Peter Linton

Hi Jim, To own guns in NZ, one obtains a standard firearm licence. This allows you to own, buy, borrow & sell any standard firearm such as a hunting rifle or shotgun. This commonly referred to as an A Category Licence. These guns are not registered at the moment. Registration was dropped in the 1980's when the police admitted the Gun registrar had a 40% error rate & that registered guns were rarely used in crime. If you want to own & shoot pistols you need a "B" Category endorsement on you licence. This allows you to shoot most types of handguns at a pistol range provided they have a barrel of 4" or more. A "C" Category endorsement allows you to buy,sell, own & display restricted weapons, such as Thompsons, Sub-machineguns, machineguns bazookas etc. You can own just about anything provided it fits in with the description of interest on your original "C" Catergory application. These guns are not allowed to be fired under any circumstances A "D" Catergory endorsement is for dealers, A "E" Category endorsement is for so-called Military Styled Semi Automatics (MSSA's) That is any Semi-Auto Centre-fire rifle or shotgun with one or more of the following features: Magazine with more than 7 shots Bayonet lug Flash-hider Military styled pistol grip This is designed to control the likes of M16, AR15, SLR-FN, AK47, SKS etc. Unless you have an E endorsement its illegal to fire one of these guns A "F" endorsement is a special licence for dealers who can fire any type of firearm at any time without notifying the police. A Theatrical licence allows you to fire all manner of firearms, including full-auto at recognised events. If you're caught breaking of the the licence conditions for any of the licence endorsements people can receive a 3 year jail sentence. Hope this helps. Peter

Hi Folks, Good to see your comments about my book, they make interesting reading & I thought I should reply to them. My book only covers the 1928A1 as used by the New Zealand army in the WW2 Pacific, Korea & Malaysia campaigns. All measurements are based on 2 guns that I had access to. Given that these are ex-NZ Army explains why they appear so rough as they were not that well looked after. The gun with the Lyman rear site was located after WW2 in possession of the Samoa Police & was imported to NZ in the 1980's I believe. This gun being NZ army marked is quite rare as most of these guns were thrown overboard when the troops returned from the Northern Solomons at the end of WW2. The second gun with the rear peep sight is one that was used by NZ troops in Malaysia & Borneo as shown by the re-positioned sling swivels. The outside finish of the second gun is better than the first one, although the internals show the second gun has done more work. As a Mechanical Engineer, I've used most metal working machinery, made many parts as well as making drawings of components. Thus it was a natural thing to dismantle 2 guns & draw them on CAD. Based on this, you can make an authetic gun from these plans that will work. Unfortunately, to do this in New Zealand, one needs to get a "permit to Procure a restricted weapon" from the police which is not an easy thing to do. So while I haven't made a Thompson, I have made a 50 cal rifle as this can be owned on a standard Firearm licence & doesn't need to be registered. I made the barrel myself & it shoots fine Getting the pictures for the book was a lot more difficult. Inspite of numerous attempts at photography, I couldn't get photos that were acceptable to the publisher - Gun Show Books. Finally I realised I needed a professional to take the photos & these are the ones in my book. Hope this helps. Peter