Who said travelling back in time was impossible?

The Government's recent ban on handguns has turned the clock back for many shooting aficionados who are looking to 18th century pistols as another way to pursue their hobby.

Antique pistols and their modern copies escaped the handgun ban in part because criminals are not attracted to "muzzle-loading" guns which use gunpowder and lead balls instead of bullets and are slow to load.

Andrew Courtney of the Muzzleloaders' Association said his group had seen its membership grow by 25% in the last four or five months.

700 tonnes of bullets have been turned in to police

Training lessons at the Association's headquarters in Surrey are filled with pistol shooters desperate to keep their own pistol clubs from closing.

Doug Green, of the Louisa Centre Gun Club in Newcastle, said he went to the Association because it was all that was left.

"I'm down here...to learn about muzzle-loading to take back the knowledge to my club so that people can carry on with the sport they enjoy," he said.

Nearly 60,000 pistol shooters have handed in their guns along with 700 tonnes of ammunitions in the three months since the ban on handguns went into effect.

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