hi
I own a 3006 caliber gun which i've customized it and love it . i am planning to move to france as my age increase i prefer the mild climate of beloved France,but i don't want to leave my rifle behind me. is it possible to rechamber it to a caliber like 30R blaser as there have been many bolt action guns chambered for rimmed rounds like 303 british or 7,62x54 r russian? if you have other suggestion it would be great too.
regards
yazid

thats easily fixed, just get 270 brass and neck it up to 30 cal , and get your barrel restamped
problem solved!!!
daniel

yes, rechambering in .303 british or 7.62x54r will not solve your problem at all, since they are ALL 1^ category (military) rounds; the only solution, other than the debatable one, suggested by M 98, could be to rechamber in 30R Blaser, or much better, to install a new barrel in 7x64, .280 Rem. or 8-06, since you will not need any bolt or magazine alteration. Anyway it's not impossible to legally own 1^ category firearms in France, it's only (much) more difficult.

quote:

Originally posted by M 98:
thats easily fixed, just get 270 brass and neck it up to 30 cal , and get your barrel restamped
problem solved!!!
daniel

THAT makes a lot of sense to me!

How would a .30-06 Improved go? With the barrel being restamped as well.

Or a 8mm/06 if the barrel could be re-bored.

Quite an easy barrel switch would be to 9,3x62. A truly European classic, which would cover your rifle hunting over the whole continent and much more.

Best solution... Keep the 30-06 as it is as it`s one of the best calibres ever made, and don`t go to France

Shoot Chirac!

Yes,
if you go down the route of a 30-06 AI it will still be able to fire standard 30-06 cartridges, which might cause a problem with the beaurocrats. There could be possibility that you could have it re-chambered using a 7 x 64 reamer and then just necking the cartridges upto 30 cal, in effect it would be a 7.62 x 64, I think if you asked the question on the gunsmithing forum you would get a more definitive answer and probably a better solution.

If you do not get anywhere with the French authorities you could always threaten them that Tony Blair is coming to live you in France, in that case you you would be doing all of us a favour..

regards
griff

Yes.
If you ever consider to change the barrel, I will strongly recommend the 35 Whelen.
Everything else is equeal, no adjusting of feeding rails, same bolthead, same amount of cartridges in the magazine.

You then got a rifle that shoots bullets from 215 to 250 gr, and can be loaded to closely match the 9,3x62.

I have a Ruger that started life as an 270 Win, got a new Shilen barrel with 1-14 twist, and it has become my go to/allround rifle.

While it is technically possible to import your 30-06 to France I advise against it as the paperwork, cost and time are overwhelming and you wouldn't be able to import until you have been a member of a gun club for more than six months after which you can apply for an authorization to acquire a 1st Category weapon and after which you can apply for an authorization to import a 1st Category weapon. If this rifle has some sort of great emotional or functional value to you then you are forced to choose another cartridge (or leave the rifle at home, or sell it before coming to France). Remember that you will pay duty and Value Added Tax when you import a rifle to France. I would summarize the options as:

1) Don't import the rifle and buy another one here,
2) Rebarrel in a caliber with little costs associated with bolt work and feeding issues,
3) Rebarrel in a chamber which requires bolt work and feeding work,
4) Rechamber in another .308 bullet diameter cartridge, most of which will require bolt face work and feed ramp and/or magazine box work. If you've got a standard length action I would suggest the 300 WinMag. If you've got a long action you can choose between the 300 H&H and the 300 Weatherby Magnum. All will require bolt face work and most probably magazine box and feed rail work. If you know of a good riflesmith where you live, ask him how much he would charge to make the conversion (to 300 WinMag for example), remembering of course that you will be paying duty (it's not much) and VAT (around 19%) upon import. You may conclude that now is time to consider buying a double rifle from Chapuis in 9.3 X 74R. You can use it on wild boar and stag in France and on just about everything in Africa.

Yes, you should not have to pay any import duty or VAT on the rifle if it is a uesd rifle which is already your property. VAT and Duty is only payable if you are importing a new rifle which you have bought from outside the EU.

On the rechambering, the route of least resistance is a 300WM. Will need some feed rail and bolt face work, but these are straight forward. Most other non military .30's are on belted magnum cases/actions or are rimmed.

Yes, I am only in partial agreement with Claret Dabbler on the VAT issue. If you are already a resident of an EU country and have the original sales invoice (which shows that you have paid VAT in the EU country of purchase) then you can avoid duty and VAT. If however you are coming from outside of the EU telling a custom's official that an article is "used" only means that VAT might be calculated on the residual value of the rifle rather than the original value (assuming you have the original invoice). Believe me, if you go to an auction at Butterfields and buy a $30,000 original Winchester owned by Wyatt Earp or some such nonsense, the customs agents in France won't let you bring it in VAT free because it is "used".

I have come back to edit because I forget another issue, and it also relates to VAT. Once imported you will have to register your firearm. This is normally a simple procedure but you must produce the original sales invoice as proof of ownership. If the sales invoice is from a country outside of the EU you will be asked to show the VAT receipt delivered upon payment of VAT when imported. The reality is that you are at the mercy of the custom's agent at the border with respect to how much he will assess. I have imported many items into France, including firearms, and if the customs agent considers that the sales invoice is too "low" he will assign a value obtained from prices for the same or similar articles when sold in France. If they decide to go this route you will get screwed on this, believe me.

There is an additional potential problem which has to do with proof testing of the barrel. While they don't always apply this, in theory the rifle will have to proofed again before it can be registered, unless the proofmarks are those of an authority they recognize. All new rifles imported into France, whether they are Remingtons or Winchesters or whatevers, are first sent to the proof houses in St. Etienne before they are sent to retailers for sale. THe same holds true for used rifles, even more so.

Hi
I am living in scandinavia and ownership of firearms are regulated by law and for every gun we need a licens from police.i don't have anymore paper than my licens for my guns. maybe the best solution is to buy another gun .but here the ownershipr of guns are limited to only six guns . then i have to sell or give away one of my guns here in order to buy one more gun which i can use for hunting in france i wish we had same gun law all over the EU.
regards
yes

I wish we had Belgian gun laws all over the EU.

Wink, are you suggesting that if someone from outside the EU was to relocate to live in France with his family and personal property, a French customs officer at point of entry would inspect all his personal belongings from furniture to electrical kit to underwear, estimate a value and apply VAT?

Or does this VAT law only apply to firearms?

Claret Dabbler, French customs aren't that different from any others. Personal effects are generally not subject to duty or tax (within what the Customs officer will consider as reasonable limits). Firearms are not considered "personal effects" under their definitions, any more than your personal car is. It is considered a luxury item and taxed accordingly. But their is a big difference with firearms, they are subject to rigid regulations and many require special authorization or are outright illegal to own. They therefore draw special attention. You may have gone through US customs in your travels and, even if your were not checked thoroughly, there is usually someone who is getting the full search. Here's the catch at Customs, you are supposed to declare any "declarable" items and firearms certainly count in that category. Or, you can take the chance that they don't notice the rifle case, try and walk right through since they didn't seem to want to stop you, and commit your first offence when they tap you on your shoulder and say, "Don't you have something to declare in that long thin case?"

Ref the customs officers.
I have travelled all over Europe,Russia,Asia with a lorry and Africa hunting; and, I must say that ALL the customs officers I ever met (except U.K ones) speak the same language, it`s called the U.S.$ language, always worked for me

On rechambering: If your magazine is long enough, you could rechamber to the .30 Howell. This is a 2.85" (or thereabout) cartridge case on the regular .30-06 head size; in other words, simply a stretched .30-06. It has similar powder capacity to a .300 H & H. It would require no bolt face or magazine rail alteration.