Ok guys, had to write this down and share it with you.

Some time ago I decided to try and find some material for a gun project. My search for a M98 type of weapon led me to a very nice dealer here in Sweden who had some Husqvarna 640 with the FN mechanism. The idea was to take a weapon or more back home to Iceland and rebuild or just have a nice time at the range with them.
The dealer offered me three of his guns at a very good price and said he would take care of the matter. To make things as easy as possible regarding the transportation between the countries, I had a dealer back home in Iceland take care of that matter. So, the guns were to pass between two authorized arms dealers.

The first problem the dealer here in Sweden had was with customs. Since Iceland is not an integral part of the EU, they didnt know which code to use, and didnt really care about helping the guy. Iceland is a member of EFTA (European Free Trade Association which is associated with EU regarding trade). Sweden and Iceland are also two nordic countries with very close ties regarding trade so there should absolutely not be any trouble whatsoever in transporting hunting guns between the countries. Eventually he himself found the proper forms and filled them in the proper manner. When handing in the forms, a person at the customs became very sceptical because of the age of the guns... the guns are manufactured in 1949 and 1951 and according to the customs officer in question, they are too old to be allowed to be exported.

So, next problem, the office for State antiquary. There the dealer had to get around the incredible Swedish official bureocracy. Room to room, talking to different people just to be sent to another person. At last he he found someone that was slightly interested in talking with him and even helping him finding a solution. As it turned out, the guns are neither to old nor interesting as a matter of antquary so they gave a green light.

The police. The weapons have to be deregistered in Sweden. Very understandable, but taking a few days just to get the proper form filled for that and having the guns taken off the Swedish gunregister is not.

So, Customs, Police and State antiquary have all given a green light. So far two full weeks of paperwork for guns that cost alltogether under 4000 SEK.

The Postal service. After fixing all papers regarding the guns, he called the postal service and asked them how they wanted the shipment packed and so on. They actually gave him directions on how to pack, how to mark, and how to place all neccesary papers in and on the shipment.
He ordered a pick up of the shipment. The postal people came not once but two times, and drove off and gave the excuse that they couldnt find the house. The second time they drove off, they had actually asked the neighbor if they were at the right place and after getting the simple answer “yes†they just drove off.
The dealer had to go himself to the post office and deliver the shipment. The postal people accepted it and he drove off. Happily, he called me last friday and said: we are done, the guns are finally on their way to Iceland.
Not so ! he got a phone call from the head post office, tuesday last week where thay said: sorry we cannot take this shipment because we have no agreement with the Icelandic postal service regarding freight of valuables.
The dealer went ballistic. He spent a full day on the phone trying to get some answers to why the bastards accepted the guns in the first place, and second how to get them to Iceland. He got no answers, Swedish bureocracy at its best.
A top level pencilrodent at the postal service then told him that the foult was his, he didnt say that it involved guns (the dealer is a gundealer). The dealer had even paid for the freight to Iceland, an outlet thet he will have to reclaim from the postal service. He eventually found a freight company that would take the guns to Iceland and at a resonable price.
When the guns were returned to him, he saw a damage to the outer wrapping of the package. Upon carefully opening the package, he discovered that one of the guns had been damaged despite having been very carefully packaged, the stock was broken at the front swivel and split from there to the bottom metal of the mechanism. The postal people had obviously taken good care in the handling of the package .
He went ballistic again and was promised that an inspector would come by to take a look at the damage. A day later a deliveryboy came instead of an inspector . Now he has to fill a form for the damage, wait for their response, get refunded and then fix the gun.

Now, three weeks from the start of the affair, I do not know whether to laugh or cry. A very simple matter became this incredible snowball, just getting bigger and bigger as it rolled on through the Swedish official sector .

The proper word for the Swedish official sector would be “disfunctional†at very best. “a working place for pencilrodents that are not paid to think†seems more fitting though.

Just hope the bloody thing will be over before easter as I will head home to family and friends, hopefully to pet my new guns.

regards

Pencilrodent - that's a new term for me .A sad and frustrating story ,I hope it works out for you.

And now the real trouble begins as you have the stupid regulations freaks that are in our polis department to deal with.
Góða skemmtun.

Sölvi

Georg,

Well that explains some things to me. A few years ago I tried to purchase a Husqvarna 103 shotgun from a Swedish dealer on-line. After several email exchanges, he stated it was simply not worth his time and trouble to ship the shotgun to the US. I had no idea...

By the way, "pencilrodent"? I love it!

Sölvi,
since the guns are to be delivered to me in Iceland through an authorized dealer, there should not be any more trouble than if I just bought a new gun back home.
But having said that, the people a the firearms department are perhapsnot the smartest ones when it comes to guns and the people at the State-police who do regulate the inflow of weapons are typical for people who shouldnt be in their paticular position.

Mete and 375 AI,
the word "Pencilrodent" applies to people sitting around at their job doing nothing but gnawing on their pencils, with the "I just work here" attitude.
Applies perfectly to many in the official sector such as customs, police etc.

Regards

This is amazing. You need to see if you can make some kind of stink in the local press/media!

Wow, Spanish Bureacracy is a Swiss Watch compared to that boondoggle.

Sounds more like Italy than Sweden.

Sorry to hear that.

Georg.

Ha!! I can beat you... been waitin' over 20 weeks now for a new stock for the Remmy to come form the States, the £$&$!!! shiper over hear's a nutjob (we don't need officialdom when we've got idiots like this in the trade). Finally last week l found one in Germany, and when the chap gets back to me l'm laughin'. Still it sounds like all they got goin' for 'um (the Swedes') is Blondes n Beer, sorry to hear of your plight mate.

All the best.

Dave.
....

GBF, i feel your pain!
i can empathise with your frustration. here in Northern Ireland we had a change in our firearm licensing system last year. the whole purpose of this was to reduce the number of firearms in circulation by making it as difficult as possible to get through the paperwork.
add the deliberate or accidental total incompetence of our police, and you have our current situation. it takes 5 to 6 MONTHS to even have any firearm application or variation looked at, so if there"s any problems(which there always are), you could be looking at buying a gun from a dealer today, and waiting anything up to a year to actually bring that gun home!
i bought a Ruger .22 wmr last year, and recieved my certificate on friday past. after all that time, the cops did"nt put the rifle on my cert! they did manage to do a couple of minor variation i asked for as well, but they forgot the main reason for the application and they got the minor variations wrong. now i have to fill it all out again, get all the paperwork for the gun again, and reapply all over again.
i understand your frustration, but you are not alone. as for you yanks, don"t think that you"re safe, you will lose your guns eventually like the rest of us!
for now,
good shooting

Seth,
this time I have to disappoint with you, a friend of mine has imported many rifles from other countries, without using a gundealer, and he had no troubles. He has been helped everywhere, at the custom, at the post, at the Test Commission and at the Police. The time to complete the import was about one month and a half every time, with all the bureucracy activity.
If he leaved the operation to a gundealer or a gunshop, the difference was only on costs, more expensive.