#$%^& ATF! and a question

spurgemastur · April 18, 2007 00:42

First the question: I have an old Mannlicher M88 8MM rifle with a serial number and need to know the date of manufacture. As I understand it, the Steyr-Mannlicher company in existence today is derived from, but not the same as the Mannlicher which produced my rifle. Info is hard to come by. (Mannlicher's records were destroyed during various wars). Anybody got any pointers for me? I need to know when this rifle was manufactured.

Now the rant.

Some years ago a distant relative of mine in South Africa died and bequested to me six guns and a bible (and some miscellany tableware). I was given to understand that three of these guns were heirlooms and three were "modern and Paul can chuck them in the trash if he wants."

I have the non-firearms items in hand, but have been working for close to three years now to import the firearms. Most of the delay has come on the South African end. First, I had to wait for the guns to come out of probate and then I had to ride my contact there to transport the guns from a storage locker to a dealer who is willing to handle the export paperwork. I cannot get an export permit from SA without an import permit here. It turns out that two of the modern fire-arms are lost already. One was an air-rifle that wasn't worth what it would have cost me to ship the thing (I'm told it has been destroyed), and the other was a Bernardelli .32 ACP....total gun length was four inches so I can't import it. I'm hoping to get $35 for it on the South African market[V], but I doubt I'll ever see that money.

So I filed the import permit paperwork. It's not that complicated. On the permit application, I listed the firearms along with the required info for each in this order:

BSA air rifle
Mannlicher M88
Enfield .303
Westley Richards .450.

First, I knew that I didn't need an import permit for the airgun. But the South African authorities, in their wisdom, have declared that airguns are fire-arms. So this thing was assigned a serial number and needs an export permit. I could have sent a sworn affidavit to the effect that I didn't need an import permit for the air rifle, but it just seemed easier to get the permit for it since I was getting permits, anyway. Second, I knew that the Enfield might get tagged as a milsurp item, and so be a problem for me.

ATF "partially approved" my import permit. So I got the approved application back with a letter explaining the situation. ATF used a marker to cross the Enfield off the list. Ahh, well. Too bad. I kind of wanted that Enfield, but it was not one of the heirloom items. So I'll just hope that I can get (and I'm not kidding here) $10 on the SA market for it. Legally, it is importable, but I don't think it'll be worth the effort in the end; they ask for a LOT of documentation for milsurp C&R weapons.

The letter referenced the guns by "item number" --apparently referring to the order in which I'd listed the guns. First, I got a little lecture about how ATF didn't really care to hear about item number one, the air rifle. But they didn't cross that rifle off of the import application. Does that mean it's licensed?

Then I was told that Item number two (almost certainly the Mannlicher, though they never say so explicitly) is a C&R fire-arm and so does not require an import permit BUT that it will require some proof that it was manufactured before 1890. Well, I knew it was possible (but not probable) that the Mannlicher was manufactured before 1890 but I had no way of knowing, so I tried to import it as a modern fire-arm. Steyr-Mannlicher lost a bunch of records during various wars and cannot help me with a manufacture date on this gun. Then again, ATF didn't cross the Mannlicher off of the import application, so does that mean that I'm licensed to import it but also got a bonus lecture on the import of C&R rifles?

Then the letter gets super-confusing. Item three (not named by ATF) is referenced as a milsurp C&R which can be imported by a Licensed Importer (I'm using a FFL, not a licensed importer for this paperwork) if.....and the conditions are confusing and lengthy. There is no reference to Item four (the Westley Richards).

So: is "item three" Item three as I listed it (the Enfield), or is it Item Three that wasn't crossed off (the Westley Richards)? If you google "Westley Richards .450," one of the first hits you get is the "Martini" rifle, which IS milsurp. I really hope they were referring to the Enfield, because otherwise I'm going to have to make big battle with ATF to convince them that this is not a milsurp item.

And then there is the crowning glory on the whole experience: The letter from the ATF begins with a sentence that reads something like: "We have partially approved your application to import firearms from Canada."

Canada? Who said anything about Canada?

I have to submit the original copies of this paperwork to the South African authorities to get the export permit from them. And I have a license to import firearms from Canada. That's great. Furthermore, the letter that modifies the license application is completely unclear with respect to the status of all three guns that they did not cross off of the application. Is the air rifle licensed? Is the Mannlicher a C&R arm (meaning I need to document its age), or is it licensed and please don't waste their time trying to license other C&R arms? Do they recognize the Westley Richards as a modern, civilian arm? The only thing they are clear about is that I can't have the Enfield, and they made that clear without the use of a single letter from the standard alphabet: they just put a line through it. At least they got that much right.

Rant over. Maybe now I'll find the serenity to speak calmly with ATF when I call them tomorrow.

#$%^& ATF! and a question

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