Has anyone traveled to Zim and put their ammo in their gun case? I have an Alum gun case and I was thinking of putting a few boxes of ammo in the gun case.

TSA rules seem to allow this? Flying SAA if that makes a difference.

Thanks, PG

Just forget about it. It will only cause you headaches. Put you ammo in your checked baggage, and make sure it is in either the original boxes or the hard plastic ones made for this purpose. I have been down this road before...it won't work.

Woody

I believe that the latest NRA American Hunter Magazine contains an interview with the director of the TSA answering all of the basic questions regarding guns and ammo airline travel regulations under the TSA. Under the TSA guidelines you can pack your ammo with your guns. However, once you have left the jurisdiction of the TSA, things can and do change in other countries. Also, each airline has its own rules and regulations as well.

We really need to get the skinny on this issue. With the reduction of checked bag weight to 50#'s, and the requirement to put ammo in hardcases if in a soft bag, putting the ammo in gun case is a good deal. In fact, to meet internal requirements in Namibia which has a 40# checked bag limit, I put my ammo (definitely allowed there) in the gun case. I'd have loved to do that the whole way.

Kathi, Debbie, Stacy, please advise!!! Kudude

Pursuant to TSA it is allowed. Pursuant to United airlines it is allowed. I have run off the regulations and talked to representatives.

It would sure help with the 50LB limit. My problem is that I can't get confirmation from SAA. I go from LAX to IAD and then visit relatives for a few days and then leave on SAA with guns checked to Zim. If I was leaving LAX and going to Zim without the layover I would try it.

I am just not sure of SAA policy nor can I reach anyone to verify.

Regards, PG

It does not matter what the regulations are if the person at the airline counter will not let you do it.

On my return from South Africa, I was asked by 2 or 3 officials where my ammo was packed because they didn't want it packed with the guns. One of the officials was in U. S. Customs, one was in South Africa and I don't remember the other one.

For SAA/United out of the USA it's ammo in a lockable box in the luggage not the gun case.

For internal flights within South Africa and up to Katima Mulilo in Namibia, both airlines want the ammo checked separate from the gun and happily accepted my metal box that was returned to me, with rifle, on my arrival at destination.
Regards

Tim, are you sure the ammo has to be in a lockable box in the luggage? SAA seems to say it must be in the original box. I know this has come up, but how many have had the ammo in this lockable box vs just having the boxes of ammo in their suitcase?

Regards, PG

Pg,
I'm pretty sure the airlines, at least, on leaving the U.S. and on returning, want the ammo in a lockable box inside the luggage.

But, even if either I'm wrong or some airlines differ, you need the lockable box to transport ammo within South Africa or within Namibia in my experience. (Note that experience may not always be what is regulation but, as posted above, how someone interprets those regulations!)
Regards, Tim

I don't often completely agree with 500grain but in this case I do. I think you just need to be prepared to put the ammo where the counter person you check in with says it should go if it is even an issue. Arguing with them about regs will probably only serve to raise your blood pressure.

On the trip I just completed we flew Billings MT to Seattle on Alaska and Seattle to London and on to JIA on BA. Neither coming or going did anyone want to see the ammo, weigh the ammo or ask how it was packaged. They just asked what bag it was in and how much it weighed. A complete non issue even in RSA. BA at this point does not want guns and ammo transported in the same case. On other trips I have had my ammo headstamps checked and every round counted. I just don't think there is any hard and fast laws on transporting your guns and ammo particularly in this era of increased security.

A prime example of the inconsistency in all of this is arriving at Seattle on the return trip and having the bag with the ammo come out on the carousel. Everywhere else it was with the gun. Also when I got to Billings on the return all my luggage including the gun came out on the baggage carousel. I'm not complaining but you just have to be ready for anything.

Mark

On SAA the rules say the ammo is (1) in the original factory containers and they are (2) in a locked metal box which is (3) in your luggage.

Someone ought to get the airlines to specifically allow plastic boxes, as many of us handload and the cases we buy do not come in any box at all.

Everyone should read the article in the NRA magazines (American Hunter, American Rifleman). There is a lot of factual information in there. A copy of this, along with the printed regs as suggested in the article may someday do wonders.

On the other hand, 500grains pretty well hit the nail on the head. Somedays you just have to go along with what the counter person says, even when it doesn't make sense. Regardless, as long as they are accepting my ammo and guns, when they say put it "there", I happily comply.

I've told the story often on this BB of the counter agent who on one trip insisted I sign the declaration that my compound bow was "unloaded". Reason was in short supply, but by going along I avoided an incident.

In my opinion, too much is made of this "issue" on this and other BB's. Any plastic or cardboard box has always worked for me, and whether it is in a locked suitcase or the gun case seems to be up to the agent. (No one has ever asked for a locked case inside the locked suitcase.) By the way, most never even question it. I tell them where my ammo is packed, declare the firearms, and things go well. Occassionally I am asked to move it from one locked suitcase to a guncase or vice versa, and on one rare occassion the ammo was weighed. No problem, I was within limits and it was a non-issue. I stand ready to produce the written rules if someone seems genuinely confused, but try to avoid being the "know-it-all" unless they want my help. Some officious agents just want you to comply with their requests, and rules or not, doing so is generally easy. Why make a fuss if you can just comply and move on? In probably 20+ trips with firearms in the past few years, this approach has always served me well.
"Your mileage may vary". Good Luck,
Bill

The Netherlands regulations absolutely require the ammo to be in a separate bag from the rifles. They made this abundantly clear in the process of getting a transit permit. It was not clear that the ammo needed to be in a locked box.

The requirement may change with every stop.

It seems that a locked box in separate luggage is the most generally accepted practice.

I just returned from zim last week and I put one box of ammo with my rifles, on saa, and had no problems, either with tsa on our end, saa, or zim customs upon arrival

I just got back from a flight on Alaska and Delta, Don't try to put ammo in your gun case. They will not allow it !

When I went to New Zealand, the ammo was in the gun case from texas to Queenstown and back to LAX. Then the person at Southwest told me it had to go in another bag, even though on the outbound Southwest flight it was in the gun case. Customs did not even look at the gun case coming back in. When I went to Namibia on American/SAA several years ago, the ammo was again in the gun case all the way to and fro, no questions asked by anyone anywhere. When I went to Newfoundland, the Canadian policeman in Toronto almost had a stroke to find the ammo in the gun case and I had to put it in a duffel bag. Returning, the Canadian TSA equivalents almost had a collective panic attack when several rounds were missing from the box of ammunition, but not that it was again in the gun case. I went to Tanzania last year on Continental/KLM and my only checked bag was the gun case (I had two small carryons) and the ammo went to an fro via Amsterdam with no questions/objections from anyone anywhere about its location. The worst part was when the counter lady asked how she could tell the gun was unloaded, this with bolt out of the gun and a lock threaded though the breech. It is horrible to be subject to the ignorance and potential whims of the ignorant.