My brother is moving to NZ in July with his entire family. He is deciding what firearms to take with him.

What are the popular calibers in NZ? The calibers with ammo readily available over the counter.

Do New Zealanders use mainly American or European calibers?

Both, really. What rifles does he have? A lever action carbine would be handy.

Thats opening up a can of worms Howard. Those in the South Island will, on the hole, will use a totally differnt cal to those in the North. They have a lot more tops hunting where in the North a lot of it is bush stalking. For myself my favotite is a 243 but I also have a 308, 223 in the safe. Well not the 223 as the nephew has flogged that for a while. As for action you would find that 90% would use a bolt action. The only action that I have not used is a pump.

You will hear all discussions on the best cals to use in NZ. A lot swear by the 7/08, who knows

Most popular calibres are .222, .223, .243, .308, 7,08, .270
30,06. Others you can redily get ammo for are 22,250, 25,06, 6.5x55, 7x57, .280 Rem, 7ml Rem Mag, 300 Win Mag and the wsm's. There will be others I can't think of off the top of my head, but thats a fair representation.
I'll start the argument by stating that the best allround calibre for NZ is the .270 Win.

Bloody stirrer SP

After reading this, I went to the local supermarket for some groceries and went past a sports store and had a look at the ammo on sale -
the usual .22 and .22 Magnum, .222Rem, .223Rem,.243W, a box of .257 Roberts, .260Rem, 6.5x55mm Swedish, 7x57mm Mauser, one box of 7x57mm Rimmed, .270Win, .308Win, .303B, 30/30, one box 7.65x54 Argentine, 7.62x54 Russian, 7.62x39, 45/70 and several boxes of the latest .300RUm, WSM etal. Plus .357 and 44/40 and .44 Magnum, Vast quantities of 12gauge etc. I would NOT worry about getting any ammo you want.

To purchase ammo in NZ you do need a Firearms licence. Please read - presume you have done so, but its a reminder, http://www.police.govt.nz/service/firearms/ and note that, "People intending to stay in New Zealand for more than 12 months must apply for a standard licence". Good luck.

Like the other guys have said - anything your average gunshop at home stocks will be available here. If you want some obscure caliber you best bring a supply with you , or at least cases and dies.

And you will need to comply with the local firearms laws so best leave the handguns and full auto rifles behind.

270win, in particularly for the South Island.

"He is deciding what firearms to take with him."

Bring all of them,there is no limit to the number of firearms you own here,the more the the better

Getting NZ firearms license is piss easy,as we don't have a muppet running our country anymore

Tell him to bring a 375 H&H so James has someone to shoot with!

Now why would you fellas be leaving out the one 303 Brit? Hornets are also on the menue here with expensive and cheap ammo and of course reloading stuff. We can get quite cheap European soft point 303 Brit bullets as well as the regular stuff from Hornady, Speer and Seirra and several others. Primers can get in short supply - a bit of a bother when trying to keep to the same ones. Powders are pretty much well covered with ADI being a big supplyer of Hodgdon powders like Varget and so on. Yup - tell him him to bring them all! And tell him to bring as much brass as he can fit in too! Brass, bullets but no live ammo, powders or primers. Yes it is dead easy to get a firearms licences if you are sane and have no criminal records and so on. They do background checks and interview your wife and so on. A pretty good system all in all.

quote:

Originally posted by muzza:
And you will need to comply with the local firearms laws so best leave the handguns and full auto rifles behind.

He's coming from Aussie muzza. They haven't seen the good toy's formany a year.

No doubt he'll be wanting to buy a semi .22, 12ga etc as sooon as he gets off the plane. lol

All the standards are here, and he can bring 5kg of loaded ammo as well. The two places a good bush gun is handy are the pig island and fiordland, but then, there's plenty of long range shooting going on as well.

Actually, Moses lake WA is in Washington State USA, not West Australia.

And - each member of his family can have a 5kg package of ammunition in there suitcase - but you cant combine the packages into one case. Airline rules.

You need to check out the IATA regs for appropriate packaging requirements. Some types of ammo may be restricted - like lacramatory ( read "teargas" ) for obvious reasons , as well as tracer , incendiary blah,blah , blah.

Also ask your airline of choice what their individual requirements may be , and advise them in advance that you will be carrying ammo - saves a shitload of time at check-in , beleive me.

I believe he will have to obtain an export permit for each gun he brings- at the cost of $2000+ per gun. He should look into bringing the guns out VERY carefully, it is an extremely convoluted process, on the US end.

quote:

Originally posted by StormsGSP:
I believe he will have to obtain an export permit for each gun he brings- at the cost of $2000+ per gun. He should look into bringing the guns out VERY carefully, it is an extremely convoluted process, on the US end.

Not quite as bad as that. If the person in question decides to bring his personal guns out of the States, he'll benefit if he gets a US Customs form (forget the #) proving ownership of the rifle. This can be obtained for free, and will help upon re-entry into the US. It will also help to prove ownership when arriving in NZ - lacking a formal firearms registration in the US (thank God!).

A US export permit is only necessary if a non-US resident wants to obtain a firearm in the US, and have it officially exported - the only legal way to obtain a firearm in the US. Even in this case, the cost of an export license is usually less than 100$ per gun - totally depending on what the individual exporter charges. There is a certain amount of redtape to overcome, but it is all doable.

- mike

quote:

I believe he will have to obtain an export permit for each gun he brings- at the cost of $2000+ per gun. He should look into bringing the guns out VERY carefully, it is an extremely convoluted process, on the US end.

Hopefully, mho is correct (and it sounds right) but if there is some sort of problem, let me know - I know of one or two firearms importers who may be able to help. But I do think mho is correct! Anyway, the biggest problem is NZ customs so an import permit to NZ would help if an export permit is a problem!

quote:

Originally posted by KimW9:
Actually, Moses lake WA is in Washington State USA, not West Australia.

Haha, well there you go. Maybe Howard should put WA in the US of, just so use southerns don't get confused

When we moved out here 2 yrs ago, I brought all my rifles, and I use them all too,just do prefer to use the lighter ones with the terrain here
I had problems at first getting ammunition for the 458,but most "regular" calibres seems to be available over the counter.

quote:

... just do prefer to use the lighter ones with the terrain here ...

A smaller and lighter rifle does come in handy at times! I am thinking about some sort of scabbard arrangement. In the meantime, my shock cord carry method works real well with bigger rifles.

That's the cord and clip under the scope. It unclips real quick and quiet and can be left on but sits between face and stock.

Guys many many thanks.

I too think Mho is right. I have taken my firearms out of the country 3 times and each time upon reentry all I was asked for was proof of ownership which is handled by a customs form that your local custom agent fills out for you prior to leaving the country. All it is is a proof of ownership form and is useful for all high dollar items not just firearms.

Getting ammo into the country sounds like a why even bother issue though he will be shipping a 40 foot container of his family belongings.

Now to the important stuff. I of course will be visiting him while he is there and will want to hunt. Can anyone hook us up with some prime hunting? Also what months of the year are best for hunting. What months are best for weather and sightseeing?

Sorry for the confusion of location. I am in Moses Lake Washington USA and my brother is in Flagstaff Arizona USA.

Dale, my brother, is moving to Nelson on the south island. Cheers.

quote:

Originally posted by Howard:
Guys many many thanks.

I too think Mho is right. I have taken my firearms out of the country 3 times and each time upon reentry all I was asked for was proof of ownership which is handled by a customs form that your local custom agent fills out for you prior to leaving the country. All it is is a proof of ownership form and is useful for all high dollar items not just firearms.

Getting ammo into the country sounds like a why even bother issue though he will be shipping a 40 foot container of his family belongings.

Now to the important stuff. I of course will be visiting him while he is there and will want to hunt. Can anyone hook us up with some prime hunting? Also what months of the year are best for hunting. What months are best for weather and sightseeing?

I live in the wrong part of the country too help directly with hunting spots, but you want to be over here about now, The Autumn from mid April to mid May is the peak hunting period. The weather is usually good with cooler mornings and good runs of sunshine, and most of the game speicies have their rut through this period.

And the sight seeing side is pretty good at this time to


The hunting side shouldn't be to hard to sort out but you'd better get into training now

So if I choose the month of April I should be good?

April, and duck shooting starts at the beginning of May

The .223 Rem seems to be a very popular caliber in NZ, too.
Any experience with the 223 on chamois? or even red?