The SAPS website says the Registrar "may" authorize a hunter to import two rifles of the same caliber into (through) South Africa. There appears to be no contact point to determine if this "will"be done upon request or is entirely discretionary, thus unpredictable. I do not want to purchase a duplicate backup and find it is not able to be transported through SA. Does any reader know the answer and how to get confirmation in advance of another rifle purchase and applying for the permit to import?

I don't know, but contact one of the groups like riflepermits.com or Air2000.

armorer,

Contact Christy with Gracy Travel. She can arrange a letter allowing you to bring two rifles of the same caliber into RSA.

Mark

Originally they would not allow it.
But now you need a special motivation letter as to why.
Others you can contact is Henry Durheim or if you are hunting with a PHASA member you can contact PHASA and have them do the import paperwork for you as well as a meet and greet for $ 150

One has to actually wonder why they decided to write that little bit into the legislation because the only thing it achieves is to make life difficult for both the passenger and the Govt official for absolutely no good reason!

Only in Africa!

Easy, the motivation for say a 30-06, rifle no. 1 is scoped for a 150 grain projectile for small game at X distance, rifle no. 2 is scoped for a 200 grain projectile for kudu sized game at less than 100 meters in heavy bush.

Just did one for a hunter arriving in September this year.

Motivation letter as to why you want the two rifles of the same caliber as stated by Scriptus. The reason for that is that you are intending on hunting a variety of different animals of different sizes. The 165 gr TTSX hand loaded rounds provide ?fps which makes it ideal for small game such as steenbok, duiker, springbok. The 200 gr TSX's are ideal for medium to large game such as blesbok, zebra, kudu, blue wildebeest because I get ?fps from the hand loads

NOBODY at the port of entry can deny a pre-issued import permit for both rifles then.

Major important is that you need to do this well in advance so you can even have time to appeal. Properly motivated with the required docementation the permit has a very good chance of being issued. Like my hunter has his issued already.

I'm sure the good advice as stated is correct and it can be technically and legally done. Although not able to deny it they can go through all kinds of machinations to delay the handover. I smell a 'big tip' when one wants to actually pick up their rifles. Yes I'm cynical based on experience. This has been covered in other threads and remains a common and annoying practice.

quote:

Originally posted by 4-5-0:
I'm sure the good advice as stated is correct and it can be technically and legally done. Although not able to deny it they can go through all kinds of machinations to delay the handover. I smell a 'big tip' when one wants to actually pick up their rifles. Yes I'm cynical based on experience. This has been covered in other threads and remains a common and annoying practice.

A quick question for you: is your Outfitter at the airport to assist you with retrieving your rifles?

If you make use of a pre-clearance service a representative of that company takes you through the steps. In either cases I have never had any of the cops on duty request a tip, donation for the staff year-end function or any other form of financial incentive.

But then again it might just be because I look like a POS.

Yes Pieter, I had arranged everything through a service on my last trip and was accompanied by an escort who was then manipulated out of the gun room. Upon being complimented about such a nice rifle I was told that there should be something for 'taking good care of it'. On a prior trip I had no problems but this seemed like a pretty rehearsed scam. Even worse in some other places.

That's a bummer. Sorry about that and I hope the responsible person gets nailed for anything. Things like this is what we are trying to get rid of.

Please take his name and report him next time.

A question about those "tips".
Are they expected to be "under the table out of sight?" OR above board where everyone there can watch? Might make a lot of difference.

We used to go thru that crap at the New Mexico port of entry if we had a bit over weight load.

I'll just bet with everyone having cell ph's and camera's on 'em they'd think differently about doing such things.
George

The nice thing is to be able to speak the lingo and tell the SOB ngqundu wakho [your arse] or hamba uyo bepha inja [go and screw a dog.] If you cannot fight, run.

quote:

Originally posted by 4-5-0:
Yes Pieter, I had arranged everything through a service on my last trip and was accompanied by an escort who was then manipulated out of the gun room. Upon being complimented about such a nice rifle I was told that there should be something for 'taking good care of it'. On a prior trip I had no problems but this seemed like a pretty rehearsed scam. Even worse in some other places.

You need to get a name, take a photo with the fool on your camera etc etc all smiles.

Then send the name and photo to PHASA. Or myself and we take him out.

I've had similar problems with my hunters, and that's why I strongly recommend the meet and greet services.

Yes, I agree we should try to 'get even' but honestly, after twenty seven hours of travel one doesn't have quite the resolve to aggressively deal with this, at least I don't and I'm not a shy guy. As Vince Lombardi said "fatigue makes cowards of us all"