Sorry, I should have put a smiley in there, that was meant in jest and not serious.
I was not expecting to be bashed, but perhaps a few "gosh, you paid $6500 for that?" responses.
I had no idea Canada was THAT bad price wise.
Yes, it really hampers my hobbies.
I have to be really choosey about what I buy since I don't have disposable income. Our selection is also much less than the USA.
Unfortunately I prefer (what to me is) higher end hardware so I usually have to save for a while to get what I want, and I usually have to compromise and get something a few models below what I really want. I would have liked to have bought an AI AX 338LM with S&B PMII 3-20x50 but that would be almost $17,000 here. :-(
Importing guns from the US is a piece of cake and not as deer as people make out.
If it is easy in Australia then you are lucky.
It is not so simple in Canada.
When I custom ordered the Armalite AR-30, I had to sign multiple copies of government documents to get it imported, that stated that I could
never resell the rifle or give it away or part-it-out for my entire life, that I was using it for non-military/non-LE, and for target practice only, etc.
Importing has to be done through a licensed firearms importer and broker, with all of their fees.
Only certain carriers in Canada are licensed to transport firearms, with all of their fees.
And then I never got the rifle after all of this, I cancelled it after ~16 months waiting as mentioned above, and when I got my deposit money back instead I went with the other components that were available in stock in Canada.
The only firearm related hardware I have ordered from the USA is small parts from Brownells under $100.
If it is over $100 there is ITAR, brokerage fees which can be $hundreds of dollars, special carrier costs.
In Canada, ammo is classified as explosives (it is actually a propellant), so that has high shipping costs from the few carriers that are licensed to transport it.
I have wanted to purchase ammo when on sale from stores like Wolverine, but the special shipping cost makes it prohibitively expensive.
Anyway, sorry for stealing the thread.
I don't mean the posts to sound whiney, just a bit of information on what we deal with up here for pricing etc.