Bringing a rifle in the UK

[froggy]

Hallo,

Does anybody have experience of bringing from continental Europe a rifle in the UK ?

I am thinking of bringing into the UK a rifle that I currently legally own but dont use in France.
The idea would be to have the weapon registred here & legaly put on the FAC I am applying for.

Any idea where I should start ?
HM Customs & Excise I guess ?

thanks for your views & info

[ovenpaa]

It is very easy to do. First thing is get a variation on your UK FAC to cover the new rifle and the quota of ammunition you wish to hold. Once the FAC is updated just drive over and pick the rifle up and declare it at entry to the UK customs, they should then enter the details of the rifle onto your FAC and you can carry on home. Bring a receipt or you may be charged VAT on entry and it is worth checking with the rail/ferry company first to make sure you are OK to transport a rifle.

I assume you would need to tell the French authorities the rifle was being stored in the UK.

Only slight issue is the UK customs may not want to enter the rifle onto your FAC, if this is the case your FEO can do it for you and based on this I would be inclined to drop your FEO an email outlining your intentions once you have the UK variation in place.