Travelling through France with Firearms by road

Good information Tamus - if I am reading/understanding this correctly then the transit through France of military calibre firearms is simple and straightforward with no paperwork involved.

By rail, direct border to border?.. Yes

By road? I have to admit I'm struggling to be certain but I really think it says an application has to be made.
 
If that's the case an email confirmation from the relevant department prior to travel would certainly be beneficial.
 
Ok, I'll make this my last post on the subject. I asked for advice on trans-shipment of military calibred rifles and ammo across France, quoting the above link, which I wished clarifed and...

Here below is the advice given to me by a French Lecturer in French law and he's an avid sportsman himself. Make of it what you will and good luck whatever you do, especially if you try to obtain and use a "permit of transfer" it should work but... you'll evidently still need the luck.

Even a Frenchman, trained in legal mumbo-jumbo, has to ponder before giving a straight answer... but my considered opinion is this : if you have friends who consider driving through France with a rifle in a "war caliber" to go hunting, say in Spain or Austria, forget it, if you want to be strictly on the safe side, and avoid your car and rifle being impounded in a stockade. Take a boat, or a plane : the French Customs won't shoot across your bow, or shoot you down....

You could entertain the idea of a "permit for transfer" : the idea of suicide, a slow death strangled by Red Tape, is said to be agreeable to some masochists....

Allez Julirosien, au boulot pour la traduction exacte ! :lol:


Best regards~Tom

p.s. Ok! "third" last post on the subject.:D
 
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I have been stopped several times by French Customs / Police travelling backwards and forwards to Germany, both at the Tunnel and on the motorway border posts. There has never been a problem with me having a .308 on board.
Obviously just make sure you have your European and British paperwork up to date and to hand.
 
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The 308 is still out, but .30-06 Springfield will be legal in France as a hunting calibre within a few months. Everyone's getting pretty excited about it.
 
The 308 is still out, but .30-06 Springfield will be legal in France as a hunting calibre within a few months. Everyone's getting pretty excited about it.

My French contacts confirm what you say. However, they also said ... we're talking about the French legal system here, so don't hold your breath, it may take 18 months to forever, or it "may" happen sooner...the current issue of "shootings" does not help the cause though.

Evidently, the hunters and shooters in France struggle against at least as much "anti" opinion as we do here in the UK.
 
Sorry to be sceptical Pine Marten but who is everyone, where did you get the information, and can that be confirmed?
I ask because this "hot off the press" news has come up on a regular basis for many years now and in each case in the past it has come to nothing.

Tamus I thought you had really cracked it this time and tied it down once and for all, and then you speak to your French law lecturer pal and go and spoil it all. I don't doubt what he says because the French tend to do things that way. We often think that our firearms laws are confusing but we are not the only ones, when in France I have often seen locals who are confused by their own firearms laws especially with regard to the categories that firearms fall into as I believe that some changes were made only a few years ago.
 
Sorry to be sceptical Pine Marten but who is everyone, where did you get the information, and can that be confirmed?
I ask because this "hot off the press" news has come up on a regular basis for many years now and in each case in the past it has come to nothing.

I just received my latest copy of Le Chasseur Francais in the post yesterday, and there was a two page spread on the .30-06 as it's about to be authorised in France. They said that it had all been voted, but they had yet to produce the "application decrees". They estimated three to five months. This also applies to the 8x57IS, but I don't think anyone's that fussed. Oh, except for yourself, now that I spot your handle!
 
Tamus I thought you had really cracked it this time and tied it down once and for all, and then you speak to your French law lecturer pal and go and spoil it all. I don't doubt what he says because the French tend to do things that way. We often think that our firearms laws are confusing but we are not the only ones, when in France I have often seen locals who are confused by their own firearms laws especially with regard to the categories that firearms fall into as I believe that some changes were made only a few years ago.

Oh! I've definitely cracked it. There is a permit you should have (see previous posts) and it would be silly not to get it.

I just note that even our Gallic friends don't trust their own authorities not to give you a few headaches.

Having siad this, I wouldn't suggest for a minute that one shouldn't "go for it". Heck, you can get plenty problems with this sort of thing even here and most of us don't let that put us off travel.
 
I just received my latest copy of Le Chasseur Francais in the post yesterday, and there was a two page spread on the .30-06 as it's about to be authorised in France. They said that it had all been voted, but they had yet to produce the "application decrees". They estimated three to five months. This also applies to the 8x57IS, but I don't think anyone's that fussed. Oh, except for yourself, now that I spot your handle!

Mine is 8x57irs the rimmed version so I don't get any problems. Interesting to know that things may finally be moving but just like Tamus I won't hold my breath. That's a good magazine and I often buy it when in France if only my French were much better I would probably be able to enjoy it more. It's not the shooting or technical vocabulary I have difficulty with it's the French words. :oops::lol:
 
My French contacts confirm what you say. However, they also said ... we're talking about the French legal system here, so don't hold your breath, it may take 18 months to forever,

According to one of the French rel's who works as a fonctionnaire, some in Government are pushing to move everything except 223, 308 and 9mm Parabellum into the next category.
 
All


thanks for the advice and help,


to make matters easier, its been decided that we fly instead to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
 
Went to an open day at Bluefoxglade today. Got talking to the man from GMK. He mentioned in passing that Sakos and Tikkas have to come into this country by sea. I asked why, he replied that even GMK as a distributor cannot transit their military calibres 308,223,30-06 through France. Therefore might I suggest if they cannot legally do I do not think a civilian legally could. You may get away with it but is it worth the risk ? (Air freight costs 90 euros plus a £400 handling charge at the airport)
 
Went to an open day at Bluefoxglade today. Got talking to the man from GMK. He mentioned in passing that Sakos and Tikkas have to come into this country by sea. I asked why, he replied that even GMK as a distributor cannot transit their military calibres 308,223,30-06 through France. Therefore might I suggest if they cannot legally do I do not think a civilian legally could. You may get away with it but is it worth the risk ? (Air freight costs 90 euros plus a £400 handling charge at the airport)

You might "suggest" it ... sure.

But... what you would be better doing is reading this thread properly and you will learn that, contrary to the impression you have formed from your discussion with "the man from GMK" (whoever he might be), there are "legal" means by which one can cross France with one's own military class firearms. However, even the French themselves will tell you (as one has in this thread) that the procedure for procuring the permissions required and the subsequent handling of your journey by officials can be complex, so complex in fact that many would question the wisdom or worth of attempting it.

Or you can stick with "what he said" about commercial activity, unrelated to the matter at hand here.
 
The man from GMK is not telling the full story or is mistaken. I say that because my shooting buddy used to regularly transport "military calibre" firearms through France from a factory in Germany to the U.K. only a few years ago. So I know that it can be done or has been done on a commercial basis, but obviously the procedures and paperwork involved is something entirely different to the situation proposed in the original posting on this forum. I would have thought that given the locations of both Sako/Tikka and GMK that the cheapest most direct route to the U.K. would have been by sea anyway.
 
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