UK auctions and maybe one day gun shops have long been a temptation for me and have resulted in five guns and a good many other toys making it to me.

I will be posting in the future about some great restocking work by Stephen Dalzell of a Boss SLE project gun I got from Holts.

Making that purchase is a gamble like any auction. You can mitigate the risks with knowledge, more so by having a contact there in the UK check out the item. You must be educated in evaluating and open to asking second opinions from others smarter than yourself.

While the exchange rate makes it look better, it really only shifts the break point a small bit.

The cost of importing can be $750-1000 a gun now. That alone makes most lower end guns become less of a deal.

Further the length of time on the import can stretch out some depending on timing. Government on both sides of the Atlantic are not user friendly to our hobby. The recent complications of commercial service providers adding to those challenges is disconcerting to enraging.

I see the auction buys I have made not bargain hunting, but finding something I wanted I could not find here. I doubt I will really make any money on my buys. I focus on mid range and above quality, and on something I really want, like an Irish made or Dublin sold gun, or a Celtic engraved Scottish 16ga pair.