On our trip to Namibia, we are planning to stop in Europe for a few days. Which countries allow you to bring in your rifles?

Thanks for any information,

Regards, PG

As a tourist without hunting with an outfitter? NONE?

I would talk to each of the embassys and ask them. That's a lot of risk, to try without a lot of planning, paperwork, and proof.

I know that in Amsterdam you can leave your guns with customs for a day or two (KLM). The best bet is to put anything you need in your carry-on and just have all your luggage held so that everything stays together.

Americans can travel through and in France with up to 2 catagory 5 "hunting weapons" and 100 rounds of ammunition. Technically the rules say you don't need a hunting liscense, but when I went there the customs guys wanted to see mine and ask the usual questions to make you are doing someting "firearm related" ie hunting, a shooting competition etc. on your trip.

The text from the French embassy in Washington reads as follows. Note this was true as of fall 2004, so things can change. Note that "hunting rifles" in "war calibers" are not possible, ie any caliber that army used: 7x57, 308, 30-06 etc. So thats the real pain in the butt.

quote:

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Category V (Hunting Firearms):
i.e.:
- shotguns (single shot) such as12-, 16- and 20-gauge;
- centerfire hunting rifles (provided they are not included in categories I or IV);
- weapons with combination shotgun and rifle barrels more than 48 cm (19 in.) in length or which are more than 80 cm (31-1/2in.) in overall length - provided they are not designed to fire ammunition used in firearms of categories I and IV;
- the ammunition thereof.

YOU ARE NOT A PERMANENT RESIDENT OF FRANCE AND YOU WISH TO IMPORT DURING YOUR VISIT HUNTING ARTICLES FALLING UNDER CATEGORY V

You are allowed to bring into the country two weapons on a temporary basis as well as 100 cartridges for each weapon. No Import Permit is required but the imported firearms and ammunition must be declared orally with Customs at the port of entry.

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I have gone through French customs with rifles perhaps 6 times over the past ten years. I don't mean just between flights but actually entering into France. Maybe I have been lucky, but most times there has been no inspection and no customs agent present at the customs station. If there is one present I declare that I am entering France for (period of stay) and indicate the gun case saying that I have a rifle in (indicate the type of action, bolt, etc. and the caliber). This has only happened once and I indicated a bolt action in .375 H&H and the man waved me through without asking to look in the gun case. As previously mentioned, a "military" caliber (30-06, 8X57JS, 308 Winch, 6.5 Swedish, 303 British, etc.) will probably provoke either confiscation or a requirement to leave the firearm in bond. Depending on how they treat this it could cost a whole lot. If they just leave it the storage facility at the baggage terminal then there may be no charge. If they put it in the Brink's secure bonded warehouse you will have a minimum charge of approx. 500 USD. I once had to pay this when I legally imported two handguns. There is another aspect to firearm regulations having to do with the type of action. Semi-auto actions have a limitation on the type of magazine (no removable magazines) and the cartridge capacity of the magazine (I believe it is two max).

Bonjour Wink,

Actually my one time with guns in France could have gone as you said. If I had not declared my shotgun at customs I don't think anyone would have asked me. I just thought I should to be on the safe side not knowing if there was some paperwork or something that I might need during the trip.

The guy was realy nice and it went better than most of my time traveling inside the US with guns (always avoid Newark airport if you can, my guns always seem to get scratched by TSA there...), I think he was a hunter too so we just sat there and chatted about bird hunting and stuff.