I'm taking my first air travel big game hunt and flying on American Airlines from St. Louis to Hawaii. I have a good hard case with TSA locks, but have questions. I shoot a 35 Whelen AI, so strictly a wildcat with handloaded ammo. The airline regs I found online say that ammo can be in:
"packaging specifically designed to carry small amounts of ammunition (made of fiber, wood or metal)".

Will my reloads in MTM plastic ammo boxes be OK? Has anyone ever had a problem with the plastic ammo boxes on American? I plan to put the ammo, knife, along with some other accessories in the hard case with the rifle. Any other DOs or DON'Ts would be appreciated.

I have only made one trip but when we did go I put my ammo in a Pelican 1200....TSA locked and inside my TSA locked checked bag.

My rifle got plain combonation padlocks....not TSA....also a Pelican case

I put my rifle in a soft case and packed a complete one days change of clothes inside with the rifle just in case my checked bag full of my clothing didn't make it.

My day pack held another complete change of hunting clothing, boots, binoculars, camera, passport and airplane food.

I am not sure about putting the ammo in the gun case. Some airlines absolutely do not allow that. I am not sure if that is the law or their practice.

Which island are you going to? How hard was it to get a gun permit? I have always used the outfitters rifles when I have hunted there due to hearing it is tough to get the permit.

Though it's been a few years, I've flown to Namibia, South Africa, and two Canadian provinces with rifle ammunition in plastic ammo boxes in my regular checked luggage. I believe a locked container is now sometimes required/requested, so the suggestion to put your smaller ammo boxes in small pelican or lockable ammo box is a good one. I also made up some adhesive labels to apply to the plastic ammo boxes to indicate that the loaded ammo was "custom," thus the plastic was factory containers.

Thanks for all the info.

JA, I'm going to the Big Island. They sent me a form to fill out, and within 72 hours of arriving I need to go to the county police department with the rifle and the form, and have it registered. Hopefully it's not a problem.

I put labels on my box's as well....also put open cell foam in the lids

Mine were all handloads and the 1200 held all 70 rounds with ease

July '11 I flew AA from Co/Spgs to JAX, checking in, I had no clue there was a limit of 11 lbs. I had three times that much ammo as we'd planned on doing a bunch of shooting. They said I had a choice: "either they'd confiscate it, or I could call my buddy to come pick it up which I did, he got there after the plane left". No problem, he asked for the guy by name and was given all except the 11 lbs I took.

IT was all in MTM plastic boxes in the suitcase. When I got it opened, ammo was scattered all over my clothing. He'd just tossed the box in there and closed the lid. Tape it up good is my suggestion. Weigh the ammo alone, and mark the box as such: box 8oz, ammo 10lbs" etc.

I had four rifles and three revolvers in a big SKB case, I'd lost the key, so wrapped a chain around the middle of it and padlocked it. When I went thru the check point I looked up the guy in charge of NSA and told him: "soon as I get back from the head, I'll hand you the key to my guncase it has three revolvers and four rifles in it the bolts are out of the rifles" "fine, I'll be here and find it before you get back".

When I got back, he said: "no need for the key or to open it, I scanned it and everything is fine"

They lost it, took three days to get the guns but, they delivered it to my buddies house 60 miles from the airport. We lost three days fishing over it, so I just stayed longer, no big deal and I got to see much more of Fla. and Jacksonville than I would have.

Hope this helps, and NO ammo in the gun case then. One word: VERIFY from AA in writing IF you can.

Enjoy your trip, allow an extra couple days in case they "lose your guns" so it don't ruin your trip.
George

do not use tsa locks on the gun case - you are the only one that is supposed to have the keys and tsa must have you open it in front of them

Yep, no TSA lock on gun case - as I understand it only you can have the key.

Just FYI. I fly at least 3 times a year with a firearm...... And I always use TSA locks.
Just did this past weekend. W.

quote:

Originally posted by woodsie:
Just FYI. I fly at least 3 times a year with a firearm...... And I always use TSA locks.
Just did this past weekend. W.

Why?

I've been told it'll take 5-7 working days to get your Hawaii gun permit. You also need a Hawaii Hunters Education permit, which you can do thru the mail, but takes a couple weeks.

I just used the outfitter's rifle the two times I hunted over there.

Well, a good conclusion to this story. With AA here in St. Louis at least, they DID want ammo in the locked Pelican case, and I did use the TSA locks, no problem. Leaving the Big Island tomorrow for home, and we'll see if the same rules apply. I have a separate lockable ammo can in case they don't like the ammo in the gun case.

The hunt was a great success, as I took a Hawaiian goat (the largest my guide had taken), along with a feral sheep/mouflon cross, and a nice Vancouver bull. 250 gr Nosler Partitions at 2595 fps out of my Whelen AI were complete hammers, and didn't waste much meat either on the smaller animals.

Glad to hear your hunt is going well!

I'm with Ted, why use TSA locks on your gun case? No one needs to be in your gun gase after you lock it, NO ONE. I don't trust TSA at all and would never grant them access to my gun case without me being there to unlock it.
On a trip to Alaska my luggage had a TSA note in it saying that they'd been in my luggage. My rifle sling, socks, toilet paper and a rain jacket were gone.
If something happens TSA says the airlines did it and the airlines say TSA did it.

Snell: That SUCKS!

Glad you had a good hunt, let's see those pictures now! And a report on the ride back on AA.
George

Pictures arent' ready yet, but the ride back was just the same, they looked at the ammo IN the gun case, asked "Is it unloaded?" (the bolt was out of the rifle laying right next to it!), and when I said it was unloaded they said OK and lock it up. No problems whatsoever.

Here are the pictures of my Hawaiian safari. The goat was taken on the open grassland about 5 miles northeast of Waikoloa at around 1,000 ft elevation. 1st shot was through the upper lungs at about 145 yds, at which the billy slowed to the back of the pack, and when he stopped about 125 yds later a finisher was put through both shoulders.



The sheep was next, a crossbread between a feral sheep and a mouflon. We had moved south, about 9 miles up the mountain inland from Captain Cook, up in koa rain forest, elevation 5-6,000 ft. Moving slowly through the trees on a logging road we came over a rise and saw 3 rams moving away toward 2 o'clock at about 65 yds. The guide said the middle one was good, and just as I was swinging on him, another broke out at just 30 yds moving toward 10 o'clock. He was obviously better and closer, so I got on him and dropped him running at about 40 yds.



Last was the Vancouver bull. Again, moving down a logging road we came to a clearing and spotted a cow about 100 yds away. As she moved into the trees left, a just weaned calf popped into the clearing from the right at about 40 yds. We new others must be out of sight behind a rise on our right front, so we waited, rifle on the sticks. After 10 minutes or so I spotted horns above the rise in front, and the guide, who was to my right and a little higher up, confirmed it was a bull with binoculars. Again we waited for about 10 minutes, when the noise of a truck starting up several hundred yds above and behing us spooked the cattle. Three adult Vancouvers came into view trotting from right to left at about 85 yds and I picked out the biggest with horns and put one through both shoulders. He humped up, staggered forward and went out of sight over another slope. We hurried down and found him dead on his back, just a few yards from where we had seen him take the bullet. The 250 Partition had broken both shoulders and put him straight down.