If I was going to have a early 1900's English sidelock brought in from England would it be the same requirement? I would not even consider importing one if that was the case.
Yes. You have to mark all guns imported with the information exactly as above. Note the only thing that changes is the date of the import, NOT the date of manufacture of the firearm. I've never understood how someone can look at the regs posted above, in the language BATF uses, and think that somehow, it doesn't apply to the gun they want to import, or them.
As to 01 FFLs doing imports. Some of my most memorable cases involved getting people out of a jam when an import went bad at the 01 FFL level. They are supposed to be able to do it, and if everything goes right, they can. But, the most common problem was a gun catching an airplane to the wrong town, at which point, US Customs seizes the gun, as, it isn't supposed to be on that plane. At that point, you need an importer, and he may need a customs house broker.
Just off the cuff, my experience, at the time BATF was interested in the business and agents were there to help. US Customs was an enormous fiefdom, staffed with a lot of people who couldn't make it as real cops for some reason, and took that chip on their shoulder to work with them everyday. I never had a single problem with BATF. The people at US Customs often made trouble for no particular reason, other, than they could.
I don't do it anymore. Maybe things have changed, or, the political climate where you are located will be different. But, I'm done importing anything, especially guns.
Best,
Ted
