#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Living In Thailand Forum >  >  Buying a gun from Bangkok Gun Shops

## 04Cobra

My wife just got her Por 3 Document, so the next step is for her to actually buy a gun. We live out in the sticks, but we will be purchasing from the Bangkok area shops. 

I would like to know if anyone here has had experience with this? I mean actually buying a gun here in thailand. At home im a CWP holder from the day I turned 21, and I just walk in and buy what I want. There is no really any negotiation and no waiting usually. 

Here, for what I want for my wife, the prices range from 70,000-80,000 and they say there is a 2 month order period. Being that this is thailand, these fuckers know all the damn tricks in the book to up-sell shit and I would like to hear some experiences you guys might have. 

Finally, I was reading that ammunition here is hard to come by, and I figure on about a case (1000 rnds.) to get my wife trained up on this particular platform. Drills, cleaning, muzzle awareness, trigger discipline, etc... And just getting generally comfortable with the weapon and not scared of it. Is it really that hard to buy ammo here?

Thanks!

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## Mid

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## dirtydog

Your license will state how much ammo your allowed, reckon on 2 magazines worth or 12 bullets for a revolver, this is what your license restricts you to, the gun shop will just ask how many boxes of 50 you want, no records for ammo are kept.

She first need to sort out the gun she wants, needs the documents for that gun, ie serial number etc, she can then apply for her next document which allows ownership and keeping the gun at home, takes a couple of days to get if you give a small bribe.

With the gun you want just go to a shop that has them in stock, no stock go to the next shop.

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## Davis Knowlton

Ammo will kill you. $1 a round for ball; slightly less for reloads. Plus P, hollowpoints, or anything better than ball - $2 a round. I just bought a box of twenty .38 Plus P's today - $43.

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## 04Cobra

> Your license will state how much ammo your allowed, reckon on 2 magazines worth or 12 bullets for a revolver, this is what your license restricts you to, the gun shop will just ask how many boxes of 50 you want, no records for ammo are kept.


Nope, wifes document says nothing about how many bullets she can have. Just says "Short Gun" in "9mm" and can be pruchased in the "Bangkok Area" and some other stuff about her parents and our address. Its just one sheet of paper with barely anything on it and a bunch of red stamps. 




> first need to sort out the gun she wants, needs the documents for that gun, ie serial number etc, she can then apply for her next document which allows ownership and keeping the gun at home, takes a couple of days to get if you give a small bribe.


Like I said, we already have the "Por Sam" document. She can legally buy a "Short Gun" in "9mm". She already got all the finger prints and background check, "interview" at the Amphur, and was approved. The next step is to buy the gun. When you get the Por Sam Document, you get 2 copys, one goes to the gun shop, and you keep one. The gun shop will fill in their documents and send it back to the local amphur. When the Amphur gets this, then she will get the Por Sii (4) Document. This one will be the registration doc with the Make, Model, Serial Number Etc. Our bribe was 1,205 Baht. 




> the gun you want just go to a shop that has them in stock, no stock go to the next shop.


The gun shops that we have called do not have the Glock 19 Gen 4 in stock. I want her to have the Glock 19 Gen 4 with the #4 spring.

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## 04Cobra

> Ammo will kill you. $1 a round for ball; slightly less for reloads. Plus P, hollowpoints, or anything better than ball - $2 a round. I just bought a box of twenty .38 Plus P's today - $43.


This was in Thailand??? 

I dont mind 60 baht a round for Defense ammo cause I only need a box, but damn, what about training/plinking??

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## Davis Knowlton

If it's the same as here in the Philippines, and from my years living in Thailand I believe it is, most gun shops carry minimal stock. If you want something imported and specific, they will have to order it for you. I just picked up a Taurus .38 2" barrel this afternoon - I wanted the hammerless, but ended up not getting it as they would have had to order it. It's a gift in any case, so I didn't care enough to wait. Here, you can buy as much ammo as you want, but on my concealed carry permit, I can only carry 50 rounds or less. That's right on the permit.

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## Davis Knowlton

> Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton
> 
> 
> Ammo will kill you. $1 a round for ball; slightly less for reloads. Plus P, hollowpoints, or anything better than ball - $2 a round. I just bought a box of twenty .38 Plus P's today - $43.
> 
> 
> This was in Thailand??? 
> 
> I dont mind 60 baht a round for Defense ammo cause I only need a box, but damn, what about training/plinking??


Philippines. But, as I recall, about the same. I do a fair amount of firearms training - lots and lots of dry firing, and cheapo reloads. My carry rounds are like gold.

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## 04Cobra

I see. Well this gun wont be a carry weapon. Just for the house when im offshore. She cant carry it around.

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## dirtydog

> Nope, wifes document says nothing about how many bullets she can have. Just says "Short Gun" in "9mm" and can be pruchased in the "Bangkok Area" and some other stuff about her parents and our address. Its just one sheet of paper with barely anything on it and a bunch of red stamps.


Her last document will state how many bullets, the serial number of the gun etc etc, you still a bit away from the finish line yet




> The next step is to buy the gun. When you get the Por Sam Document, you get 2 copys, one goes to the gun shop, and you keep one. The gun shop will fill in their documents and send it back to the local amphur. When the Amphur gets this, then she will get the Por Sii (4) Document. This one will be the registration doc with the Make, Model, Serial Number Etc. Our bribe was 1,205 Baht.


You know about it so why argue the toss with what I said, you haven't got a gun license yet, you have the one before the license, ie you can now walk into a gun shop and talk business with them, but you aint going to be allowed to walk out with it that day. cos you aint got the license yet.

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## Davis Knowlton

^Yep. Gonna take a while. The one I picked up today was ordered two weeks ago. The normal wait is more like 6-8 weeks, but my wife and I have multiple gun licenses and both have concealed carry permits, and do a lot of business with this guy - so we get stuff quickly. Still, takes a bit of time to process the paperwork.

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## Davis Knowlton

> I see. Well this gun wont be a carry weapon. Just for the house when im offshore. She cant carry it around.


If that's the case - and totally up to you obviously - but have you considered a shotgun? Not much training required - point and pull. My wife is 5'4", and 109 lbs, and can handle a Mossberg 12 gauge pump with no problem. We have lots of handguns around, but the Mossberg is what is in a rack on the bedroom wall.

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## superman

> Her last document will state how many bullets, the serial number of the gun etc etc,


 When we got ours the paperwork only said "5 bullets". When the guys in the gun-shop finished laughing they gave us a full box, free.

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## sunsetter

if you want cheaper rounds to practice with, go to a local range, police one in bangkok, the navy one also, went there with a friend who was practicing, they even hired me a gun out, and i bought rounds to fire.

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## Gerbil

For genuine 'home defense' (especially in the country) a lot of people just get something through a 'contact', then if they have to use it they claim they got it off the intruder in a struggle and shot him.

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## beerlaodrinker

Davis
just a quick question slightly of topic to the O.P do you need to be a permanent resident to have concealed carry permit in the philippines?
Just curios , spent many years in the philippines, and one of the first things i noticed was its a heavily armed country, (and thats just the civilians)

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## Davis Knowlton

> Davis
> just a quick question slightly of topic to the O.P do you need to be a permanent resident to have concealed carry permit in the philippines?
> Just curios , spent many years in the philippines, and one of the first things i noticed was its a heavily armed country, (and thats just the civilians)


The short answer is yes, in order to be totally legal. That said, there are ways around it, but they have tightened things up over the years. Very few foreigners, other than diplomats, have concealed carry permits. In fact, I'm the only one I know. I'm sure there are probably others, but not many.

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## 04Cobra

> Originally Posted by 04Cobra
> 
> Nope, wifes document says nothing about how many bullets she can have. Just says "Short Gun" in "9mm" and can be pruchased in the "Bangkok Area" and some other stuff about her parents and our address. Its just one sheet of paper with barely anything on it and a bunch of red stamps.
> 
> 
> Her last document will state how many bullets, the serial number of the gun etc etc, you still a bit away from the finish line yet
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Well according to the Amphur, The gun shops, and my wifes internet searches, we will walk out with it that day. Walk in, find one we like, pay, then they send some paperwork out to some thing called "E-Service" in Bangkok (Same day) and take the gun home. My wife called about 10 shops and they all said the same thing. So I guess Ill just have to wait and see what happens.

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## dirtydog

The document still needs to be signed, ok they can stick all the details in like serial numbers, bullet numbers etc, but it will still need to be physically signed by someone from your local Amphoe, this can then be taken to the gun shop to collect the gun, a friend of mine was arrested and charged for having the gun he was purchasing in his house, he was only on the third document, 50k baht bail in Chonburi, then 50k baht bail in Pattaya, back to Chonburi to get that bail money back, go to court and fined 500baht, lawyer cost and petrol costs were higher than that, and nope he didn't get any refunds, that came out of his pocket, the funny thing is he bought the gun from a policeman  :Smile:

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## 04Cobra

> if you want cheaper rounds to practice with, go to a local range, police one in bangkok, the navy one also, went there with a friend who was practicing, they even hired me a gun out, and i bought rounds to fire.


This is what I learned also. Alot of shops dont even sell ammunition. I found one shop that was selling 124 grain, brass case, full metal jacket Czech republic ammo for 2000 baht a box. 

Called the local range back at my place and they were selling cheapo lead ball ammo for 800 baht a box. Dont really like ball ammo cause it takes forever to clean the gun after but I guess it'll have to do.

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## 04Cobra

> Originally Posted by 04Cobra
> 
> 
> I see. Well this gun wont be a carry weapon. Just for the house when im offshore. She cant carry it around.
> 
> 
> If that's the case - and totally up to you obviously - but have you considered a shotgun? Not much training required - point and pull. My wife is 5'4", and 109 lbs, and can handle a Mossberg 12 gauge pump with no problem. We have lots of handguns around, but the Mossberg is what is in a rack on the bedroom wall.


Considered it briefly, but I knew this was going to be expensive and buying the gun wont really be the problem it seems, it will be the training (Ammo, range time, etc...) thats going to be costly. As im sure you know, knowing how to shoot a gun is piss easy, but being confident/experienced with the weapon is another thing entirely. 

Ive yet to see a woman that dosent close her eyes and tense up like they are going to be mule kicked in the shoulder before they pull the trigger on a 12g. Even after a few 100 rnds. Plus I dont know many ranges that allow shotguns, and they ones that do (in the states anyway) dont allow anything but slug ammo to be shot. No bird/buck allowed.

A double tap with a hot & heavy 9mm hollow point should stop most, and if not, she will have 14 more chances.

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## Davis Knowlton

> Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  Originally Posted by 04Cobra
> ...


True. My wife is 5'4" and about 109lbs, but she's in the gym with me every day (for over 20 years) and has done a lot of range time over the years - from pistols, to shotguns to automatic weapons. One of her friends is on the National Skeet Team, and handles a shotgun far, far better than I do, and I've had them since I carried a sawed off 12 in Vietnam, 44 years ago.

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## 04Cobra

> The document still needs to be signed, ok they can stick all the details in like serial numbers, bullet numbers etc, but it will still need to be physically signed by someone from your local Amphoe, this can then be taken to the gun shop to collect the gun, a friend of mine was arrested and charged for having the gun he was purchasing in his house, he was only on the third document, 50k baht bail in Chonburi, then 50k baht bail in Pattaya, back to Chonburi to get that bail money back, go to court and fined 500baht, lawyer cost and petrol costs were higher than that, and nope he didn't get any refunds, that came out of his pocket, the funny thing is he bought the gun from a policeman


Dunno man, everything on the Thai Forums about guns that my wife has shown me and everyone we have talked to pretty much all seem to follow this same procedure for civilians buying a gun for protection of property/self. I cant see we (she) are going to be doing anything illegal. The Por Sam/Por See way is what everyone seems to do. Police do however seem to follow a different route and pay about half of what Civilians pay. 

But when its all said and done ill post up the exact procedure we went through.

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## kingwilly

> Are you just a gun nut spreading your insane behavior to another country? You have got to be American.


Are you bumping a 4 year old thread, to make a personal attack ? 

You have got to be a wanker.

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