shipping personal aeg's

VLAB_Spiff

Hey guys. My name is Tim, and my wife and i just moved to roscommon from california. We airsofted quite a bit out there, and would like to still play out here, but we didn't bring our gear when we moved due to baggage limitations/expenses and lack of knowledge regarding customs. Does anyone know if it is legal for me to ship it here from america? I saw an old posting from a few years ago that mentioned there was a law trying to be passed to bann it, but it was legal, as long as your gun shot under 1 joule(328)fps with .2's. also, my guns no longer have the orange flashhiders required upon purchase in u.s. so if it's legal at all to ship them, would that effect it?

ShRT

Yes the limit of 1 joule still applies here. If its not possible to have them changed before they are shipped from the states, it may be worthwhile calling to your local shop and see if they will ship them in on your behalf? They may be better aware of the customs process that they go through as they usually downgrade the guns themselves as far as i know.

If you can get them downgraded before hand, that would probably be the easiest method. The orange flashhider rule does not apply here so that won't be an issue. Somebody else may be able to better advise on the shipping method i.e. paperwork stateside, lock requirements, declarations etc. You will probably want to leave any lipo's you have behind as the airlines really don't like them.

VLAB_Spiff

Awesome! Thanks. My guns are a couple years old and all shoot under 328 fps due to spring wear and tear, so I don't think i'll need to downgrade them at all.

Southern Dandy

You could also just remove the spring and ship it dismantled, clearly marked and declared as airsoft also. Double check your aegs are shooting below the one joule though just to be sure.

T4RGET

You have three options really:

Either-
Have someone in the US like friends or family post the rifles to you as a package like you would receive it if you ordered an AEG from any other country

You can, like was mentioned, have a trusted retailer send it here on your behalf and just go to the process as if it's an international order

Or, you can have someone that will be visiting you soon or if you'reback in the US yourself, bring your gear back yourself. You will need a hard case that fully locks and the airline needs to know what it is (send them an email is best).

The first options is probably the cheapest but also the greatest risk. It's a package after all from one individual to the next so there's really no guarantee it'll get here, The second option has the same problem. I've heard of people ordering from US or Asia and rifles getting stopped, checked and released or not stopped at all or stopped and destroyed, so it really is the luck of the draw.

The last option is probably your safest as it's own personal baggage but requires you to go back to the US and come back here, so that would be expensive.

Hope you get it sorted but unless someone here has afull proof plan I don't think there's any one sure way of doing this.
The obvious option is number one where the package is shipped to your Irish address by a friend or relative in the US but because there's no retailer marks on it or anything it may either look more suspicious or not at all and it'll go by unnoticed. Hard to say.

VLAB_Spiff

Thanks T4rget. That is helpful. Though that makes me ask the question, if it could be stopped and possibly destroyed by shipping it, is it actually legal to ship it? Or is shipping it illegal and I'm just hoping not to get caught?

VLAB_Spiff

Sorry, just was rereading the thread, and saw earlier that it is legal. It's just interesting that while being legal they can still take it and destroy it. Thanks for all the input guys. Now i'll just have to see if I want to take that risk or just buy a pair of new guns...

Gatling

VLAB_Spiff wrote: »

Sorry, just was rereading the thread, and saw earlier that it is legal. It's just interesting that while being legal they can still take it and destroy it.

Not true if they are siezed here by customs and sent for ballistic testing and found to be shooting under 328 fps with a .20 bb then you can get them back .
It can be a of a drawn out process though.

Ship them with the gear boxes separate that way there only parts and won't need testing.