Antique air rifle shipped from England to Canada.

Jon9021

Jon9021

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Hi guys,

I’ve got this in this forum as it over 100 years old.
Does anyone have experience in shipping an antique “firearm”…sigh from England to Canada?
Even though it’s an antique air rifle (it was my grandfather’s). Are there any specific companies out there that can deal with the appropriate paperwork and shipping?
I’d rather it stayed in England that be shipped and some idiot at customs mislabels it and it gets put on a shelf forever or “lost”.
Thanks!
 
Is it antique in the uk? I got some revolvers from there after christmas and it was a pain since they had to be personally delivered to the airline by a gun dealer with a transport license...

There are some companies. They tend to be ridiculously expensive. And it's not quick.

Almost to the point where if you can do so legally, go pick it up and fly it back un your luggage.

If it is not controlled in the uk, have someone take it to an airline and ship cargo, then pick it up at the airport here.
 
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I have quotes from an exporter to ship replica matchlock muskets (UK shotgun licence, No PAL required here) - they want £400 to piggyback with another shipment or close to £1k to ship individually. These would go from them to a dealer over here and then be shipped on to me. I can dig the name out of it's of interest.
For what its worth I spoke to 3 or 4 companies and only this one seemed to really have anything set up.
(Another could get it to any Canadian international airport but I would effectively have to meet it off the plane)
 
ScienceGryphon said:
I have quotes from an exporter to ship replica matchlock muskets (UK shotgun licence, No PAL required here) - they want £400 to piggyback with another shipment or close to £1k to ship individually. These would go from them to a dealer over here and then be shipped on to me. I can dig the name out of it's of interest.
For what its worth I spoke to 3 or 4 companies and only this one seemed to really have anything set up.
(Another could get it to any Canadian international airport but I would effectively have to meet it off the plane)
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Not to hijack, but I’m in same boat as OP. Looking to ship some antique pistols from UK - All are antique, 100+ years old.

Also looking to ship a few shotguns - some older, some less so. Not sure if any would qualify as antique though (100 yrs+)

I’ve spoke with a dealer in UK who could arrange transit for £650/£700. Plus £125 export licence. That covers up to 25kg, so likely 4/5 long guns and a couple pistols.

I’d assumed that pricing would include delivery to a LGS for me to collect, but now I’m wondering if that is just dumped on the tarmac at the airport…

They suggest I would also need an import licence from Global Affairs Canada..?

I would be interested in the name of the company that you had quotes from..

Sounds like we should all coordinate and ship together!
 
My cost for the uk portion - export paperwork and shipping was about 300 gbp per gun - this was diluted quite a bit though...

This was delivered to YOW so whatever brokerage and Canadian import costs and last leg of shipping would be extra.
 
I was speaking to Chordline Limited (Greg Morleysmith), and they partner with Calgary Shooting Centre to handle the import licence.

For what it's worth, with respect to bundling with another shipment, the first gun was £400, subsequent guns were £250 each.

I would be potentially interested in doing a joint shipment with folks, but no clue on timing. 2nd hand reenactment muskets often go for silly low prices at auction (£40-80) and I was looking to pick some of them up... when they come up...
 
Air Canada Cargo accepts firearms, no reason they wouldn't accept an antique airgun. If you don't trust the P.O. and who does, have whoever over there pack it well and take down to Theifrow Airport and consign it. Will be at the airport here in a day or two I'm told.
 
How do you know if it is an antique? was it made prior to 1898?

My grandfather owned a .303 Lee Enfield SMLE but that does not make it an antique either.

You will need to be able to prove it was made before 1898 before you will be able to import it as an antique into Canada.
 
mkrnel said:
How do you know if it is an antique? was it made prior to 1898?

My grandfather owned a .303 Lee Enfield SMLE but that does not make it an antique either.

You will need to be able to prove it was made before 1898 before you will be able to import it as an antique into Canada.
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Well my grandfather died in 1970 and it was already 30 years old when he used it as a boy…so yes pretty sure it’s an antique and over 100 years old 🙄
 
Jon9021 said:
Well my grandfather died in 1970 and it was already 30 years old when he used it as a boy…so yes pretty sure it’s an antique and over 100 years old 🙄
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All that doesn't matter to CBSA or customs, best to have easy to discern proof of maker and manufacture date and a letter from the RCMP labs confirming antique status before you go to the trouble and cost to have it shipped and then find out later you wasted your time, money and now have no grandfather airgun to show for it all!
 
I'm trying very hard here to figure out why an antique air rifle is different to any other antique object. Is it because it's called a rifle? Or what?

Also, the utterly preposterous charges being thrown around here like a mad woman's cr*p - how does ANYBODY arrive at a figure of £400 for sending an old airgun to Canada?
 
tacfoley said:
I'm trying very hard here to figure out why an antique air rifle is different to any other antique object. Is it because it's called a rifle? Or what?

Also, the utterly preposterous charges being thrown around here like a mad woman's cr*p - how does ANYBODY arrive at a figure of £400 for sending an old airgun to Canada?
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Yes, it is the same in the UK, EU and Canada! as soon as something looks like a weapon or gun it becomes or seems to most under worked servants of the public as something dangerous and to be feared and so needs to be over controlled and restricted in being easily legally sold or shipped.
 
The £400 was a quote I had to send a functional reproduction Matchlock musket to Canada ;-p
Under UK law it is classed as a shotgun and therefore needed an export licence.

It was included as an example of the cost of export if the original poster wanted to go the "firearms" route
 
Basically they would rather have guns destroyed altogether instead of being exported to another country.UK officials have a hate on for guns which now has transcended to a hate for knives .It makes one wonder what is next a hate on for cricket bats and rocks.Over in the UK you have to show government ID to purchase a set of kitchen knives so what else would you expect of such a country
 
tacfoley said:
I'm trying very hard here to figure out why an antique air rifle is different to any other antique object. Is it because it's called a rifle? Or what?

Also, the utterly preposterous charges being thrown around here like a mad woman's cr*p - how does ANYBODY arrive at a figure of £400 for sending an old airgun to Canada?
Click to expand...
Tac: On the two occasions that I've imported antique arms from the UK, the seller (commercial) indicated their broker/exporter charged a flat rate for export of antique arms up to a certain number of items (I believe it might have been 10, but not sure). It was brutally expensive but, if I'd had 5 or 6 items purchased it would have looked fairly reasonable. I have no idea what the "broker" has to go through at the UK end to export, but, given the cost, I hope it was a lot! At this end, as you know, no import license is required for legal "antiques." The customs agents have no concerns as long as the arm is one of the obvious ones—Snider, Martini. Brown Bess, etc. One of the ones I brought in was a fairly obscure breechloader with no date on lock, etc, and the agent actually spent a fair bit of time googling the model before he was satisfied that it met the criteria. Would I do it again? Probably, but only for something extremely hard to find over here.

milsurpo
 
chasseur said:
Basically they would rather have guns destroyed altogether instead of being exported to another country.UK officials have a hate on for guns which now has transcended to a hate for knives .It makes one wonder what is next a hate on for cricket bats and rocks.Over in the UK you have to show government ID to purchase a set of kitchen knives so what else would you expect of such a country
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BS. Sir.

You just have to be over 18 years of age.

Here in UK there is no such thing as 'government ID'. The nearest thing you get to that is a driving license. Some kids, or people that look like kids, carry a kind of proof of age thing, but I've never seen one. This is for buying stuff like booze, glue or aerosols that are likely to kill you if you inhale them.
 
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