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For personal imports your FAC/SGC counts in lieu of an Import License.

Whoever ships the item to you will need to apply for the export license and will need copies of your paperwork (FAC/SGC, letter of intent, etc.). They should know what they need and ask you accordingly.

OK thanks for all the replies. I have now sorted it the query I had.

Mattnall wrote:For personal imports your FAC/SGC counts in lieu of an Import License.

Whoever ships the item to you will need to apply for the export license and will need copies of your paperwork (FAC/SGC, letter of intent, etc.). They should know what they need and ask you accordingly.

would an rfd ticket work in the same way ?

To complete a personal import from US on an FAC you need:

1. An FFL in the US who applies for export licence and sends you the items (you can either buy items from them or buy from others to send to them)
2. Paperwork that you send to your FFL so they can apply for said licence:

Paperwork

i) Purchase order listing fulldescription of each item, quantity and price (signed and dated)
ii) A letter from DTI saying an import licence is not required as you have authorisation on your FAC. Try Roy Smiles enquiries.ilb@bis.gsi.gov.uk
iii) Completed and signed dsp 83 form http://pmddtc.state.gov/licensing/documents/dsp_83.pdf

That's it. Easy peasy. Takes less than 30 days usually before items are dispatched.

One thing to mention. Once it hits UK soil it's cheaper to courier parts than it is to courier complete firearms, even if those parts amount to a complete firearm.

My new build should be complete in the next month or so. It’s coming in from the US. This will be the second rifle I’ve imported from the US.

This is all very useful info for those thinking of doing it.

Question for those that have: When it arrived at the port of entry, how did you get it cleared through customs? Did you use an agent or do it yourself?

If it comes parcel post then royal mail, parcelforce, FedEx etc will handle the duty and add a clearance fee and will then send on to you.

If it come freight then it will be sent to a holding warehouse and the storage charges will start to mount and could be considerable, plus their clearance charges are also much higher. Also you will also have to arrange delivery to yourself keeping in mind that every extra night in the warehouse will add another (possible) 3-figure sum to the total. It probably makes more sense for large value and awkward items but not for firearms.
ETA: the freight forwarder might not even know of the shipment in advance and just had it dumped on them by the airline, then they might take a day or two to contact you assuming there is your number on the side and if only an address expect a few days delay for a letter to get to you, each extra day is more cost....

Having had firearms arrive by both methods parcel post is definitely the cheaper option so try to insist on the shipper using that type of service over freight.

Just to clarify,. the shotgun I brought over came over with me - it was checked in at the airport by security (got me to the front of a long queue) but they DID give my FAC a good going over, they knew what they were doing.