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Morning all....

A question, I need to send an old spec deactivated Colt 1911A1 to a guy in France, I have sent things via arms exporters in the past (antique firearms), the cost is about £150 .... so is there a better, i.e cheaper, but 100% legal way, to send them?

I don't think there are any legal issues with sending deactivated firearms to France, (unless I am wrong here) it does have its deactivation certificate, so can't see a reason why not?

Ideas guys, is this a non starter??

Cheers, John.

Royal Mail.

Be careful... The rule is that any European proof house deact certificate is valid in France , however, some customs officers wrongly insist that only St Etienne's one is valid.
A friend had to go to court over it and after a lengthy & stressful period managed to get his paper weight back but with a lot of accessories missing (not for everybody I guess...)

Morning all, I had a phone about yesterday, sounds like changes relating to France and certain aspects of the CIP agreement in the last few months might put the kibosh on this...

I will seek more advice next week and report back.

Seems it's really a no go after discussion with quite a few specialists in this area...the only easy way is for the new owner to pick it up in person and show it to customs on both sides ( showing deactivation cert, it still might be an issue on the French side.

As has been said, some French agency's are only accepting French deactivation certification, despite this not being a legal requirement. What's next, non acceptance of foreign proof..... Are we seeing serious cracks in the CIP I wonder?

As a side note to this, the chap in question is a friend, he lives in Normandy, has a sizeable 1911 collection, both live and deac.

He is now very concerned about the 10 UK old spec deac 1911's in his collection (£10,000+ worth) and what the future may bring.