A few thoughts
First, it's a damn shame that England is now a neutered nation. I lived in London as a child, loved the UK, but the right to own firearms is one of the reasons why I am very glad to live in the US now.

Secondly, the difference between a 'sniper' versus a 'general' grade rifle is primarily in the quality of the barrel. No single element of a rifle has a greater effect on accuracy than the barrel. How could you possibly bring those rifles up to sniper specs without re-barreling them? Were you actually testing them at, say, 400 yards at demonstrating 4 inch groups at that distance?

As for those of you who are having a fit over the idea of anyone owning a firearm, I hunt for all of my family's meat. This is how we get our food since prices for grain and meat have more than doubled. It's also a damn sight more ethical than paying for some meat from some poor pig or chicken that's been tortured it's whole life in a cage. Yes, a firearm is a necessity for subsistence hunting unless you are a full-time hunter-gatherer who can afford to hunt for days on end with a bow and arrows before getting a deer. If you have to go to a day job every day and only get to hunt for an hour or so after work, you need a rifle in order to reliabily feed your family.

Living about 20 minutes away from the nearest police station, the only protection against a criminal at my home is a firearm. I'd be long dead by the time a police officer showed up after a call for help.

Then there are the non-native coyotes that killed my neighbor's dog last year and present a constant danger to my own pets and small children. I live in a rural area where we deal with bears, bobcats and coyotes on a weekly basis. All of these creatures probably seem very cuddly and harmless to someone in the UK where you have long since exterminated all of your large native predators and have nothing to fear in the wild. In many areas of the US, this is not the case. There is absolutely nothing in the world that is more effective against a pack of coyotes that are stalking your dog (they kill dogs as a territorial thing) than shooting them dead. Sounds horrible, but you aren't the one who is facing a very real threat.
(Zupper, Fri 1 Aug 2008, 17:59, Reply)