Always wondered about this:

Say you want to attend and compete some form of gun competition in Europe - you want to take your own SIG 550 or benelli clays shotgun to the event.. Does ATF or DHS/US Customs have a way to paperwork to allow the gun to leave the US temporarily, and have return paperwork to bring it back?

Issues here are many - regular vs. NFA guns - and legality when entering/leaving the host country..

Thoughts??

I had a large group of friends shoot USPSA in Norway last year. I'm not sure of the details but they shipped all of their equipment out without many problems.
It can be done.

I would not, under any circumstances take any NFA weapons out of the country. That is begging for problems with folks that do not care who you or the BATF are. I also wouldn't do it for the sole purpose that you get bounced on your return leg into an airport that maybe you didn't plan on, where NFA items are illegal. Once they pop your locks at Customs on your way back in and find the NFA goodies, if it is illegal in that state (Think CA), you are going to jail for a long time.

Just because you have a class 3 stamp, doesn't mean that it is legal everywhere, especially in states like California where they will max you out on times and fines.

I'm with jljones, not a chance I would take an NFA weapon anywhere like out of the country.
But of course people compete in various competitions all over the world with handguns, rifles and shotguns, so its possible to do so. Not NFA. I have no personal experience on how it is done, but its very doable.

Thanks guys .. I wasn't fully clear vis-a-vis NFA stuff. For NFA items, I wouldnt think about exporting them etc. I brought it up to single them out - all of you are correct about the liabilities and dangers.

I dont recall who, but didn't someone here go to New Zealand for a competition? Maybe they can chime in on the process.