Authorization to Acquire by Weapon Type

Weapon Sale: Which authorization to acquire is valid for the purchase of which weapon can be easily found online. To ensure clarity, we list the different types of weapons in this article - that is, the acquisition authorizations sorted by weapon. The weapons trading license is not included in this article - it only concerns the sale Private to Private.

Warning: An acquisition authorization only permits acquisition, not carrying the weapon - for this, a firearms license or a small firearms license is necessary, for example.

Free Weapon

This includes SRS weapons (blank-firing, irritant gas, and signal weapons) and air guns with a muzzle energy of no more than 7.5 joules.  Additionally, air rifles manufactured before 02.04.70 in the Federal Republic of Germany manufactured or those manufactured before 01.01.90 in the former GDR manufactured are exempt from this regulation. However, these are very rare cases.

Marking:

• SRS weapon: "PTB" in a circle
• Air guns up to 7.5 joules: "F" in a pentagon

Acquisition Authorization: No acquisition authorization is necessary. However, the buyer must prove that they are of legal age.

Single-shot Long Gun with Smooth and Rifled Barrels:

This includes 

• single-barreled shotguns
• multi-barreled shotguns
• single-barreled rifles: that is, no repeaters or semi-automatics, but rather block or break-action rifles
• multi-barreled rifles: that is, double rifles, cross rifles
• mountain carbines
• drilling rifles

Acquisition Authorizations (various combinations possible):

• Yellow WBK
• Green WBK with pre-entry
• Hunting license without WBK for the first weapon
• Hunting license + green WBK without pre-entry if the buyer already owns weapons.
• Red WBK with the respective collection area

Single-shot Handguns for Cartridge Ammunition:

• This includes single-shot pistols, that is, those without a magazine for cartridge ammunition

Acquisition Authorizations (various combinations possible):

• Yellow WBK
• Green WBK with pre-entry
• Red WBK with the respective collection area

Multi-shot Handguns with Cap Ignition:

• multi-barreled percussion pistols
• revolvers with cap ignition

Acquisition Authorizations (various combinations possible):

• Yellow WBK
• Green WBK with pre-entry
• Red WBK with the respective collection area

Multi-shot Long Guns with Cap Ignition:

• multi-barreled percussion rifles
• revolver rifles with cap ignition

Acquisition Authorizations (various combinations possible):

• Yellow WBK
• Green WBK with pre-entry
• Red WBK with the respective collection area

Repeater Rifles

This includes all repeater rifles such as straight-pull repeaters or classic repeaters.

Acquisition Authorizations (various combinations possible):

• Yellow WBK
• Hunting license without WBK for the first weapon
• Hunting license + green WBK without pre-entry if the buyer already owns weapons.
• Red WBK with the respective collection area

Single-shot Handgun with Cap Ignition (Percussion Pistol):

Illogical but true, although no pre-entry is required for multi-shot handguns with cap ignition, it is the case for this design:

Acquisition Authorization: exclusively green WBK with pre-entry

Semi-automatic Rifles:

Self-loading rifles for shooting ranges and hunting

Acquisition Authorization (various combinations possible):

• Hunting license without WBK for the first weapon
• Hunting license + green WBK without pre-entry if the buyer already owns weapons.
• Green WBK with pre-entry
• Red WBK with the respective collection area

Semi-automatic Shotguns:

Self-loading shotguns, which are very popular in sports shooting or for example in crow hunting, fall under this category.

Acquisition Authorization (various combinations possible):

• Hunting license without WBK for the first weapon
• Hunting license + green WBK without pre-entry if the buyer already owns weapons.
• Green WBK with pre-entry
• Red WBK with the respective collection area

Repeater Shotguns

Repeater shotguns are especially common in sports ISPC shooting; in hunting, they find almost no application in Germany.

Acquisition Authorization (various combinations possible):

• Hunting license without WBK for the first weapon
• Hunting license + green WBK without pre-entry if the buyer already owns weapons.
• Green WBK with pre-entry
• Red WBK with the respective collection area

Semi-automatic Pistols or Revolvers

Acquisition Authorization:

• green WBK with pre-entry
• Red WBK with the respective collection area.

Signal Weapon

Signal weapons are usually single-shot and are subject to the WBK requirement unless they are marked as type-tested - the corresponding marking would be the PTB in a circle sign.

Acquisition Authorization:

• green WBK with pre-entry

The list does not claim to be exhaustive. Please feel free to contact us with comments at [email protected] or directly through our chat window.