Moving from the UK to Ontario

[ThunderCactus]

It's unfortunate, but putting "airsoft guns" on a box would likely get you into more trouble than labeling them "illegal firearms"
As for labeling them "paintball guns", they're likely going to pass everything through a metal detector, once they find something that looks like a firearm they have to check it out.

[Kokanee]

Here are some of the highlights on NIB sales;

CA SCAR-H 7.62mm black = 438 GBP

CA M15A4 Carbine = 275 GBP

Tokyo Marui AK 47 = 272 GBP

Tokyo Marui HI-CAPA 4.3 = 165 GBP

Originally Posted by Stu

On a seperate point, do you think it might be possible for me to get permission to be able to have a look at the For Sale section of the forums ?

PM Phalanix with your situation.

[CDN_Stalker]

After high school I worked for a moving company for for about 8 months, and what they'd do for overseas moves (including cars!) was to pack everything into huge wooden crates. Now I have zero idea if they go through every single little thing in those huges crates, I'd suspect it that they wouldn't, and would probably just check the contents of the occasional crate based upon what the manifest was labelled as.

One thing you might want to do is completely disassemble your airsoft guns, list them as paintball guns, pack ammo elsewhere (as mentioned above) and put a few bags of 6mm paintballs (if you can find) in with your disassembled guns. At least if the box containing the airsoft parts gets opened, they are pretty obvious that they are not real guns. Still, it's a risk, and one I'm sure I wouldn't want to try myself.

[The Saint]

Originally Posted by Stu

To answer the Saints question, we would probably have all our possessions in a 20ft container including kids toys, clothing, photos, my tools, camping stuff etc.

As some have straight out said, those containers are not thoroughly checked, if at all. Whether it's worth the risk is up to you.

Would listing it as 'paintball equipment' be more acceptable than 'airsoft equipment' in the eyes of the customs guys ?

I think you should just list them as "sporting equipment", because that's what they are. The vast majority of gear and accessories are not illegal, and customs has no business in knowing each and every single legitimate sport you partake in based on what you own.

[Azathoth]

I just recently moved back to Canada from HK (stayed for 7 years).

When I came back I containered everything. I had accumulated a large amount of clothing, electronics, and furniture. With a family of 4 that would mean that I had probably accumulated a little too much stuff (now i know why my house is so full).

Anyways. At the time I wasnt even aware of the rules. I simply packed away everything into boxes and sent my container. I declared Furniture, home electronics, clothing, cooking utensils, appliances etc. Paid my duty and was on my way. The port authorities didn't even open my container. I could have had 50 refugee's, a tonne of cocaine etc (probably not they had dogs).

In hindsight, I should have brought my guns with me. I see you having these options.

1. Tell the truth, declare them, bring them. In whole or taken apart.

1. Bring them, don't declare them. up to you if you want to play dumb or not

The customs form tells you that you must declare, firearms, drugs (Rx etc), Food, contraband (ivory etc). If does not tell you that you must declare a replica firearm. If they question you about the airsofts. Tell them "It wasnt on the list of things that I had to declare, I didn't think anything of it". If they press the questions. Tell them it's a SPORT.

3. Claim they are REAL firearms declare them and bring them. Treat and store them as real steels. It's easier to get real firearms into the country than airsoft. This only applies to weapons that are not banned or prohibited in Canada likely your GBB's only. HOWEVER, you will need someone in the country with the requisite liscence to bring them in for you.

4. Have your mates mail them to you when you land.
5. Mail them ahead of time to friends/family.


PS. Are silencers still legal in England. When I was last their it was considered poor manners if you didn't own and use one when hunting.

[Mud Gunner]

Stu,

I recently went stateside and was able to get my gear in and BBs with no problems, its essentially clothing and easily purchased at any surplus shop.

Guns however arent that easy.

Folks have said you could try and break them up and ship piece by piece but again customs is unusally thorough. We'll let terrorists in but toy guns are way too risky

[Turd]

when labeling maybe not use the word "equipment"? sounds very official lol maybe just put "sports stuff" (maybe add 'ing' i dunno), unless this is for the shipping crate and they require you to be technical but if its just ur boxes of stuff just write that on the box.

[arman]

...

[Stu]

There is a part of me that is tempted (when the time comes) to just throw them in the same box as my kids toys.
Mix them up with the toy pirates swords and plastic cowboy guns and space guns and metal toy cars etc.
Throw all the original boxes away.
Remove the fake bullets from the SIG mags and throw them in too (so that it is obvious the bullets aren't real. I can always put them back inside the mags later.
BBs could get wrapped up with my clothes, M4 mags (metal) could be included in my tools.
Scopes, lasers etc could just go in with the camping stuff.
If they decide to take them off me (assuming they find them) then so be it.
Maybe I could print off some guns and prices from a Canadian Airsoft Shop and include that to prove that I could buy them over in Canada (so why would I assume I couldn't bring my own in).
I don't think I will mention 'Airsoft' anywhere on my boxes.
It seems like that word might be misunderstood by official or cause more investigation than I would like.The guns will have no batteries in them (or BBs or mags) and you would have to be pretty stupid to believe them to be capable of firing real bullets.

Are most of the Airsoft guns over there either Marui or Classic Army ?
Do you not have any cheap chinese clones from such manufacturers as D Boys, cyma, A&K, Jing Gong etc ?
Are you not able to order from the likes of RSOV or Red Wolf to get better prices ?
Can you give me the websites of some reputable Canadian Airsoft shops (Ideally in Ontario) that I might be able to print off some prices and information from ?

[Crunchmeister]

Our "cheap Chinese clones" are far from cheap by your standards. A Jing Gong that would cost under $100 in the US will cost about $350 here, not a whole lot less than a TM would. And with the quality of these clones going up, they're becoming a more desireable alternative to TM, and prices seem not too far off what you'd pay for a TM.

When it comes to airsoft in Canada, the pickings are slim for new guns. We currently have only 2 "retailers" that sell airsoft guns because the transfer of replica firearms is illegal in Canada. If it doesn't come with a clear receiver, it's considered a replica. These 2 retailers are really sticking their necks out to import these guns.

[lykurgus]

future welcome to canada.

to bad about your collection and how hard it is to get them into canada.

and if it isnt too much trouble... if you brought with you a set of xtra large DPMs id take them off your hands, fo sho,, (only partially kidding).

have a safe trip.