Pistols Act, 1903
An Act to regulate the sale and use of Pistols or other Firearms
[11th August 1903]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
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This Act may be cited as the Pistols Act, 1903.
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In this Act the term "pistol" means a firearm or other weapon of any description from which any shot, bullet or other missile can be discharged, and of which the length of barrel, not including any revolving detachable or magazine breach, does not exceed nine inches.
It's speculated here, and elsewhere, that the W&S SSP has the barrel length it does to avoid the regulation of 1903; its barrel is longer than 9 inches. Therefore, it required, at the time, no special license for ownership, and actually, didn't originally qualify under English Law as a 'pistol' due to barrel length. It may not be the case, but it makes a certain amount of business sense.
