Transporting rifles across the borders

[Honter]

Hello, I already read some topics about transporting bb guns, but I couldn't find what I was looking for. When there was topic on forum about that (and I didn't find it) please, give link and then topic can be closed.

I want to transpport BB gun to UK from another European country, and there is a question - Is that legal? I have read something about transporting parts, so probably you can say that I can buy gun in pieces, but I don't wan't to do that, because i don't have much idea about reparing bb guns or changing parts inside. I was looking for 'Specna Arms' in UK but i didn't find a lot, just few rifles and they were without two-tone painting. So I started thinking about buying it in another country, when I will be on holiday, painting it for two-tone and then bringing it here. Of course I can buy another gun here, but I've played few times with 'Specna Arms' M4 rifle and heard, that they are making the best M4 rifles for good money (standard verision about - 150 pounds). Or maybe I don't have to paint it becasue Specna in selling guns with some parts painted for Tan colour (half-tan painting), but two-tone means e.g. black and red (the colours that are not used to paint real guns) . If you know where can I buy 'Specna Arms' rifles in UK, please write; maybe I don't have to buy it in other country and I don't have two worry about transport across borders.

[proffrink]

Yup. You will need a defence though and it will be checked. AFAIK, the only one accepted by UK Border Force is a UKARA player number, and this must be tied to the address on the package and made clearly visible on the package. If you bring it in on your person then you will obviously need to clear that with the airline or ferry company you're using and also declare it at the border and have your defence ready. If it's 2-toned then the same rules apply but you don't need that defence - I've honestly never heard of anyone going through such hassle though and I imagine it's probably not worth it as you'd still have to declare it and probably be told by the airline that it can't be transported. Buy a 2-toned G&G or ICS or something.

 

Given that you said you were looking for one in 2-tone, I'd imagine you don't have a UKARA number presently. My suggestion would be to get one because it's a huge hassle without one and importing certainly isn't possible. You can have one disassembled and sent to you, but again you need a valid defence to assemble it (i.e. you play airsoft, which I assume you do given the fact that you have all the camo).

 

Final alternative is getting one second hand in the UK which may yield more results. Many sellers will accept site membership or receipts or whatever as a valid defence.

[Hedgehog]

Hey, I am sort of in the same predicament as you are. What I did was quite simple and worked very nicely (I already owned the airsoft gun so it wasn't sent by a company as such).

Firstly, I got a letter from the site at which I will be playing saying I have a membership there and that I will be playing there with said gun (didn't need it in the end but it was good to have) and that I am in the process of getting my UKARA number.
Second, I had a moving company bring it up for me. I managed to find a company that went between the UK and where I lived regularly making it easier. I also put a lock on the bag and duck tapped the zip. You could argue that they can still get into it, but these guys had very good reviews and were very trust worthy.

Hope this helps.