I will be meeting with my outfitter's rep next week or the week after at the Great Outdoors Show in Harrisburg, but it doesn't hurt to get more opinions, experiences etc.

When filling out the form do you list the scopes that are attached to the guns? Do you list your backup scopes not on the guns?

You can list anything with a serial number, rifles, cameras, binos, scopes, etc. Can't hurt to list all of it you are taking.

I do but I have never had one checked.

I don't anymore because if you change your scope you probably have to have the form redone!

The only thing I've ever had them check was the SN on the rifle but in theory I think they could give you a hard time about a foreign made scope or binos.

Mark

I list the scopes along with the rifle. I make sure I comply with the most restrictive interpretation of the requirement since I seem to get a cranky officer every now and then.

I used to, but no longer do.

For one thing, no one ever cared. They want to see the serial number on the rifle and on the form, both when you arrive in whatever country you're traveling to and when you come home. I never once had anyone check the numbers on the scopes.

Second, I am concerned that if I ever changed a scope and someone DID check, it would become an issue.

But mainly it's the fact that no one cares.

Technically a 4457 is to prove you didn't buy a piece of personal property outside of the US and owe a duty or tax on it when you come back into the US. Foreign officials treat it as a "license" to own a firearm, which it unquestionably is not. Why US Customs cares about it - beyond proving that you didn't buy your rifle in whatever country you're coming from and thus are supposed to declare it and pay an import duty on it - is a mystery to me. As far as I know, there is no law or regulation that says you must have a 4457 to bring your rifle into the US. I'm curious about what they would do if you showed up and didn't have one. Since just about every foreign country requires one to get your guns in, I guess this never happens.

I have always listed the scopes, binos, cameras, etc.
I still do, because not to long ago customs wouldn't check the 4457 at all. Now it's always any guns and I just don't want to take the chance they start checking serial #'s on other items.
You can fill out separate 4457's for each item if you like, that way you don't have to redo the rifle if you change scopes, just have a separate one for the scope.

This is my first trip to hunt in Africa. I had heard that many folks "Tip" with their spare scope at the end of the hunt. How does that sit with the Custom Form 4457?

Airgun,
Nothing really replaces cash for a tip, but if you are incline to leave your spare scope, you won't need to fill our a 4457 for it. Also, if you have other items on your 4457 that you don't have with you, that's never been a problem. The US Customs is just making sure the items are not stolen or purchased out side the US and you are avoiding import tax's.

I haven't in the past as no one really seems to care much about the scope. I'm sure some over zealous customs agent could make a deal about it if he so desired though.

If I did, I would get individual 4457 for each scope so I could mix/match as needed.

YMMV.

One thing I try to keep track of is traveling to countries where the products I am traveling with are made. Lica, made in Portugal, so I have a 4457 for my HD rangefinder binos when I go there. If I had German glass and went there, I would probably have a 4457.

Had an interesting conversation with a hunting enthusiast customs officer in ATL when I was coming in from Africa. After spending some time chatting with him about hunting in Africa and my handguns, I asked him quietly why the requirement of the 4457. He looked around and then told me that Customs did it because ATF asked them too, that Customs really did not care any more about my firearms than they did about a gold Rolex.
As stated above by Buff Nut, 4457 is proof of possession in the US, not even proof of ownership. Ignorant officials abroad have given it way more importance than it deserves.

At the risk of turning this into a thread on tipping. . . .

I would advise anyone going to Africa for the first time to please tip with cash as you otherwise would. If you want to add some gear to the tip, that's great, but these guys want (and need) cash far more than gear, so I would advise not reducing the amount of cash you would otherwise tip by the value of the gear.

Like others have posted, the Form 4457 is to prove that ANYTHING of value that you have listed on it was yours BEFORE you went overseas.

On my first trip to Africa, I listed EVERYTHING of value that I took on that trip on a 4457: rifle, scope, camera, range finder, binocs. When I got home, Customs only checked my rifle.

On other trips that I've made to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean, I took the same camera and binocs, and coming home Customs did not even look at them.

Now I only list one rifle and the scope that is on it on a 4457. If I take more than one rifle, I fill out a 4457 for EACH rifle. Keep it simple.

I appreciate the responses especially the tipping part. I read the tipping thread before I made my post here.

A very wealthy man told me that after each hunt he tipped the PH with his spare scope, a higher end Leupold, Vari-X III back in the day when that was the current model. He gave me other tips as far as African hunting as well. I do not want to disclose his name or which firearms related firm he worked for, but met him at an NRA convention. I always thought that it was a very generous thing to do. I am on a once in a lifetime deal courtesy of my son.

it does no harm to list everything you have with a ser#. actually it helps. for as many times as i have been ocs i've probably got a dozen or so 4457 pages. it is kinda funny when you show the agent the pile of them and watch him chit his panties when he has to go thru them all

quote:

Originally posted by airgun1:
I will be meeting with my outfitter's rep next week or the week after at the Great Outdoors Show in Harrisburg, but it doesn't hurt to get more opinions, experiences etc.

When filling out the form do youth list the scopes that are attached to the guns? Do you list your backup scopes not on the guns?

When coming back from Namibia in 2012, the customs guy in Detroit asked me for my 4457 on my Leupold scope. I told him I didn't have one since it was 18 years old and made in the USA.He said he thought they were made in Germany until I showed him the made in the USA stamp and showed him the Leupold website where it states ...."Designed, built and sold in Oregon"