European target rifle gun traders

[Speedystcks]

Hi,

I am looking at buying a new .22 target rifle preferably Anschutz, FWB or Walther.

I have been told you can purchase a rifle in Europe with proof of a FAC certificate.

Can anyone tell me of any reliable gun traders and of any import taxes?

So far I've been looking on the Scheissort Buinger web site which have competition rifles several hundred pounds cheaper than UK prices.

I look forward to any replies
Kind regards
Lee.

[Rutty]

Here are a few:

https://www.klingner-gmbh.de/

www.frankonia.de

www.schuetzenwelt.de

Rutty

[Neil Daniels]

www.hasselhorst.de

I've used him a couple of times for airguns

[steeler]

I can recommend Krale Schießsport from the Netherlands. I bought a Walther LG400 off them which was competitively priced with lower shipping costs than I could find elsewhere. The gun was delivered in 4 days via UPS and you have the advantage with the Dutch that they speak excellent English.
They don't currently take credit cards but I got around this by doing a bank transfer via TransferWise.
Link to website:-
http://www.krale-schietsport.nl/en/w...er-geweer.html

[hwtyger]

EU= no import taxes
I have good experiences with Schiessport Buinger. Bought my LG300 there.
Also good experience with Euroshooting in CZ. Bought my LG300 Dominator and Aeron Spider there.
Krale is also very good indeed.
You'll need import licence (consent). Exporter needs export licence.
In the netherlands this takes upto 4 weeks. But is free.
It requires yr full data, copy of yr licence and ID and all gun data.
Sending is a different story. Always a risk with normal post.
There are special gun couriers but these are expensive

[learningcurve]

I bought my Tesro Pro target rifle about 6 months ago from Sciesport Buinger. Very good people to deal with, but it took a few weeks for the "specialist" courier company to deliver it. They only send them by land courier, not air freight.

Otherwise a painless deal at an amazing price.

[Speedystcks]

Hi to all,

Many thanks to your suggestions for European gun traders. Unfortunately I could not understand the language and was unable to activate any translation tools!

If you know of any other web sites which do have translation I would be so grateful, especially as I've had a reply from Scheissport Buinger who now inform me there is a €145 carriage charge plus €28 customs handling fee.

I still believe it will be cost effective to buy from Europe but are the gun traders supplied as expensive to order from with the extra added fees?

It was 2 years or more since I placed my last order with Buinger and I never encountered these extra added costs.

Any other gun dealers whose web sites are in English would be so grateful.

I look forward to any replies!
Kindest regards
Lee.

[hwtyger]

Extra fee probably cause it concerns FA not air.
Maybe special FA courier, and customs check the licences.
Allthough there are no taxes.
I dont know of any sites with translations, sorry.

[Vic Thompson]

I translated some of the pages in the above links using Google Web Translate : http://itools.com/tool/google-transl...age-translator by highlighting the links and copy and pasting into the Google Page and they translated ok for me.

HTH, Vic Thompson

[little.O]

I translated some of the pages in the above links using Google Web Translate : http://itools.com/tool/google-transl...age-translator by highlighting the links and copy and pasting into the Google Page and they translated ok for me.

HTH, Vic Thompson

Some of the sites have a row of microscopic national flags on their home page.They are really really tiny .Click on your own flag and the whole caboodle turns to your lingo.

[lucklogic]

I looked into this importing a Steye LG100 FT from Germany ...but you need to get an import licence (£45) and a specialist Currier was required (£90)

Still possible to save about £400 from the Steyr asking price of £2070 ......but this shows you who making the money !!!

[Speedystcks]

Hi Lucklogic,

Please can you explain exactly who you pay the import fee to?

Do I pay customs or do I pay the Guntrader?

I am still waiting for my FAC cert to be approved but I've been looking on the sites members have suggested and can clearly see you can save several hundreds of pounds on the purchase of a new competion rifle!

I look forward to hearing from you
Kind regards
Lee.

[RobinC]

Lee
You will note all who have done it have bought AIR rifles, with them it is easy, it is not so straight forward with Fire arms. The sender needs to be able to export fire arms (most do but not all) the reciever requires an import licence (not all RFD's do), it is not some thing you can easily do yourself as a private certificate holder, which I gather you are not yet. There are also stricter carriage regulations, I would suggest that you go and talk to your local dealer (or dealers) to see if any would be prepared to recieve for you and have experience of doing so. They would then need to send a copy of their RFD and licence to the sender who does all the export paperwork, when it is recieved the reciever has to enter it into the Uk system and will then enter it onto your FAC.
I have done it and will do it again next year, only to get rifles that are not easily available in the UK, but be warned it is not so straight forward for a person new to Fire arms and is frought with problems, you need help and cooperation at both ends and unless you get a very significant reduction is a lot of hassle, far better to wave a wad of notes and negotiate a discount here.
Best of luck
Robin

[Speedystcks]

Hi,

Thank you for this information - I wondered if you could give the name of the supplier you used?

I was considering using Scheissport Buinger but I will have to contact them to see if they will export Firearms to the UK. It is frustrating shooters in this country pay several hundreds of pounds more for their sporting equipment than in other EU countries, but then welcome to rip off treasure island, as we always seem to pay more for the same imported goods.

I am still waiting for my FAC application to be approved so I shall look further into the suggestions already given.

I do appreciate your help and advice as I didn't realise it would be so difficult for a disabled shooter to obtain a benchrest target rifle!

Kind regards
Lee.

[RobinC]

Lee
The problem is not finding a supplier, but finding an importer, or at least one who does not want to take a big cut, but in fairness to them they are business's.
With air rifles its simple, Germany has no certification requirement and neither does the UK, there is no tax issue with in the EU, its simply a matter of meeting the transit requirements which are getting more complex but nothing really bad. I know people who have used Buinger, no problems, if he can export .22rf, known there as klein Kaliber, KK. you then need to find some one to import it, and they will not be a charity.

You are talking fire arms and that is a different matter. Mine were full bore target rifles not generaly imported, I dealt with all the financial aspect direct with the supplier, and I was very lucky in having a friend who is an RFD/importer, I speak German and also did all the import aspect on his behalf with the supplier so he had no cost other than to open the boxes, enter onto his books and add to my certificate. I did it not to save on the cost (although it did, but not that much) but to keep control of what specification I ordered by dealing direct with a manufacturer. The next one I buy will be a smallbore, but if it was a catalogue model I'd certainly buy it through the UK importer for simplicity, its not and it will be in a stock from a different manufacturer, the one that supplied our full bores. So I will deal with all the specification with him, he will buy the barreled action from the smallbore manufacturer, build it into a rifle, and supply to my friend in the UK and then onto my FAC.
I'm doing it to get what we want , not to save money, but with a lot more hassle.

Germany's fire arms system is now at least if not more complex than here, certainly stricter, the requirements to obtain a German FAC are actually much stricter than here, and the supplier can only supply if the purchaser has that, a UK FAC is not recognised out side the UK, the exception for the supplier is if they are allowed to export then they can supply to an RFD/importer in the recieving country. That importer can then supply to a UK purchaser as long as they have permission to purchase on their UK FAC. The UK FAC is not valid in Germany, I can not buy direct there even if I have permission to buy in the UK.
To travel with firearms in the EU I have a European Firearms Pass (EFP), that is issued by my UK police authority and mirrors my FAC, BUT, it does not allow me to purchase in the EU, only to carry my own guns, such as to events, in the EU the UK FAC has no validity in Germany and the EFP has none in the UK even though issued by them!!!!
The transport of Firearms in Germany is very strictly regulated, when we travel over there we must have our guns in secure locked cases, and the bolts in separate secure locked cases, this is German law and also applies to dealers transporting guns, so the couriers are very expensive, one gun equals two packages, air freight is both expensive and even more restricted, and shipping freight is subject to shipping regs which add even more restrictions which for the courier equals cost, yes the cost there is less but the carriage is very high.

If you wish to do it you need to find a dealer who has authority to import and who is prepared to recieve what ever deal you do with a supplier on his import permit and at what ever margin he wishes to take, its possible, but my advice on a smallbore is take the cost, and order through a UK importer, they take a margin which has a room to give discount, negotiate that, its easier.

The only problem you may find, is you need to be sure what specification you want, benchrest or supported shooting is big in the EU and is known as Seniors (because its a discipline for older shooters) but the general specification in German is "Auflage" and you will see rifles specifically for that event from all the manufacturers. But UK benchrest is different to European Auflage, so research carefully, but a normal Uk prone small bore is not much different.

Good Shooting
Robin