Isn't the 5rd limit (For Cat B) only applicable to lever action shotguns?
Any lever action shotgun having greater then 5rd are classified as Cat D
https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/__data/as ... _Sheet.pdf

There is nothing there regarding lever action rifle (not lever action shotgun) with a greater then 5rd magazine capacity having to be a Cat D.


Yes, that's correct, guns only, not rifles.
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by Wiler » 03 Dec 2022, 10:57 pm

big matt wrote:I think I know the answer...but I thought I'd ask a question that may not have been asked before.... :D it may have been...
If you purchased a firearm in NSW as a Cat A or B and it's been reclassified as a Cat D for some stupid (appearance law) perhaps...
And you're allowed to keep it because the law changed AFTER you purchased it....(granfathered) sic
If someone else (licensed) wants to use it on ur property I'm assuming that they must have a Cat D license...yes? :roll:
It sounds silly but I assume that'd be a yes...because of the "new category"...



The thing is if the gun's been reclassified as cat D you shouldn't be able to have it on an AB license
what the NSW registry should be doing in this instance is either issuing a general permit for it or require it to be turned in

But this is the NSW registry they kind of just do whatever.


Anyway to answer your question I've dealt with something similar with a berika black ops, now the black ops here in NSW is cat B
But most dealers here think it's prohibited, what doesn't help is when the registry will give conflicting information to dealers.


Anyway I wanted to sell this thing 1st shop wouldn't do the transfer as the registry told them it was a prohibited firearm
2nd shop had outdated information that it was prohibited and wouldn't transfer it

The 3rd shop (being the one I originally got it from) would do the transfer

Now it's worth reiterating that this gun when I bought it and when I sold it was NSW legal


So my advice would be to just go to a shop or 3 and transfer it like any other gun, after all it's registered as a cat A/B right?
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by bladeracer » 04 Dec 2022, 9:15 am

If you bought it as CatA and it was reclassified to CatB I can't see an issue with that.
The OP is referring to a firearm purchased as CatA/B which was then reclassified to CatD. The Registry will have changed the rego to CatD (you don't have a CatD licence now, just a CatD firearm) and that is what it is now registered as when you want to sell it. You can still keep it on a CatA/B licence as that's what it was when you bought it but it is CatD when you want to sell it. If it were actually prohibited then you would've been required to hand it in, as happened with the Warwick.


Wiler wrote:The thing is if the gun's been reclassified as cat D you shouldn't be able to have it on an AB license
what the NSW registry should be doing in this instance is either issuing a general permit for it or require it to be turned in

But this is the NSW registry they kind of just do whatever.


Anyway to answer your question I've dealt with something similar with a berika black ops, now the black ops here in NSW is cat B
But most dealers here think it's prohibited, what doesn't help is when the registry will give conflicting information to dealers.


Anyway I wanted to sell this thing 1st shop wouldn't do the transfer as the registry told them it was a prohibited firearm
2nd shop had outdated information that it was prohibited and wouldn't transfer it

The 3rd shop (being the one I originally got it from) would do the transfer

Now it's worth reiterating that this gun when I bought it and when I sold it was NSW legal


So my advice would be to just go to a shop or 3 and transfer it like any other gun, after all it's registered as a cat A/B right?
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by big matt » 05 Dec 2022, 6:03 am

Yes my MH12 has been reclassified to Cat D in NSW....but I got it when it was a Cat A....and I'm allowed to keep it as the law was changed after I purchased it. I have spoken to the importer and she said I'm one of the lucky ones to have got it before the law changed. I just have to keep the original PTA paperwork if they turn up to look at it and show them I purchased it as a Cat A and they can't do anything about it.
But my original question was about another licensed person using it on my property....I'm assuming legally they must have a Cat D license to use it.
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Re: A firearm that has been reclassified...

Post by big matt » 05 Dec 2022, 6:05 am

The OP is referring to a firearm purchased as CatA/B which was then reclassified to CatD. The Registry will have changed the rego to CatD (you don't have a CatD licence now, just a CatD firearm) and that is what it is now registered as when you want to sell it. You can still keep it on a CatA/B licence as that's what it was when you bought it but it is CatD when you want to sell it. If it were actually prohibited then you would've been required to hand it in, as happened with the Warwick.

Correct :D
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