Actually I was quite interested in Foxyboy's tangent on magazines as it highlights the differences in law within the UK, and the ever increasing difficulty in understanding the myriad of legislation. I once offered to bring over some airgun pellets when visiting a colleague in the North but was told "no" as he thought these might need a firearm certificate to possess there. I wasn't sure but as he was the one applying for a FAC for an air rifle at the time we both thought it not wise to try just in case.
It's also been a bit of an Indiana Jones experience reading the thread as back in the day when the first legislation to restrict expanding "pistol" ammunition came in I did hear rumors of someone planning to make a .455" rifle to get that calibre taken off the list so good to read that it wasn't just a legend.
In terms of the .360" Rook yes it will chamber a .38" Special but it's not designed for it, many firearms/shotguns will chamber rounds their not designed for but it certainly doesn't make them safe to fire. The .360" is a heeled bullet of around .362-.367" so firing a .357" bullet down the bore isn't likely to give much in the way of accuracy, black powder will bump up most soft lead bullets but smokeless doesn't tend to. The .360" is a black powder round not designed for smokeless propellant. Yes the original .38" Special was very originally and briefly loaded with black powder but in modern terms it's loaded with smokeless so not really suitable for your rare and valuable rook rifle. Some people do have the put on FAC and shoot them with smokeless but you need to know what you're doing and I'm a purist, if it's a black powder round load and shoot it with black powder, it's a much more rewarding experience.
You can get into the weeds with this but in essence the legislation covers the chambering of the rifle not what it may or may not take. When the legislation was drawn up however they did consider this for the .360" and .380" cartridges and decided they were obsolete for rifles only and not for revolvers.
It's also been a bit of an Indiana Jones experience reading the thread as back in the day when the first legislation to restrict expanding "pistol" ammunition came in I did hear rumors of someone planning to make a .455" rifle to get that calibre taken off the list so good to read that it wasn't just a legend.
In terms of the .360" Rook yes it will chamber a .38" Special but it's not designed for it, many firearms/shotguns will chamber rounds their not designed for but it certainly doesn't make them safe to fire. The .360" is a heeled bullet of around .362-.367" so firing a .357" bullet down the bore isn't likely to give much in the way of accuracy, black powder will bump up most soft lead bullets but smokeless doesn't tend to. The .360" is a black powder round not designed for smokeless propellant. Yes the original .38" Special was very originally and briefly loaded with black powder but in modern terms it's loaded with smokeless so not really suitable for your rare and valuable rook rifle. Some people do have the put on FAC and shoot them with smokeless but you need to know what you're doing and I'm a purist, if it's a black powder round load and shoot it with black powder, it's a much more rewarding experience.
You can get into the weeds with this but in essence the legislation covers the chambering of the rifle not what it may or may not take. When the legislation was drawn up however they did consider this for the .360" and .380" cartridges and decided they were obsolete for rifles only and not for revolvers.
