Gentlemen,

I am flying out for Zim in the coming weeks via Delta ATL-->JNB-->HRE. Beyond excited. I am taking 3 rifles. Ammo is packed inside pelican hard case. I am at 15.5 pounds including the case. My wife is coming on the trip as well. Can she declare a separate pelican with ammo so what we would both be under the 11 pound max? And can we pack both pelicans inside one checked bag?I have talked to Delta. The nice representative I spoke with was not to knowledgeable in the matter.

Also, I have read that if going thru South Africa, the pelican needs to be outside of checked luggage, that is, it is a checked bag itself. Any experience with this? I would much rather put the locked pelican(s) inside my large checked bag and be done with that.

I would check with a travel agent specializing in hunters, such as Gracy, but my understanding is that the weight limit is an airline rule, 11 pounds (or five kilos) per person. Where you might have some difficulty is if the rifles are all in your name but the ammo is in two people's luggage.

As for the transportation question, my son and I flew in and out of Zim via Jo-berg last month.
There was no problem with leaving the locked ammo box in one of my checked bags when we flew from our home base in the US to Johannesberg. We overnighted in Jo-berg and then checked in to fly to Harare. At the Jo-berg airport I was required to take the ammo box out of checked luggage and check it as a separate piece. There was no extra fee for that. The point is, you should be prepared for your ammo box being treated as a separate "bag." When you arrive in Harare it will get special handling just as your rifle case will.

I often take two rifles, in a SKB two rifle case, when we go to Africa, and I usually split the ammo between mine and my wife's luggage. That way I should theoretically have ammo for one of the two rifles if my luggage is delayed or lost. Never had a problem doing so with SAA or Delta as we were on the same itinerary.

My son and I hunted Zimbabwe last month. Our checked bags, each containing our ammo in locked Pelican like containers, was checked from Auckland to Harare. We did not overnight in Jo'burg, just stayed in transit to catch connecting flights. Coming home we did the same in reverse. The Perth / Jo'berg / Harare legs were both on SAA. At no point were we asked / instructed to check our ammo cases separately. Ammo stayed in our checked bags the entire trip. My travel agent ensured our travel documents noted we travelled with firearms and ammo and that the airlines involved were notified of the same.

I presume some of your flights are on SAA. Here's a link to SAA policy re Carriage Of Firearms. Worth taking a copy with you.
www.flysaa.com/lv/en/flyingSAA/baggage/firearms.html

You will need 2 pelican cases for the ammo,split into 2 packages less than 11lb each including the pelican case in this weight.
when checking onto your flight from Jburg to Zim you must remove from your luggage and check the ammo in as per your firearm.
They don't let you put it into your duffel or suitcase. They used to allow this but changed the rule in 2014 I believe.

Cheers
Nick

I just returned from Zimbabwe last night and I had the same concerns. Never had to take locked ammo box out of checked bag until I got to Bulawayho. Each gate agent in Anchorage Johanisburg x2 just asked if it was in a locked case. Guess everyone has a different experience.

Yes, that's just what I was getting at. You may not have to take the ammo box out, but then again, you might. Make sure it's locked and won't break open if dropped or thrown.

quote:

11lb each including the pelican case in this weight.

That is not what the airline regs say. They only say 11 lbs of ammo.

I've fought that battle and won.

J TEX
i fought that one at The SSA check in in Jburg and lost!!! we managed to re arrange ammo between our 3 boxes to get it checked in, otherwise they weren't accepting it. 90 mins from flying to Harare you don't have much time for arguments!! Ive also had this enforced in Oz as well, 11lbs including the packaging which was the case!

Plan for the worst case scenario!!!

cheers

Nick

On a related question, I am spending two nights in Jo-burg before traveling on to Zim. On the SAPS 540 do I check "temporary import/export" or "In Transient" box?

Thanks.

BH63

I had my ammo checked by Customs in Harare 2 weeks ago. She not only opened every box she actually took out some cartridges and examined them? Two of the boxes were Factory labeled Hornady brass. I printed the reloading data and taped it on the back side of the 2 boxes I reloaded. She questioned me about it and when I showed her the label on the back she accepted it.

quote:

Originally posted by Slider:
I had my ammo checked by Customs in Harare 2 weeks ago. She not only opened every box she actually took out some cartridges and examined them? Two of the boxes were Factory labeled Hornady brass. I printed the reloading data and taped it on the back side of the 2 boxes I reloaded. She questioned me about it and when I showed her the label on the back she accepted it.

She seemed to be very anal. I will be taking some Barnes solids that are inside a Remington Swift A-frame box (the Barnes box was too large to fit in my ammo box). I guess I'd better relabel the box just to be safe.

BH63