The firearms team at Christchurch Police HQ were most welcoming - and as usual appeared happy to see me at their busy office.
- Avoiding using any names - I was told there that my application for an Import Permit that dates from 11 November last year (four & a half months ago) - for a Hogue after-market rubber grip for this gun - was further delayed & still unavailable because of "problems" in Police National HQ, Wellington.
- This had resulted in them returning all of Christchurch's Applications for them to process themselves ! - which they have no facility to do .. So then my District Firearms Office had to re-process and re-submit all of the "rejected" paperwork once again to the National Office ...
UNBELIEVABLE.
- It seems there may be no need to change Laws to ban anything when you can just demand a Permit - and then refuse to process Applications.
Has no Licensed Dealer or Shop in the shooting world heard of a WRIT OF MANDAMUS - legally requiring a government official to properly fulfill their official duties?
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I also took to the range some commercial loaded .32" H&R Magnum and two different species of .32" ACP.
- However I did hand craft 10 test rounds of a Duplex load - using a light "scooped" charge (2.5 gns.) of bulky IMR 'Trailboss' powder to push out of the barrel one 48gn. lead ball behind a copper plated 72 grain round-nose - making a total projectile mass of 120 grains.
De-Constructed Experimental DUPLEX Load
- with the "Powder-Scoop" hand-made from a .22" WMR Case.
(- The fired .22" WMR case (scoop) held 3.0 gns of the donut shaped Trailboss powder - until I inserted the wood-screw 'handle' into the base and reduced it's capacity to 2.5gns.).
IMR Trailboss Powder is High Volume / Low weight
- Great for Case-Filling In Light Loads.
- I will of-course set-up the Lee 'through-the-die' powder thrower to replace the hand scoop - if/when I build a larger number of duplex rounds.
- And I made sure that the brass rod "Knock-Out-Drift" and a hammer went into the range bag for any squib load failures 😜 - but it wasn't needed.
Continued in 'Part 3'.
Marty K.