Can you transport your powder and primer to Africa/Namibia? Is 777 or American Pioneer Powder and 209 primers readily availible in Namibia?

The air lines will not let you fly with powder
So load up a couple of boxes of special shotgun shells and be quite about it.

Brian, either do the shotgun shell idea or see if your PH can pick you up some black powder before you get there.

A friend od mine informed me of the shotshell idea. I like it, and thanks RM. I just want to know what my options are.

Just make sure you have a shotgun to match the ammo!

Brain1,

I agree with posters who advised trhat airlines will NOT allow black powder or substitute to be transported. Shotshells can be replaced by bullets in your normal rifle, provided the case capacity is sufficient to take all the black powder in your normal hunting load!

Then you may want to try the lead ball and powder in a brown paper wrapper and call it a "muzzle-loader cartridge?"

A word of warning: Although original and true copies of original muzzle loaders do not require licenses in South Africa, you will have to go through the full firearms importation procedure on arrival here.

Enjoy your hunt.

Andrew McLaren.

Won't be going to or through SA. Thanks though.

I did it last year. Not allowed to take the powder on the plane, but I got all mine over. I shrink wrapped a bunch of loaded quick loaders and called them originally packaged bullets. Also took vitamin bottles, put a bunch of Triple 7 pellets and primers in the bottom and covered with a good layer of vitamins. Probably shouldn't have done it, but I did.

I think that somewhere in Namibia they sell Pyrodex. The best would be to get your PH to buy it and have it for you. The trouble is that you have to know which kind, etc. so you can be sighted in with it. They had no American powders available in RSA. Believe me, we went through every possible scenario trying to figure it out, and I finally just chanced taking it. Like someone said, the shotgun shell idea works great, but you have to have a shotgun with you to match the ammo...

IT begs the question, why?, black powder/ substitutes as others stated are illegal to transport and why risk breaking the law by disguising them in shotgun shells? Also, if this is your first time to africa. It'll be a shame if the animal you've dreamed about shows, just out of range or your "blunder" bus has a misfire. Take a centerfire rifle and enjoy it and leave that smoke pole for the deer stands. jorge

I would take the muzzleloader,

Jorge,

Using a Muzzleloader would make it more of a "sporting chance". If you muzzleloader has a misfire, so be it. And if the animal was out of range for you, well you just aren't good enough.

I would rather shoot a kudu at 50 yards with a muzzleloader than at 350 yards with a rifle. It takes a lot of balls and a hell of a lot of practice to take a muzzleloader to Africa and only use that after dropping a bunch of $$$$$$.

SB45: Well I think after traipsing through the african bush with my legs looking like ground beef in 90 plus degree weather, untold gallons of sweat and tse-tse flies, I figured I gave that friggin' buffalo about as much of a "sporting chance" as I could stand, not to mention the 20 grand plus I dropped on the hunt. No way I'm taking a blunderbuss over there. For my next trip, that leopard's going to get a CAREFULLY handloaded 210 Nosler Partition out the finest 338 Custom Shop Model 70 I (actually my wife gave it to me) can afford! But, my hat's off to you. jorge