A friend in RSA has asked if it would be possible for me to get him a rifle in the US and bring it to him when I come over. Plans are to get the rifle early enough so he can possibly have enough time to get the paperwork done on his side. But if I carry the rifle with my other rifles which means I will have to put it on a SAPS form, could I possibly run into trouble? More worried about the things on the African side as the US would never know about it. I know I could use a licensed exporter but the would add a lot to the cost of the rifle.

If you bring it into RSA on a temporary import licence and then leave it here when you go home, you'll be breaking the law and although you'll probably get away with leaving, you may very well be picked up at the airport should you ever return.

The only way you can do it is if he has the licence AND import permit issued beforehand and meets you at the airport on arrival...... and it'll take months at the very least to get the permits issued..... possibly even years.

He'll then have to pay import tax & VAT on the rifle as well.

It'll be cheaper and easier for him to buy the rifle here in RSA.

The biggest problems will be importing it into RSA rather than exporting it from the USA.

what steve says, plus you would also need all the export paperwork from the US

I wouldn't do it at all, for any friend, based on what the outcome for you might be!