Double D, Amen to your customs advice. I imported a bronze cannon from England ( won on e-bay no less - see the other thread to see a pic). I spent a whole day, 9:30 AM to 4:00PM, trying to convince the Customs officer that the cannon needed no license and was not a "WEAPON" or "FIREARM" as classiied by ATF regs. I finally had to get it in writing from the ATF office with jurisdiction over that part of the code.
What frosted by cookies... the Customs agent told me he fired BP rifles! He knew it was not a weapon or firearm. Talk about CYA.