exporting De activated bren to Australia

Hi Guys,

Am wondering if anyone can recommend any dealers in the US or the UK who would be interested in selling a deactivated Bren to a licensed collector. I have all the bits and pieces (CES) for it and the transit chest which i have collected over the years. Now I am looking for the actual BREN to fill it!

As a licensed collector in Australia you can import a deacivated bren but even though it is deactivated it must be registered and stored in a safe as you would a live firearm! Lots of customs permits and paperwork to sort out too...but am quite willing to have a go. Have emailed a few dealers in the UK but none are keen ....any sugestions?

Try World Wide Arms in Stafford or try one of the US dealers

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Originally Posted by snookyyyy

Am wondering if anyone can recommend any dealers in the US or the UKicon who would be interested in selling a deactivated Bren to a licensed collector.

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Have a look on the link below, its to do with mainly vehicles but has a section at the bottom for deacs etc, these are classifieds just members of the public selling on there stuff, but also the dealers who deal in these are at the right side in a colum.

One of them may help, cant see any probs with shipping from the UK (as its a Deac) it depends on your restrictions etc and if you have all the correct paperwork.

Deactivated Weapons - MILWEB Classifieds

PS ( one firm I wouldnt deal with is a firm who deal in vehicles and a lot of deacts, I wont mention there name as they are a bunch of complete w*****s.
pm me and will tell you who they are, reason I wont mention them here as I dont want to give them any free advertising).

Thanks for the leads ....i have tried world wide arms but they aren 't interested. I have been in contact with Stringtown supplies who are willing and interested in exporting one. Now begins the process of geting the paperwork in order! wish me luck!

Befgore you do anything else or even buy one here (the UK....) contact David Thomas. Email follows on PM

Any chance you could keep me informed of the legal process, I was under the impression that the import ban on military style weapons extended to deac's and anything containing any parts at all, yet occasionally I hear of it happening, or at least its intent. I'd been keenly interested in the process, for my own use at some stage... Cheers

Hi T-bone,

have made contact with a reputable dealer in the UK. He is looking for a lithgow made bren for me to import here into oz. I will let you know how it goes!

If anyone in the UK has a deact Lithgow Bren for sale, let me know on snookies behalf. I'm going to tuck myself in the crate with a bottle of pop and some sandwiches

I'm also looking to importing a deact Bren into West Oz and would love to know what hoops to jump thru.

I dont want to Pee on anyone's Bonfire here, BUT. I was under the impression that it was Ilegal to import ANY MG class of Weapons into Oz? I will qoute an example of my own expiriernce for you.
Approx 15 years back, a good friend of mine in NSW, who is a Prominant & Well Respected high profile Bussinessman. Wanted an MP40 Deact sent into Oz.

He Got a live example Nicely Deactivated here in the UK from a major dealer & exporter. PRIOR to doing all of this, He enquired about, & GOT permisson to have it sent to oz.
It was sent & duly in the Postal system.
Whilst halfway accross the World, the Law changed in Oz reagrding Auto class Firearms. When it arrived, it was held at customs & he was contacted.
He went to customs with all his legal paperwork & permits ETC. He argued the point that it HAD indeed been granted permission & WAS authorised to be legaly imported.

The customs were NOT interested that it had been approved PRIOR to the law changing & that it was NOW illegal to imprort. This WAS indeed unfair & VERY Frustrating for my Friend.
The end result was that after TWO YEARS of lobbying MP's, Liasing with legal agencies Etc Etc. It was deemed Illegal to let it in the country.

soooooooooooo, it was sent back to the UK to me to sell it on my Friends behalf. You can imagine his attitude towards the authorities & how upset he was after doing everything he could to comply with the Law!

The long & the short of it was, he obtained another example through another method, already IN oz. It was deactivated & resides in his collection along with some VERY expensive restored German Wartime Military Vehicles!

I must confess, that was few years back now. Wether the Law has been recinded (Unlikley!) Or wether there has been an opening made in Law for collectors or not. I cannot confirm. I would advise enquiring with the authorities to see what the lay of the land is before embarking on a similar procedure. You MAY save yourself a LOT of potential Heartache & possibly legal hassle?..........

Just MY expireinece posted to prevent anyone unfortunate enough to possibly fall foul of Austrailias VERY strict Laws on Firearms. I SINCERLY wish you well with your 'adventure' & please DO keep all of us posted with how it progresses, if you are allowed to Import.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tbonesmith

Any chance you could keep me informed of the legal process, I was under the impression that the import ban on military style weapons extended to deac's and anything containing any parts at all, yet occasionally I hear of it happening, or at least its intent. I'd been keenly interested in the process, for my own use at some stage... Cheers

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I would like to know as well, I tried for 6 months to import a Deac Vickers in to Australia with no results becasue if you read the tests for import, no part of a MG can be imported appart for offical government use. Customs may let it in as it is a deac but it come under the duristiction of the federal attournies department. (just waided through my file, Prohibited import regulation 1956 Item 13 'no trigger barrel, bolt and select mechanism) even if welded" I would like to know snookey!

Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956


Light reading....

Whilst we await developments, here are some pictures of my 1943 Lithgow that I have lurking in my Photobucket account. ;)

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ren19431-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ren19432-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ren19435-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ren19433-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ren19434-1.jpg

Hi All,

Just to give you an update. i have been in touch with Customs here and they inform me that it is legal to import the item as long as it is approved by the Attorney Generals dept and conforms to relevant state laws. I have contact them and am awaiting their reply. i will keep you posted. wish me luck!

---------- Post added at 08:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:15 PM ----------

Omg !!!!!

Best of luck with it!

Well guys looks like it's over! response from the AG's dept below..... :crying:

UNCLASSIFIED

Good morning


I apologise for the delay in responding to your email. Under the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 (the Regulations), a firearm is classified by type and the import tests available to the firearm depend on that classification. Whether or not a firearm has been deactivated does not affect its classification. In essence, for importation purposes, a deactivated firearm is treated the same as a fully functional firearm of the same type.



A BREN machine gun is classified as an Item 12 article under Part 2 of Schedule 6 to the Regulations. Item 12 articles may be imported under the following import tests:

Official purposes test – allows an article to be imported for the official purposes of the government of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory.

Specified purposes test – allows an article to be imported for a number of specified purposes, including use in the production of a film, research and development, transhipment to another country, etc.

Returned goods test – allows an article to be re-imported after being temporarily exported from Australia.



Unless you can satisfy the requirements of one of these three tests, you cannot be granted permission to import an Item 12 firearm. There is no provision for Item 12 articles to be imported for private collections.



Regards



James Messervy

Drugs, Firearms and Fraud Section

Attorney-General's Department

Ph 02 6141 2730

fax 02 6141 5463



oh well back to the drawing board! ok anyone know of any good replicas? :)

aren't you making a film ?? :)

Wouldn't a Lithgow manufactured Bren pass the returned goods test?;)

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Originally Posted by peregrinvs

Wouldn't a Lithgow manufactured Bren pass the returned goods test?;)

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Thats exactly what i was thinking, could 20 years be classed as tempory?

No the Lithgow option doesnt work.....I tried that too....damm damm and blast!

anyone know of any good replicas/model BRENS? if I can't have the deac might as well go for the next option.

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Originally Posted by xa-coupe

aren't you making a film ?? :)

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There's a problem with that....... weapons imported for filming HAVE to be exported out of Australia after filming. This is what happens with the weapons that are used on "Sea Patrol".

I was looking around, and I've found some "non-gun" Bren's. They basically have a solid receiver etc.

Does anyone know the difference between a deact, and these Non-Gun display items as such.

My search for a Bren continues.

well i may have found another option....since my plans to import a deactivated BREN have been tharwted by customs I have found a metal replica and a plastic replica out of the US. Will keep you posted! Wish me luck !

With reference to the points above. There is no Customs commodity code for a de activated gun. It has to be declared as if live and then examined by Customs. To export from the UK you will need an export licence. With regard to import or export regulations. For import duty , prohibition and restriction enforcement it's the ships or aircrafts report date. That is the rule all the way around the world.
In the UK your gun is only considered to be deactivated if it has been both stamped and certified by the London or Birmingham Proof house.
The UKBA has appointed Firearms and Explosives Liason Officers (FXO) for each region of the UK. The HMRC help line can also assist.
A "household name " D/A gun dealer imported some D/A guns from Germany, Said to be UK D/A spec. Upon examination they were found to be insuffciently D/A and the dealer now has the expense of further cutting and pinning by a 3rd party gun smith.
Hope the above is of help, Lester

For returned goods relief. This normally has to be with in three years. Otherwise you will need to make an additional declaration explaining why you want the three year rule waived and then state your case. If the goods have changed ownership whilst the goods were out side the county ( country of original exportation). Import duties will have to be paid again.
Has any one explored the possibilty of antique or collectors item importation. In EC it's 100 years. In the USA it can be only 50 years.

I have manufactured and exported several replica MG's to Australia (MG34's, M1919A4 Brownings) and am going through the waiting game on two more MG34's. The Police will approve import permits for genuine collectors who have the proper class of licence but the process is very s l o o o w! I have sent them to SA, NSW and QLD. These are made from aluminium and steel, and can be opened, 'loaded' and dry-fired with black nylon breech blocks. Aussie law treats them as live guns and subject to the same security. but they can be imported as they contain no original parts.

It is my understanding to export any deactivate weapon is Ilegal unless you have an export permit. I try to export 2 mk1 and 1 mk1m brens gun to the USA three years ago and the custom told me that you need a export license via the DTI. I did not bother to continue with the sell. The paperwork is unbelievable.

If you look in Gunmart. Some freight agents advertise, who can do the export licence application for you. Yes it is a lot of paperwork, but all landing and shipping matters involve paperwork. Remember firearms are restricted and not prohibited. Make sure you have deactivation certificates.