doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Cost of importing one gun from Holts

There are posters who are very experienced in importing guns from UK. However, for those less experienced contemplating doing so here are the charges for a gun bought from Holts in August 2025 which has just arrived.

Holts:
Hammer:. . . . . . .£400.00
Premium: . . . . . . £120.00
Total. . . . . . . . . .£520.00 = . . . . . . . . . $ . 680.41

Holts associated exporter:
1st Item Non-Licensed 260 GBP x 1.34 = . .$ . 348.40
Cased Gun 45 GBP x 1.34 = . . . . . . . . . . $. . .60.30
Import Duty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$. . . .9.06
Import Tariffs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$. . .76.65
UPS Shipping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$. . .75.00
Optional insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $. . .45.00
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $. . 614.41

Totally costs: $1,294.81

So it appears exporting a UK pre 1898 gun which cost 400 pounds costs 70% of the cost of the gun for shipping (1.34 is the exchange rate used by the shipper) plus duty, tariffs, shipping, insurance. (if the cost of the gun includes buyer's premium that would be 50%).

I do not know if this applies to every gun as a fixed charge - i.e. charge of shipping is related at 70% to the cost of the gun - or whether there is a discount for multiple guns being shipped. If the charge is automatically pro-rated to the gun cost rather than weight or some such, well, that doesn't seem quite cricket.

I understand other importers on our board also use the Holt's associated exporter. However, perhaps some competition could be found. Welcome comparative rates others have found.

Are British pounds really trading 1:1 with US dollars?

Never mind. I read through that a bit too quickly.

From Google 2 minutes ago: 520 Pound sterling equals. 680.30 United States Dollar. (it changed 1 cent in 3 minutes).

And Brent, you can resize the photo of your pooch yourself on jpg.box.

(and what's going to happed to the 1¢ ($.01) in the future? Will it automatically jump to 5¢ ($.05)? I was in Rome when the Lira changed to the Euro and in every case it was rounded up.

When I was stationed in England, Scotland and Germany on post they did away with the penny. Rounded down or up according to the posted price.

It's early and I need more coffee so this is probably a stupid question. Is the $614.41 mostly a fixed rate or is it going to be about 70% of the final sale price?

buy meracan...

I am old enough to remember decimalisation in the UK.

Rounding up seemed to be the rule, and things that were 2 Shillings (10 new pence) very soon seemed to be 20p (4 shillings).

When I was importing from both Spain and Italy I would never import a inexpensive gun. The costs are just about the same as an expensive gun. Some of the costs are fixed and some are variable. I would tell them just wait until you had five guns ready. I once in a while do 4 but tried for 5. Now if you are importing a 10k gun that its not so bad but a 400 has to absorb all the costs. Just not worth it. Unless its something that you really want.

John
Arrieta
Quality Arms

John, It is historical, an 1857 pin-fire discussed above. Only a few are known to still exist. It's worth it. I'll pick it up Tuesday and will break out what the charges are for. Gene