After reading Michaels thread ,and all of the post on this subject including mine ,i Emailed a Man in NJ who i know has dealt with this.
He is into steel import ,and he has an impressive collection.
His Take from what he has ,and has bought both here and over seas.
The Export laws and duty's from the country of origin have got to be meet.
Every Country is different on this ,some do not allow it at all.
The Laws and import/ possession of such items in this country have got to be meet . In both, the exporting and importing Country's ,the stated Demilling process of both Country's has to be meet.
This country , The Piece in question has got to have a letter of export from the shipping Country meeting their requirements ,as of original document.
A letter of Approval from the Treasury Dept , including Serial number ,description of the gun ,and date of manufacture has to be presented at the time of arrival ,and then inspected as to make sure it has meet all requirements.
This being done ,said gun has got to be located at the address of the person appearing on the Approval letter at all times ,or within their possession.
Guns approved upon submitting ownership requirements ,both Foreign and Domestic,are subject to inspection.
Only guns made within ,or before the year of 1898.
Guns that are incapable of accepting any shelled cartridge ,made of produced munitions for public or Military sale before 1898 or afterward,in no form ,or alteration.
No firing mechanism for said shells can exist on the gun at all.
Hinge ,breech ,chambers and lock have got to be a dummy mechanism and in
No way capable of receiving or firing shells .if modified it becomes a DD ,and is subject to confiscation and its owner to arrest.
Some guns ,though made on or before 1898 ,have had upgrades made on them at the time of their commission ,and may have been used later.
Explanation and approval of these guns has got to be reviewed pending approval.
He then said he has seen some guns get approved ,having not been demilled ,even having been made at a later date .But a Review of those guns had to be done and approval usually meant it was a gun that was impossible to fire ,or find ammo for and the owners had a stamp ,saying something about a museum and had a few guns in another building and allowed the public to view them,for donations being Non profit.
Some exceptions exist ,but a NFA thing of some sort was issued ,and the guns could only leave lock up for something like show or something.
He said Museum was the key word,then proving it.
One of his guns he did plug ,pin and weld the breech ,and drill a vent hole and uses it as a BP.
He has a letter on this ,and he said at that point the Gov. didn't much care what he did with it.
A lot of BP ,breech loaders were built before 1898 ,but the key word here is ,shell or cartridge ,these older guns only loaded from the breech.
Reproductions of these guns seems to be OK as long as they are reproductions of original guns ,and like a 1919A4 a letter of approval wouldn't hurt anything.
In other words you may be able to own a gun made in WW1 , and it may have a breech that functions ,But unless you have documents allowing you to own it for any reason ,You could be busted.
In all of this sort of Gray area stuff ,we all know it is best to contact ATF ,and find out for sure.
He is into steel import ,and he has an impressive collection.
His Take from what he has ,and has bought both here and over seas.
The Export laws and duty's from the country of origin have got to be meet.
Every Country is different on this ,some do not allow it at all.
The Laws and import/ possession of such items in this country have got to be meet . In both, the exporting and importing Country's ,the stated Demilling process of both Country's has to be meet.
This country , The Piece in question has got to have a letter of export from the shipping Country meeting their requirements ,as of original document.
A letter of Approval from the Treasury Dept , including Serial number ,description of the gun ,and date of manufacture has to be presented at the time of arrival ,and then inspected as to make sure it has meet all requirements.
This being done ,said gun has got to be located at the address of the person appearing on the Approval letter at all times ,or within their possession.
Guns approved upon submitting ownership requirements ,both Foreign and Domestic,are subject to inspection.
Only guns made within ,or before the year of 1898.
Guns that are incapable of accepting any shelled cartridge ,made of produced munitions for public or Military sale before 1898 or afterward,in no form ,or alteration.
No firing mechanism for said shells can exist on the gun at all.
Hinge ,breech ,chambers and lock have got to be a dummy mechanism and in
No way capable of receiving or firing shells .if modified it becomes a DD ,and is subject to confiscation and its owner to arrest.
Some guns ,though made on or before 1898 ,have had upgrades made on them at the time of their commission ,and may have been used later.
Explanation and approval of these guns has got to be reviewed pending approval.
He then said he has seen some guns get approved ,having not been demilled ,even having been made at a later date .But a Review of those guns had to be done and approval usually meant it was a gun that was impossible to fire ,or find ammo for and the owners had a stamp ,saying something about a museum and had a few guns in another building and allowed the public to view them,for donations being Non profit.
Some exceptions exist ,but a NFA thing of some sort was issued ,and the guns could only leave lock up for something like show or something.
He said Museum was the key word,then proving it.
One of his guns he did plug ,pin and weld the breech ,and drill a vent hole and uses it as a BP.
He has a letter on this ,and he said at that point the Gov. didn't much care what he did with it.
A lot of BP ,breech loaders were built before 1898 ,but the key word here is ,shell or cartridge ,these older guns only loaded from the breech.
Reproductions of these guns seems to be OK as long as they are reproductions of original guns ,and like a 1919A4 a letter of approval wouldn't hurt anything.
In other words you may be able to own a gun made in WW1 , and it may have a breech that functions ,But unless you have documents allowing you to own it for any reason ,You could be busted.
In all of this sort of Gray area stuff ,we all know it is best to contact ATF ,and find out for sure.
