I have imported a number of guns into the US from English auction houses over the years. The information you provided doesn't give us enough to go on to comment.The biggest piece of information is, is the gun pre-1898? If it is, no form 6 is required, and no FFL holder need be involved. But, getting it from the auction house and shipped out of the UK needs the service of a shipper with the proper export license. That will cost you about 250-350 GBP. And that gets you to a port of entry here in the states. You can pick the gun up from the shipper yourself by clearing it through customs as an antique (pre-1898). If you aren't near the port of entry you will need to get a customs broker, and make arrangements to have the gun forwarded to your address, after it is cleared through customs.
The other scenario; it isn't a pre 1898 (antique) gun. Then it is just the same as shipping guns in the USA. You need an FFL.
And the FFL applys for the Form 6, handles the customs,import duties(2-3% of value, I am not sure of the exact amount) and the gun ends up at the FFL's place of buisness, where he puts his name ,ID or what ever on the gun (barrels or flats).
The FFL can handle the whole process for you from auction house to your door step i.e. form 6 filing, UK export, customs, shipping, customs broker, and yes it is going to cost you about $1,000, for the whole shebang!
Griffin and Howe, Briish Sporting Arms, Champlin, Holland Holland, to name just a few can provide this type of service!
No fuss, no muss! It is the painless way to do it, except for writing the check to pay for the service! But you have already, in your case dumped a bundle into the English economy.
Getting the form 6 approved use to run about 3-4 weeks. With the sequester, a gun I bought at Holt's March 21 sale,to date, still hasn't been processed by the ATF.
The FFL holder you are using should have experience in this buisness as far as the paperwork goes when the gun hits customs at the port of entry! In other words he will need a customs broker (who is licensed to handle firearms importation), and the part of the form 6 that customs fills out and sends back to the ATF.
That's all folks, hope it is of some small help.
Herb
