The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Hello everyone, new member here with zero experience of shooting in the UK.

I am a dual national British/French and have lived in England from birth and would like some general advice from you fine folks on a couple of things.

I have a hunting licence in France and inherited 4 shotguns that stay with my grandmother in France, use them 3-4 times a year when I manage to get over there. The shotguns comply with UK legislation, 1 Chapuis over and under 12ga, 1 Darne juxtaposed 16ga and 2 autoloaders (2+1) 12ga (1 browning and 1 beretta).I am about to purchase my own house and would really like to bring them over to the UK as they were given to me by my late grandfather and would hate to see them lost when my Nan is reunited with my grandad (had to rack my brain to put that in a non crude way!!)

Would a French hunting licence be sufficient justification for a shotgun certificate in the uk or if I would be required to join a UK clay pigeon club or similar. More than likely I would do this anyway but would like to know if a club membership is required prior to an application being made?

One of the autoloaders is a 1979 browning auto 5 which was initially designed to accept 4 in the tube but subsequent to a change in French legislation back in the day it was reduced down to 2 in the tube by way of a crimp and longer spring. Would this cause issue in the UK, would a new tube be required?

Should I be granted a shotgun certificate, is there a limit on the number of shotguns that you can own on one certificate, or is a separate one required for each and is it possible to “import” them from France to the uk given the fact that I already own them and would not be able to provide proof of purchase from a armourer in France.

I appreciate that there are a lot of questions above, have done a lot of research (google mainly) on this and haven’t been able to find answers specific to my situation so any help would be much appreciated. Should add that I do not have any criminal record and would be able to provide good referees for the application.

Many thanks in advance, happy to provide more detail if needed.

Liam

Hi Liam.

No club membership or even justification is required for shotguns. If you want one, and you're of sound mind and meet the other requirements (references, security, criminal history etc) then you will be issued with a shotgun certificate.

If the crimp is permanent then that is sufficient.

You can own as many as you can store securely.

Cant answer about importing your own firearms from France, might be worth phoning your local firearms licensing department and see what they say.

Good luck!

What puzzles me is why you posted in this section?

J4mes wrote:Hi Liam.

No club membership or even justification is required for shotguns. If you want one, and you're of sound mind and meet the other requirements (references, security, criminal history etc) then you will be issued with a shotgun certificate.

If the crimp is permanent then that is sufficient.

You can own as many as you can store securely.

Cant answer about importing your own firearms from France, might be worth phoning your local firearms licensing department and see what they say.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info, was concerned that because the crimp could potentially be undone that this would cause issues.

christel wrote:What puzzles me is why you posted in this section?

Because I’m an old fart who doesn’t know what he’s doing :) where should I post? Thanks in advance

I have moved this thread into the appropriate section.

Please read the rules and familiarise yourself with the forum.

Welcome

Regarding import, a Shot Gun Certificate acts as a personal import permit for guns you are transporting in your personal baggage. However, to move them legally from France to GB, you need a European Firearms Pass*, and to get that you need the guns on a SGC. The easy way to do this, if your local firearms licensing office will play ball, is to have them put the guns on your SGC as "possessed" when they issue the SGC, and give you an EFP* at the same time. You can then legally just drive through with them, subject to conditions of carriage on the shuttle or the ferry, declaring to Customs on the GB side.

Otherwise, if your French hunting licence authorises possession in France, you could legally enter the guns on your Certificate yourself, I think, and then demand the EFP*.

If the requirement for an EFP goes out the window, then as long as you have authority to possess and import / export on both sides - which a SGC covers for the GB end, can't be certain about the French end - then just go, declaring to customs as you pass through.








*Subject to events commencing in 4 minutes and subsequent negotiation!

Hello and welcome

IainWR wrote:Regarding import, a Shot Gun Certificate acts as a personal import permit for guns you are transporting in your personal baggage. However, to move them legally from France to GB, you need a European Firearms Pass*, and to get that you need the guns on a SGC. The easy way to do this, if your local firearms licensing office will play ball, is to have them put the guns on your SGC as "possessed" when they issue the SGC, and give you an EFP* at the same time. You can then legally just drive through with them, subject to conditions of carriage on the shuttle or the ferry, declaring to Customs on the GB side.

Otherwise, if your French hunting licence authorises possession in France, you could legally enter the guns on your Certificate yourself, I think, and then demand the EFP*.

If the requirement for an EFP goes out the window, then as long as you have authority to possess and import / export on both sides - which a SGC covers for the GB end, can't be certain about the French end - then just go, declaring to customs as you pass through.








*Subject to events commencing in 4 minutes and subsequent negotiation!

Many thanks for the informed reply, a French hunting licence does authorise possession of shotgun and certain rifles subject to declaration to the local “Marie” (council basically) but this is done subsequent to purchase/ownership so more of a formality than anything else.

Given that I don’t really want to drive through customs without the necessary paperwork, as an earlier post suggested I will probably contact the local firearms officer to clarify 100% what options are available, will be talking to them for the uk SGC anyways. Once I know I will post the information on here so that others can benefit.

I think the events have commenced and finished but to be honest...nothing is any clearer!!

Who knows what will happen with the EFP IF we ever leave the EU????