KY Jon, JohnfromUK is correct about the ownership of muzzle loaders in the UK. The catch is there is no definition of 'antique' that is pertinent to the gun's legal standing. It is based on its 'use-ability', availability of ammo and one's intention to use it or not.
I would add that for export purposes, with the introduction of the PL9010 statute, anything made before 1890 is now absolved of the need for an export licence while everything made after 1889 has to have a full individual export licence supported by an end user declaration. Open General Licences simplify this somewhat but there are still some hurdles to jump.
However this does not help you much with the export. The problem here is that all the air freight companies (no international courier firms will touch firearms here) treat all firearms the same regardless of age. In fact on a recent export I was found that they were classifying my pre-1890 shotguns as UK 'Section 5' which strictly speaking includes machine guns and other banned weapons.
Therefore, although you wouldn't need a export licence for these percussion weapons, you are going to pay just the same as a AK47.
If you want them badly enough, I suggest you talk about them to someone who regularly exports firearms from the UK and see if they can help.
