Foreign proof marks

[eddiejoe333]

I have an American-manufactured pistol that has a German proof mark. I have already checked the list at the NRA museum website. My question is, if I want to sell the pistol, will I have to worry about importation info, ie. date imported, gov't approval, batfe regs etc?

 

[Nickel Plated]

The only thing you as the owner or private seller need to worry about on an imported gun is 922r. Which concerns building an "assault weapon" from an imported gun.

Import info, restrictions and ATF approval of import is something for the importer to worry about. Once it's in the U.S. it's basically just a gun like any other gun, regardless of how it got here.

Either way proof marks don't mean much. Could just be the barrel was made and proofed in Germany, then sent to the U.S. and installed on a U.S. made receiver. The receiver is what counts so it's still a U.S. made gun. Just like some of the older Maverick shotguns. Mexican parts on a U.S. receiver assembled in the U.S.

 

[eddiejoe333]

Thank you do much Nickel Plated! I'm selling this weapon and I don't want to get the buyer into trouble.

Ed

 

[carguychris]

Either way proof marks don't mean much. Could just be the barrel was made and proofed in Germany, then sent to the U.S. and installed on a U.S. made receiver. The receiver is what counts so it's still a U.S. made gun.

The other possible explanation is that the pistol was exported to Germany and subsequently re-imported to the USA. Although I'm not certain about the laws of Germany specifically, many European countries require proofing before a gun can be commercially sold, and others require proofing prior to export.

At any rate, AFAIK proof marks have no significance under American law.

FWIW I believe that Germany requires the barrel, slide, and frame of a pistol to bear matching serial numbers prior to domestic commercial sale, but it's generally uncommon for US manufacturers to apply barrel and slide numbers unless the specific pistol is bound for export to a country with this legal requirement. If the pistol has the extra numbers, it may command a collector premium, depending on what it is.