doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Buying guns from England?

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.