Last gun I imported was near a grand in total cost. I know someone will now claim that they can do it for $492.26 but I could not. Then again some people always buy the 60K car or truck for 48K but I can not. I could have saved a few hundred dollars if I tried but it might have been a lot more complicated which I tried to avoid. I paid on both ends, paid shipping cost which is not cheap these days, paid a fee for the importer to pick up, paid (taxes) import duty because the gun was not that old to be an antique and exempt.
So my rule of thumb is that no gun is worth importing unless you buy it for at least a grand plus under local value. No gun is worth risking that much unless you have it evaluated on the other end before you buy it because returning is just not a viable option. No gun is worth the hassles unless you let two or more competent people handle both ends for you and the more the more expensive. No gun is a one of a kind so see if something like is is for sale on this side of the pond.
Now it is cheaper to ship pre 1896 guns but it still get up there. Last quote I had from Holt's was 375 pounds plus my end cost but there would be no import duties. I could not get it shipped directly to my door I was told but expect that was in error. I have imported several antiques directly to my door back when you could ship Postal direct and it cost about 75 bucks a gun. Those were the good old days that were not that many years ago. Now I expect it to cost 500 plus to get the job done.
But if you want to know, ask someone here who does it like SKB, John or one of the other advertisers who post here. They are more up to date on real prices and can save you a lot of wasted time and effort. It might be smarter to import several guns at once to spread some of the cost over multiple guns. Four trips to the airport to clear and pick up four guns is a lot more expensive if you have to make four different trips. Great reason to tell your wife you need to buy several gun all in the name of economic sense.
