This is what I received from my travel agent. I am not flying to Africa. Is this what any of you have had to do flying on QATAR AIRLINES?

***TRAVELING WITH: FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION.***


US CUSTOMS FORM 4457- FIREARMS REGISTRATION: You are required to carry your 4457 listing the firearms you are traveling with. US customs now states these forms must be updated each year you travel. Ensure your form will read 2022 and the customs stamp of 2022.


QATAR AIRWAYS PRE-APPROVAL - We will need customs 4457 form stamped in 2022, Letter of invitation from outfitter and copy of your passport.

A couple of presidents back, put this into play. As the 4457 was good for as long as you owned the firearm. The big "O" put a stop on that.

We need to obtain new 4457 with the current year stamped on it.

It all started with some of the 4457 did not have any date on it other than the date it was processed. I liked that one.

Then a date started to appear in the top right corner and it needed to be the current year or out. Do not take in a completed form to be stamped with an expiration date that has expired.

You should be able to find a 4457 on line and fill it out and take it with your rifle to be stamped.

I tried to take my older 4457 and a new completed 4457 to have it stamped and they would not stamp it unless they visually inspected the rifle. I asked why, it was the same rifle and serial number. So I had to go home and bring my rifles down for the process. On return, they opened up their computer and inputed the rifle serial number and said it matched. Wow go figure.

Geesh! I have to drive 400 miles (6hr round trip) to my closest US Customs office. Sucks!

Had to do that last year, despite having past 4457's on the single rifle I was taking. I think next year, I'll take all the rifles I might possibly take all at once. Fortunately, I'm about 30 minutes from the Customs office and know it well.

Customs told me a few years back I did not have to bring the same rifle in each year, just the 4457 and they would issue a new one. Is this still in effect?

I was told you have to bring in the rifles each time you want a new 4457 for them to verify the serial number

I think it must depend on the agent. I cross into Mexico every year and have been using the same 4457 for one rifle for 11 years. They do take it inside, presumably to cross check against their database, which they are not supposed to keep. I have been told a lot of conflicting bs by CBP agents. Some want to see the gun, others will just issue an updated form from the old one. If you need to obtain a 4457 remember to take your passport, although I once obtained one with just persuasion and a drivers license.

quote:

Originally posted by dukxdog:
Geesh! I have to drive 400 miles (6hr round trip) to my closest US Customs office. Sucks!

Where do you go, dukxdog? I've been having to go to Great Falls and it's not a one-day trip.

quote:

Originally posted by jjbull:

quote:

Originally posted by dukxdog:
Geesh! I have to drive 400 miles (6hr round trip) to my closest US Customs office. Sucks!

Where do you go, dukxdog? I've been having to go to Great Falls and it's not a one-day trip.

Closest is Salt Lake City Airport. I got some 4457's when I go goose hunting crossing the Canadian border in Montana.

Sorry to read that about your drive to Utah!

We'll have to discuss this in more detail in SD this fall. It's been a few years since I had to go through all the hoops w/ the 4457..!

Good luck!
Wes

quote:

Originally posted by Brittman:
Sorry to read that about your drive to Utah!

We'll have to discuss this in more detail in SD this fall. It's been a few years since I had to go through all the hoops w/ the 4457..!

Good luck!
Wes

I think you got an agent that doesn't know the law. For US purposes a 4457_is good for as long as you own the firearm.

Some foreign countries look at the goofy us govt document expiration date as if the document that is signed and stamped expires.

I travel overseas with guns a lot. Only South africa has looked at the expiration date.....and I use the same form, until it hits the expiration date...then I get another one.

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
I think you got an agent that doesn't know the law. For US purposes a 4457_is good for as long as you own the firearm.

Some foreign countries look at the goofy us govt document expiration date as if the document that is signed and stamped expires.

I travel overseas with guns a lot. Only South africa has looked at the expiration date.....and I use the same form, until it hits the expiration date...then I get another one.

I agree and will follow up with the agent. She made it sound as the airline was making that regulation to board the flight.
I traveled last month with the same rifle and 4457 with nothing ever mentioned about expiration dates or new issue each year. The only time 4457 is checked is re-entry to USA by US Customs. Never an airline requirement.

That expiration date on the form is important now. Going through Amsterdam and in African countries, you need a current one. It's a pain, that's why I'm tempted to take every rifle I may use in the nest couple of years until the 4457's stated expiration date. But that might create it's own issue as I often don't decide until last minute which light rifle is going. If I take a light rifle.

Several years ago when South Africa started this BS about expiring 4457's I called my local customs office and spoke to agent about just bringing my old 4457's to his office to get new ones. He said that was fine. No need to bring the rifles. That was several years ago so I don't know if it's still OK or not.

Like some of the posters here, I feel that CBC Agents make up their own rules as they go along. I once had a CBC Agent ask me for the 4457 on my Leupold scope that was mounted on my Winchester Model 70, which had a 4457. I asked him why and he said …”because Leupolds are made in Germany.” Luckily the scope had a big MADE IN USA stamp on the tube. I then showed him the Leupold website where it says “Proudly designed and manufactured in Beaverton, Oregon”. I asked him where in Germany was Oregon located. He was a young loser with a room temperature IQ.

I fly out of N.KY/Cincinnati (has a straight flight to Paris. The Custom guys there have never gave me trouble. However, I do call and ask them what they want. The Form 4457 every time filed out with most recent form date, scope and ammo listed on the Form 4457. A copy taped to the locked ammonia case. A make a copy plus one for ever airport I go through.

The Form 4457 on the ammo case helped me out in Paris once as the Customs Agent liked I had s form for the ammo that told him how many and for what.

The only problem I have had had been with the front desk ticket takers who think they are cops. That has nearly got me twice. The Custom Agents have been very helpful telling them to shut up and load the luggage.

They may ask for more that is required. However, call ahead. Give them what they want, print off a copy of the regs, and smile and be polite is better than being right and missing a flight.

With the ever conflicting info on 4457's I spoke to a CBP Agent in Albuquerque last week. He was adamant that the 4457 does not expire and remains valid as long as it is legible. He did caution that some African countries require a current year certification, but that has zero to do with CBP regulations. As Bud intimated, there should be no need for a 4457 if the item is made in the USA. Good luck with that.

quote:

Originally posted by squeezenhope:
With the ever conflicting info on 4457's I spoke to a CBP Agent in Albuquerque last week. He was adamant that the 4457 does not expire and remains valid as long as it is legible. He did caution that some African countries require a current year certification, but that has zero to do with CBP regulations. As Bud intimated, there should be no need for a 4457
if the item is made in the USA. Good luck with that.

When the serial numbers on my guns expire I will get a new one when traveling into mexico. Traveling to Africa is a different story

The US government could clear this up once and for all, simply by stating on the form that it does not expire.

Too easy and commonsensical, right?

What irritates me most is that our idiotic bureaucrats have to put an a expiration date on the damn form.

What irritates me almost as much is our government using the damned form as they do!

The 4457 forms intent is to prove that the firearm was purchased in the US, for tax purposes.

You should also have a 4457 for your wristwatch, camera, rangefinder and jewlry! Do they check these items and run the serial numbers? No, they dont! Just your firearms. Why is this?????

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
What irritates me most is that our idiotic bureaucrats have to put an a expiration date on the damn form.

What irritates me almost as much is our government using the damned form as they do!

The 4457 forms intent is to prove that the firearm was purchased in the US, for tax purposes.

You should also have a 4457 for your wristwatch, camera, rangefinder and jewlry! Do they check these items and run the serial numbers? No, they dont! Just your firearms. Why is this?????

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/int...yg/customs-duty-info

$800 duty free allowance

US customs can ask for proof if they feel there is high value non us origin stuff being brought in.


I have 4457 on a lot of my fishing reels cause they are expensive and the documentation also helps overseas as proof of ownership.

Mike