Thread: Bring guns over from Europe? Worth the headache?

Currently in Europe (Romania) for another year before moving permanently to NZ with my wife. Have a nice Blaser R93 over here that I'd like to bring over. Plan is to first go to NZ, get my firearms license, and then maybe after a year when all the paperwork is finished, fly back to Romania and bring the gun over.

Has anyone done this before? Is it straightforward or more hassle than it's worth? Getting an EU passport for the firearm seems pretty straight forward over here which allows me to exit the country with the gun to any other EU country. I never applied for the. NZ import permit so I don't know how difficult that is to get through. Also there are no direct flights from Romania to NZ, generally you would transit through Qatar, which from some Google searches seems to be fine with transporting firearms through with some basic declarations and paperwork.

If anyone has done this and could give some feedback as to how difficult this process is, or can point me in the right direction for research I would greatly appreciate it. The paperwork from the NZ side seems pretty straight forward, I just don't know much about the process of moving firearms through the airports.

Personally I would sell them and buy here when you have your NZ licence.

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

Personally I would sell them and buy here when you have your NZ licence.

Except that you can't just rock up and buy an R93 9.3x62 in NZ.

He has plenty of time to sort out the paperwork if he decides its worth the effort.
But there will be quite a lot of drama along the way.

Would most likely be best to go through a dealer who does this regularly, Graham Champion springs to mind. I could no doubt get you his contact details if you want.

Email me fssprecision@gmail.com if you want to explore this option.

Cheers
Darren

It's actually not hard to do.

Gun stays with your mate in Rom
He applies for an export permit when you have your kiwi licence
You apply to import it
He takes it to the airport on the agreed time and date to consign to a flight
You pick it up in Auckland

EU weapon pass is only temporary and a document for re-importation
Check with your Government regarding how long the permanent export application will take,once it took 11 months to process in Finland and my import permit was just valid for 12.
Remember also that this is not a commercial export,it's a private favour.Commercial exports could come under different rules.

Its really that simple.

Not Rominia, I did exactly this with my firearms from South Africa. Easy, painless but expensive. I could have bought 15 rifles for the price I paid in air fares.

Just a word of warning..... Guns suited for hunting in your home country might not be suited for NZ hunting. I learned that the hard way. Should have just purchased local.

Cheers

I can only relate my experience but from 2015 on. I think importing is an option if something is unique and special. Collectable rifles, fancy grades, high grade stocks etc. unobtainable stuff in NZ.
I have imported from Canada ( 20 to 30 rifles) the US and Australia.
Rule of thumb in US you double the number you see landed. ( freight post covid has really added to the bill as few fly firearms as freight)
As someone mentioned the 93 x 62 may not be the sweetest of calibres for NZ conditions ( certainly stop anything we have including reds and sambar) . R93’s are not uncommon in NZ. Maybe treat yourself to an R8!
In saying that if you have an emotional connection to a rifle and had memories attached with it, then that’s also part of the equation.

I bought a Steyr in Austria and bought it back, very simple. But it was in 2014, so it’s possibly different now thanks to Tarrant and Jacinda.
From memory I paid €1500 and got 30% back at the border on some kind of duty free deal. So all up I guess I paid a little more than $2k NZD

I found the NZ side is easy enough if you are an NZ citizen and have a FAL.
It was simple checking on the plane (Zurich)
One minor hitch I didn’t think of until it was too late ,was: I transited through SAN Francisco. In the states you have to collect you bags and check them on again. This included a gun I just bought into the states with no paperwork!
I only twigged I was going to have to collect the rifle and re-check while I was waiting to depart.
Furiously scoured the internet for answers. Couldn’t find anything conclusive. I was worried I might lose it (get it confiscated)
Get to San Fran, find the rifle case leaning on the wall in the baggage claim after waiting an age for it to come out on the belt.
I walk up to the security-border check, nervously tell the guy I’ve got a rifle, but no paperwork to bring it into the states, however I’m transiting to NZ.
Fully prepared for the third degree and no rifle, he casually asks me what i use it for. “Hunting” I reply.
What do you hunt? “Deer mostly” this goes back and forth, what kind of deer do you have in NZ? All very friendly.
Then he goes, “do you mind if I take a look at it?” Definitely seemed like he was asking for my permission, rather than telling me he needed to inspect it.
So I say “sure”, get the keys out. Unlock the case. He carefully lifts it out,
RAISES IT TO HIS SHOULDER, AND SIGHTS DOWN THE BARREL!
IN the FUCKING CUSTOMS ARRIVAL HALL!
I’m dumbfounded.

He passes it back and says: “thanks for letting me have a look at it” I lock it back in the case.
I stand there thinking what’s next. He’s just standing there now doing nothing, so I ask him “what’s next”?
He just says, you walk out there, make a right to the departure terminal and check your bags in.
I thank him, head out the doors. I’m out on the street, literally taxis lined up waiting to take me and my Steyr anywhere I want to go…
No paperwork, documentation nothing.
Unbelievable. It’s possible I got a bit lucky, it did seem like I should have filled in a declaration, but what I could find was ambiguous.

Biggest hassle I had was in NZ, the airport police had a shift change in the middle of processing my docs. I had to pay the GST because it was new and over a certain value.
When I came back to the police with my GST receipt to finalise something with them it was a new person and they wanted to do it all over again.
But in saying that, it was all pretty easy. However, it was a few years back, could be harder now.

BTW same rifle at GC was $4500