What expenses one should expect besides the cost of the gun?
Taxes, Fees, shipping?

graft, corruption, profiteering....and all the other international gun dealers self benefiting rationals...

Off setting the cost of shipping guns from the U.K. is the current favourable U.S.A. exchange rate against the pound.
Since 2005 the U.K. pound has lost approx 22% of its value in comparison to the U.S.A. dollar. For example, a gun costing 2000 pounds stirling in 2005 would have cost a purchasor in the U.S.A. $3846.00. Based on todays exchange rate, the same gun would cost $3030.00 or [$816.00] less.
Here in Canada the exchange differential is even greater, with the pound having lost 33%of its value over the past five years.
This could well be the right time to purchase agun from the U.K.

Frank: I have had many good dealings with John Farugia, owner of Cheshire Gun Room, Stockport in the U.K. He has been most fair in his pricing for services. If you buy from an auction house you should expect to pay for the cartage (picking the gun up) packaging & shipping plus the export fees. If you want to know more about John just e-mail me at palmettotreasure@aol.com.

Best Regards, George

Sliver, you will have to pay for air freighting the gun to the US. I beleive that's going for around $250. If the seller does not provide the service you may have to pay someone to box it up for the trip.

I can help you on this end Serban, and I may be able to combine shipping with some other guns to reduce cost in that area.

Thanks, guys.
What's the deal with the VAT? I should probably ask the seller...
Steve, I am thinking you could help if I get the transaction solved.

It sounds like George can answer your questions. Another source would be Hugh Lomas at H.G. Lomas Gunmakers. Hugh imports guns from the U.K with some frequency. I believe he told me you need to triple the Auction price to get them to your door, but that is an old memory.

Use to be a lot easier when you could use the mail system. Those days are gone. At first I thought three times the hammer price was too high but it is as good a estimate as any other I have heard. So many hands are needed to get the gun from there to here and they all need to be paid for their services. On top of that if any taxes are due they must be paid. Then insurance, packing, freight to and from the airport and to your dealer.

It is best the first time to have someone on both ends handle things for you. If this is just a one time thing their fees will be well worth the cost. Doing one or two a year should be no big deal once you find out who to deal with on both ends of once you find out what you need to deal with on this end. To me it is not worth doing all of it myself. I can work three or four extra hours and pay someone else to deal with all the headaches. Money well spent in my books.

I have not imported any guns from England lately. But I import from Spain ongoing.


I try to never bring in less thatn 5 guns at a time.

Here is what the break down is about. "This is with out duty"

Freight $750.

Brokerage on that end $175.

On this end $125.

Mis junk fees $100.00

Insurance $125.

Unless its an expensive gun, i would not try to bring just one in. Try to conbine it with another shipment.

Generally the base costs are about the same. When you can spread it over sevral guns you come out better


John Boyd

I am not sure about the 3x theory. It would need to be a pretty cheap gun or some very expensive shipping!
Both Diggory Hadoke and I offer a shipping service for pre-1897 (UK antique) guns with our own stock travelling to the US with us. The cost is modest but has to coincide with the shows we attend. No doubt there are others who offer a similar service. You then pay for the US shipping to your chosen delivery address.

Once the gun gets younger than 1896 you will need an export licence and this is when it starts getting expensive.
You will have to pay for UK shipping to the shipping agent, someone to prepare the export licence (you may need an End User Undertaking but this is free, just a pain), international shipping fees (about £170 last time I did one), customs clearance at the US airport (about $390 last time), and shipping to your FFL (or yourself if pre-1899). Finally you will probably have to pay your local FFL for his time and trouble.
The auction houses and better retail operations have this all to hand but most charge on top to cover the inevitable paperwork and subsequent hassles.
John Farrugia certainly offers a comprehensive service and no doubt charges a fair amount for his work and expertise.

Thank you everyone for your input and advise.

Buy and gun from Toby Barclay of Heritage Guns and pick it up from him at the Southern Side-by-Side or the Vintagers if it's an antique. Not only will you avoid the hassle and expense of importing the gun but it will have been thoroughly inspected and all necessary repairs completed. No, I don't own stock. I'm just a happy customer. But please don't buy the H&H sidelever that will soon be available unless I'm given first dibs.

Why is it so difficult from England. In France you can just show a US passport and walk out the door with a shotgun. Or you can leave it there until you get the Form 6 squared away, then go back and get the gun or have it shipped. If you bring the gun back to the US just declare it at Customs and pay the fee. If you have it shipped you can pick it from Customs at the port of entry. What is all this nonsense about end user certificates in Britain? For a sporting gun?? Have they lost their minds?

I have to agree with you and the logic of these tough restrictions can be a bit mystifying! However, it might help to understand that most of the developed world takes its responsibilities about international trade in firearms very seriously, France obviously is an exception.
Secondly, don't forget that there are international sanctions on riot control guns, often shotguns, and it certainly is not unheard of for someone to export these as 'sporting guns'.
As a matter of interest, have you ever tried to export a gun from the US? It may be little different. I would not be surprised if you have to produce an end user undertaking or similar.

I just imported an O/U from the UK, here's what I had to do:

It was actually a fairly easy process, other than it took a few weeks...

First, I found the gun that I was looking for, agreed on a price and I put a small refundable deposit on the gun, I bought it from http://www.londongunroom.com

STEP A: Fill out a BATFE form 6 (available on line) and have your friendly local shop sign & mail it for you, I received it back from the BATF "approved", five weeks to the day from when the BATFE got it. (Cost $0)

STEP B: Contacted an exporter in the UK http://www.pbs-int.co.uk (recommended by the seller) & then I send a copy of the approved import license, the exporter then applied for an EXPORT license from the British Government..... So far, cost still $0.00

STEP B1: Two weeks after I submitted papwerwork for the UK DTI EXPORT license, I was notified it was denied because my "End Users Undertaking" was not submitted on company letterhead. Re-submitted and two weeks later I was notified my export license was approved. So far, cost still $0.00

STEP C: Wire transferred the remaining funds for the shotgun to the seller as well as the fees for export, shipping & handling (£210, $316 at today's rates).

STEP D: Also, I had to use a "Customs Broker" at my local airport ($40)

STEP E: The shotgun was shipped via Air Freight to my local International airport (Hartford)

The whole process took about 11 weeks from initial e-mail until I picked up the shotgun. Because this shotgun was "under-valued" on the British market I think I did pretty well even with the additional $350 for shipping, I'm still well below "Blue Book" and that's on a standard gun.

I got a quote from an export company, Griffin & Howe out of New York, they wanted around $600 for them to do the import, based on the amount of paperwork involved I don't think they could have offered anything that I didn't do, other than they may have been able to shave a few weeks off of the process by getting the paperwork right the first time....

If you need any help during the process, let me know, I'll be happy help......

No, I've never tried to export a gun from the US, that may be just as insane. But I do travel with a gun to Ireland frequently. I have an Irish license for it so there aren't any problems at that end. Bringing it back to the US has never been a problem either, I have never been asked to show the little US Customs form showing that I had previously taken it out of the USA. All very relaxed. I've been told that bringing a gun into Britain can be a harrowing experience. A pity because for many years I've wanted to shoot pigeons in England, somewhere in the Fen country if possible. I'm a great fan of the writings of J. Wentworth-Day and also the music of R.V. Williams and I hitch- hiked thru that country in the fifties.