From: "David Edwards", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I have entered this site for the first time, I have
found it very interesting.
I was given a print out of request for a telescopic
sight, by an avid visitor to your site.
I do not normally import Burris telescopic sights, they
are much cheaper and to easy for any one that wants one
to get one from the U.S., the chances are that you will
not pay any duty or VAT on this purchase when the postie
delivers it.
But as luck would have it I was delivered the exact scope
that [EMAIL PROTECTED] was requesting.
Also in the e mail was a .223 load using Federal brass,
Vhitavhouri powder, CCI or Federal primers, and Nosler
bullets.
I contacted Anthony by e mail with the information
regarding the scope that I have in my possession quoting
a price of L280 inc VAT and carriage, this is more or
less what I paid for it, because I have to pay the Duty,
VAT and carriage, O.K. I can claim the VAT back, only to
pay it again when I sell the scope, by the way VAT and
Duty are charged on the purchase price plus carriage
costs.
I was told by Antony thanks, but no thanks, as he is
going to get one from the U.S. for L200 and he probably
will not have to pay the Duty and VAT, this does not
worry me, its quite a nice scope I'll use it myself.
This though should worry all of you though, because if
you want your favourite U.K. gunshop to survive, you
are going to have to buy more than bullets, primers,
cases and a few pounds of powder from it.
The market in the U.S. is vast, 70 million registered
hunters was the last figure that I saw, that is just
Hunters not recreational shooters. If the U.K. guntrade
was selling to 20% of the population, we too could have
scopes for beer money.
The constant search for lower prices, by smuggling,
because that's what it is, will only bring forward the
demise of shooting in this country, gunshops will become
fewer and fewer, travelling long distances to find the
items for that favourite load will not be cheap and not
much fun, so don't help the government nobs finish what
little we have left.
I am not getting at Anthony, but at anyone who thinks
that the guntrade is making any money.
I would rather be shooting targets than myself in the
foot.
Weasel (:c).
--
I think the trick to making money in the gun trade
here is to get hold of products which cannot be
easily imported from outside the country. I saw
the prices the Sportsman's Gun Centre was asking for
Aimpoints and imported one via Brownell's (and I
did get hit up for VAT and duty and it was still
a lot cheaper).
In fact a couple of months ago I imported from
Switzerland 1,500 rounds of ammunition, not because
it was any cheaper, simply because I couldn't get
it here! (And it wasn't that exotic). It took me
a day to get through all the Customs and shipping BS.
The point is though that you can't get straight-pull
AR-15s and long-barrelled revolvers and the like
easily, that is one of the reasons people are making
money out of them.
People seem to make money out of deacts and airguns
as well, largely because a lot of good airguns are
made here; and also because it's hard to import
air rifles made to UK spec and next to impossible
with deacts.
There are only a handful of large dealers left in
the UK, Litt's, York Guns, Sportsman's Gun Centre
and Tim Hannam's are about it for Section 1 stuff.
And York Guns is still microscopic. Henry Krank,
South Yorks. gun centre and so on are quite well
known but I'll bet their turnover is teeny.
Actually thinking about it the main problem I have
with dealers here is delivery time. I just find it
astonishing I can bring in Section 1 stuff from
Switzerland in a month while the official importer
says six. I think a lot of wholesalers put out
these lavish brochures with the whole list of products
of the maker they represent, but in reality they only
import maybe 10% of what is in that brochure on a
regular basis. A shorter, honest price list would
be a good idea. Gunmark and Beechwood are a bugger
for doing this. Everyone knows they can't possibly
import everything in the Beretta or SIG or Benelli
brochures but they pretend they can. (But at least
they don't blatantly lie like Viking did with their
fictional ten-round Ruger 96 mags).
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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