Some place in the mountains of paperwork that I have been going through, I saw something from SAA that said ammunition had to be in original factory containers in a locked box. I haven't gone hunting with a factory load in 40 years and have never had trouble with this before on SAA. I had planned to put my reloads in plastic 20-round boxes in my locked box till I read that. Will this still work?

Factory packaging OR other container that keeps every round separated from every other round so the plastic containers should be fine.

Locked box that does not contain anything else is also required but try to ensure you have room for that in your ordinary checked baggage and your rifle case and that you can just tell the check in fidiot you have ammo and ask where they want as a separate item or in the riflr case or in the checked baggage and that way you won't have to have an argument with them.

Also a max limit of 5 kg of ammo per hunter.

R. Gunn - like you, I only shoot my hand loads. I have travelled from Washington Dulles to Harare 5 times on SAA with my ammo packed exactly as you describe it, and I have never had a problem. Once on a United domestic flight, I was asked about the ammo packaging by a TSA rep. I told him that I loaded the ammo myself, so the plastic boxes that contained my rounds were in fact the original packaging. He agreed, and nothing more was said.
You should have no problem with your ammo packed in 20 round boxes Have a great trip!

Last year when I hunted in Ireland, one of the fellow hunters brought handloads in the plastic ammo boxes. He lost his ammo because some security idiot insisted it must be in factory boxes.

I'll bring handloads to SA this year and to avoid problems, I'll put my handloads in factory boxes that share the same headstamp. (I.e. Federal .300 win mag).

Belt and suspenders. When using handloads, I print out my own "factory" label... JudgeG Ammunition Company with a logo of a set of scales and seal with clear tape on commercial plastic ammo boxes. Never had a problem... I then put them in a locked metal box and that into my luggage (not in the TuffPac).

Just in case some "fidiot" (I like that word) wants a separate piece of luggage for the ammo, I carry a cheap WalMart zipper/nylon bag folded up in my carry-on (it takes up about the space of two decks of cards) and I can produce it to cover up the metal box if it has to go in the baggage hold independently.

Never had a problem, but I like to be as fidiot-proof as possible.

Todd

I was assuming no non-hunting companions so perhaps didn't express myself as well as I should have done.

The Air Navigation Order, Carriage of Dangerous Goods Act stipulates 5 kg of ammo as the maximum but as you say, someone else can take a further 5 kg as part of their own allowance.

It should however be noted that individual countries & indeed airlines might have other prohibitions on carriage of ammo without firearm of matching calibre.

One way over that would be for 2 people travelling together could each have a firearm & ammo checked in separately but that again might raise licencing issues etc in some countries....... Probably not the US but much more likely with the UK & other EU countries etc.

quote:

Originally posted by JudgeG:
Just in case some "fidiot" (I like that word)

Not often I get to improve someone's vocabulary!

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
Todd

I was assuming no non-hunting companions so perhaps didn't express myself as well as I should have done.

The Air Navigation Order, Carriage of Dangerous Goods Act stipulates 5 kg of ammo as the maximum but as you say, someone else can take a further 5 kg as part of their own allowance.

It should however be noted that individual countries & indeed airlines might have other prohibitions on carriage of ammo without firearm of matching calibre.

One way over that would be for 2 people travelling together could each have a firearm & ammo checked in separately but that again might raise licencing issues etc in some countries....... Probably not the US but much more likely with the UK & other EU countries etc.

Sorry Steve,

I deleted the post as I'm not up on all the regulations of European nations in terms of carriage of ammo and didn't want to post something incorrectly.

Looking at the SAA website, it does state 5KG per person carrying a firearm. But at least in terms of us Americans, where we don't have licenses but rather rely on the 4457 form, it boils down to 5 KG per bag in reality. My wife has been with me previously and she doesn't hunt. Both of my sons have traveled with me several times and each time, they were under age and not able to gain their own firearms permits in either RSA or Zim. But we carried 4 rifles a couple of times and 3 the other. When the wife went along, we just had 2 rifles in a single case. But on all instances, we carried ammo in both of our bags. 5KG limit per bag was all that was asked of us. It's a bit of a technicality but with the checkin "Fidiots" as the Judge says, I can't see it being a huge issue. If questioned, we would just say she is hunting also, but using one of my guns. Or even that one gun is hers and the other is mine. I've never had an airline official ask for proof of a permit. But then again, I'm not up on European regulations so that may very well be an issue for you guys on the other side of the pond. Just wanted to point out that more than 5KG of ammo is doable if you have a companion traveling with you, at least from the USA.

But probably the most important aspect of this discussion is that splitting ammo between yourself and another companion, even if a non-hunter, is that it allows you a hedge agains loosing all of your ammo in case one of the bags goes missing. Again, this backs up the 5KG per bag reality in that I usually split the ammo, half of each caliber, and half of the solids and expanding, between my bag and the wife's. Actually, I could carry 5KG and she carry 5KG to make double sure, but that really isn't necessary as I've yet to run out of ammo on a single hunt. I've had my ammo counted a couple of times, weighed a couple of times, but never had an airline official count or weigh the individual calibers. Never had the airline count ammo, just the Zim customs guys upon leaving.

Todd

No need to apologise buddy...... We were more or less both right & in reality, individual fidiots have the own definition of the rules anyway.

Your point about splitting ammo & so reducing the risk of loss is a very good one & well worth doing.

I've been travelling with firearms/ammo for about 35 years & have had my ammo weighed just once in all that time so guess I've been very lucky. Counting rounds on exit from the country when going home is one of those pointless exercises we have to accept as one of the joys of air travel.

Just returned from Namibia and I hand load. I put the ammo in MGM plastic boxes and taped them closed. The people in the states opened and checked them and no problems. When you get to Namibia they police will count your rounds, on your firearm form put down the exact number of rounds. Even then they can't count so they will ask you about the numbers. No problems, just relax and enjoy the trip.

My drill is to put them in MTM or Berry boxes. Each one has a "Mbogo Custom Ammunition" label sealed to it with tape (It is in fact the "factory" packaging) The ammo boxes go inside a Pelican case with separate luggage tags and locks (so it can be checked separately if needed) and then goes inside a piece checked luggage with TSA locks on it. I think that covers all the bases