Mauser-pattern short rifle
A short rifle on the Mauser action, with a straight bolt handle and a stepped barrel.
The Cape Southern Africa Arms & Ammunition Collectors Association — for the research, study, restoration and preservation of historic and collectable firearms.
What and who is Cape SAAACA
Cape SAAACA caters for firearms enthusiasts with an interest in historic and collectable firearms, and a serious interest in collecting, research, study, restoration and preservation of firearms and related artefacts.
We are a non-profit organisation established in 2004 and based in the Western Cape, with historical ties to the Firearms Society of South Africa. The association is affiliated to NAACCSA, which regulates collector organisations under the Firearms Control Act.
The association issues the motivation that accompanies a collector’s firearm licence application, and files an annual Good Standing report to the CFR.
What members do
Regular events where members buy, sell and exchange pieces within the association.
Academic evenings on history, manufacture, markings and provenance.
Members are encouraged to bring a piece and talk through what makes it worth keeping.
Range days built around a period, an action type or a calibre.
Photographs from meetings, shoots and shows the association has held or taken part in.
From the collections
A rotating selection from members’ collections.
A short rifle on the Mauser action, with a straight bolt handle and a stepped barrel.
Stamped No4 Mk2 (F) and dated 1/50 — made at the Royal Ordnance Factory, Fazakerley, in January 1950.
Three Lee-Metfords — the rifle that came before the Lee-Enfield, with Metford’s shallow rifling for black-powder cartridges — shown with the shorter cavalry carbine beneath.
The lever-operated Martini falling block, with its loop lever running back beneath the wrist.
The receiver seen from above, bolt handle down, with the Mauser banner stamped on the receiver.
A bolt action showing its age honestly — the wrist has split along the grain.
Become a member
A private collector is a status recognised in South African law, and it carries requirements. New members are limited to Category C for a probationary year of active collecting.
Prohibited without rigorous motivation, special storage and arrangements for firing.
Rifles, carbines and shotguns. Restricted, requiring strong motivation and stringent storage.
Rifles and shotguns, single-shot and magazine-fed, plus pistols and revolvers.
Juniors and associate members, subject to confirmation, with a limited number of firearms.
Step one
Every application begins with an informal interview, in person where possible. Send us a note and a committee member will arrange one.
Questions
The questions we are asked most often, about collecting itself and about joining the association. If yours is not here, send it to us and we will answer it.
A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is defined differently from country to country. In South Africa it is set out in Section 1 of the Firearms Control Act, Act 60 of 2000.
Before 2000 there was no statutory definition at all. The Act adopted a broad one: any device that can propel a bullet or projectile through a barrel or cylinder by burning propellant at a muzzle energy above 8 joules; anything able to discharge rim-fire, centre-fire or pin-fire ammunition; any device that can readily be altered into one of those; any device designed to discharge a projectile of at least .22 calibre above 8 joules by compressed gas; and the barrel, frame or receiver of any of them.
Not quite, although the words are often used interchangeably. Strictly, a “gun” is a high-muzzle-velocity firearm needing a crew to handle it — field guns, tank guns, artillery pieces such as cannon and howitzers.
A rifle is distinguished by the helical grooves cut inside the barrel. That rifling spins the bullet, which is what makes it stable in flight.
Yes. A firearms private collector is a status recognised in South African law, and it carries real requirements. A collector licences firearms against a Field of Interest and an accompanying Certificate of Collectability issued by an accredited association such as CapeSAAACA.
NAACCSA was established as a requirement of the Firearms Act to regulate the activities of firearm collector organisations across South Africa. CapeSAAACA subscribes to its rules and guidelines for governance and administration.
Yes. In order to qualify as a collector of firearms you must be licensed as stipulated within the Firearms Act of South Africa, and you will need to apply for a collector’s competency with SAPS.
You need to submit the Cape SAAACA application form, which will be provided to you once a representative of the association has made contact with you.
Besides a certified copy of your identity document, you need to motivate your reasons for wanting to become a collector.
The most important aspect is your theme (Field of Interest). The theme clarifies your interest as a collector, setting out your reasoning and your passion for wanting to collect.
Once accepted you create at least one Field of Interest: a motivation document plus a full schedule of the firearms it covers, intended to demonstrate through research and study that you are a serious and knowledgeable collector. Reviewed and certified by the committee, it becomes a legal document.
It is the most demanding part of becoming a collector, and the most rewarding, because it opens the door to collecting the firearms of your choice within its limits. Examples and assistance are available to help you complete it.
Categories A to D, set out in the collecting categories above.
New members are limited to Category C — manually operated rifles and shotguns — for a probationary year of active collecting, before being considered for Category B.
A once-off registration fee covering administration, and an annual subscription running from January to December. Applying part way through the year is charged pro rata.
Current amounts are on request — ask us and we will send them.
By law the association submits an annual Good Standing report to the Central Firearms Registry on its active members. Good standing requires that you are paid up and that you take part in at least four association-related and approved activities a year — monthly meetings, range shoots, helping run the organisation and so on.
Collectors who are not in good standing forfeit their licences.
Still have a question? Send it to us and a committee member will reply.