doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Importing a gun from the UK

Can anyone give me a breakdown of the costs of importing a SxS from the UK? Are there charges to pay on both sides of the pond? Also, I remember reading about a firm that would handle importation for a very reasonable charge that is located in Houston, TX. Does anyone know the name of the company? Thanks for any help.

I used Briley years ago and they did a great job. I do not know if they still do this or not. My memory says you need a dealer in the UK to ship it and they do charge. That said a K-80 Parcours for 2800 motivated me!

bill

The big change since I did it, about 20 years ago, is that it's now far more expensive to ship a gun here from the UK than it used to be. Quite reasonable back then, using a service called Data Post. Your regular FFL can do it for you, although he may not wish to get involved. But legally, anyone with an FFL can do "occasional" imports.

I would not recommend buying a lesser priced gun overseas. Sure you have the cost from TR imports, but now only certain airlines will accept guns.

Also, you will most likely have to pay a broker to arrange shipment.
Most airlines have a minimum freight charge too. Add some money for insurance if you wish. Some other junk charges too. By the time its get here you will have more money in the cost of the gun and the costs getting it over here than you could get a gun in the US in the same model.

Also, many overseas dealers want a wire transfer, not a check or cc. My bank charges $65 for an overseas transfer

If you are looking at an expensive gun, then the charges are not so bad.

I use to do it for folks, but now I only will consider it if they are a current customer of ours

John Boyd
Quality Arms
Houston, TX

When I purchased my Westley Richards boxlock a couple of years ago, I used British Sporting Arms (www.bsaltd.com). One of my shooting buddies has used them several times as well in the last five years. Call Mr. Schneible and discuss his doing it for you. I was very satisfied with the service.

One other thought that occurred to me was if the manufacture date on the SxS is before 1899, would that make things cheaper/easier on importation if it is a US antique?

2nd the other guys

Being in the international shipping business I can tell you today it makes no difference if the process easy or difficult gun is new or antique, no cheap way around it.

Because of government complication you have to go to several 3rd parties to import a gun and they all charge what the market will bear. Exporting agent satisfies local requirements, Import agent satisfies US Requirements. Both must be licensed by the governments. The international carriers air or sea profit in difficult to ship cargo and charge as much as they can. Both ends, air or ocean carrier you need a domestic carrier to get it to the exit port and from the entry port & he must be bonded.

Years ago while working in Australia & they were changing the gun laws things were cheap, bought several. Obtained the Australian Export permits myself, put the guns on my Company's ship care of the Master in his bonded locker. Consigned on the ships manifest to a dealer back in the US with a FFL import license. He went down to the ship and picked the gun up in person, carrying it to the piers Customs office for clearance, logging it into his records just like the Post Office had delivered it to him. None of this is possible to do anymore. I have a friend in Australia right now that wants 100 pieces of empty 32/40 Brass. All but imposable to ship to him economically. You can't even ship a rifle scope without complication.

My advice is find a company experienced and reliable to handle the shipment for you & pay what they ask. Better to get the gun than try to cut corners . If the gun won't stand the expense, pass on it.

Boats

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.

Sadly that is not in error. That is a new policy put in place by the shipping companies themselves withing the past few years. Even though FedEx, and UPS will ship guns within in US, which includes shipping antique guns to your door, the high ups have made the decision to not deliver imported guns "door to door" regardless if they are an antique or not.

It's important to repeat, this has nothing to do with any new government policy, it is solely the decision of the shipping companies themselves.