Trying to get a rifle shipped to Germany for warranty repair. The German manufacturer’s USA branch who deals with this type of exportation daily has already had the rifle going on 3 weeks and is telling me they still do not have the proper paperwork . How long should this process take? I would guess once the paperwork is in place and they just ship it on a plane with probably DHL. Where would one research the exportation of a rifle from USA to Germany? I didn’t find much when I did a web check. Also anyone have any experiences shipping rifle scopes to Germany from the USA for repair/installation?

Can't speak to export....but import papers have taken anywhere from 4-12 weeks ....depending on the "mood" of the gov't.

quote:

Originally posted by JonP:
Can't speak to export....but import papers have taken anywhere from 4-12 weeks ....depending on the "mood" of the gov't.

Twelve weeks is pretty long, hopefully exporting will be faster than importing. Going on 3 weeks today.

It seems there are many who import rifles but very few with experiences exporting rifles.

Wrong question !!!!
Correct: How many weeks or months.....

The main obstruction are the US authorities.
Seems to be easier to get a cruise missile than a sporting rifle
My experience

I would think that would be different to normal export as it is a warranty so it is coming back to you.

If you import a rifle from America to Australia you have to get paper work done in Australia that is sent to America. Basically this about where the rifle is being exported to is deemed OK in the US.

I would imagine the business that imports the rifles should be well practiced at this unless is it a rifle that is very small time seller.

Companies like Weatherby etc. when sending rifles to Australia get a single export licence even though lots of rifles are coming. Thus if I wanted a Mark V Wby tomorrow and the particular rifle/calibre I wanted was not in stock then the rifle would not come until the next shipement of rifles from Wby to Australia and the rifle I ordered would be part of that export permit.

If a rifle had to be returned to Wby for warranty (amd maybe this applies) to you is first up, is there a credited gunsmith in Australia to do the work. If not it would go back to Wby and would be easy as it is from the Wby agent back to Wby and would come back to Australia quickly as the rifle has already met the export when it was first sent. However, yours is different as was exported by Germany.

I would check with the American agent for the rifle to see if there is a delay becausse they might be waiting for other stuff to send back to Germany. This simply becomes a cost issue, that is, they will send several things at once. Often this is simply a packaging deal and cost of shipping. For example they might send scope mounts back (or whatever) and they will fit the carton the rifle goes in and this might mean there are no additional shipping costs because of the combination of the weight and size of what the rife goes back in.

Also, there is a European Big Game Hunting forum on AR and those blokes might have some insight so perhaps post there as well.