Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Ammo on Airplanes

I am traveling to South Africa on Thursday for a hunt. Has their been any changes in the policies to take ammo as part of your luggage? On my previous hunt last year August I did not have any problems. Want to however avoid any possible problems at the check in counter at LAX. I will be flying on Delta to Atlanta and then on SAA to South Africa. I do not expect any problems with the SAA flight, but what can I expect from Delta? Hope you can put my mind at ease, about checking in at LAX.
<br>All advise is appreciated
<br>Justin

Your ammo cannot be packed in the same case as your gun, the boxes should be taped or rubberbanded shut, the last thing you want is to have the bags inspected and have the boxes broken open and shells strewn about your clothing.
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<br>You can only have 5KG of ammo, if anyone brings more then that for a Safari and intends to shoot it all I want them as a client! 11 pounds of ammo is a war load of hunting ammo. Not much for a big bore but for a hunting rifle your really over stocked with 11 pounds! I usually bring 50 rounds total and that does not even dent the 11 pound maximum.
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<br>South Africa will only allow 2 guns as luggage now so if you were bringing three better call ahead and see what they say. Ammo must be packed in a hard sided suit case which is locked. You also must now check your bags straight through to SAA in Atlanta for the connection. They told me we cannot claim the guns and recheck them in Atlanta anylonger. You can do this if you are staying overnight in Atlanta, your call what you want to do. I like rechecking them as I will know right away if they wer lost on the domestic segment or the international segment when the come up missing.
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<br>Write your name with magic marker on the gun case and your other piece. Put Name address and phone on the luggage itself. Do not trust the tags which can fall off or get lost. Lastly buy my book "Africa The First Time" from Amazon.com and you will have everything covered!

Everything I've heard indicates they are enforcing the rule about putting ammo in a locked box inside your checked luggage...not with your rifles. Do you have your customs form as I understand it is not required and not optional as it once was.

5kg of ammo (never been counted/weighed my self..)
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<br>FACTORY BOXES, make sure nothing "rattles". I use a little foam in the MTM type boxes, and tape them shut..
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<br>put that in a green military can, use a little more foam..
<br>duct tape it all shut nice and tight..
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<br>put the green can in your duffle bag..
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<br>If you get the 1 in 1000 that wants to inspect you, just go along with it.. most of these people are quite ignorant of the facts, so there is NO USE ARGUING WITH THEM. Just go along, slowly, very very slowly... all that duct tape might take you an hour to open and repack.. they want you out of the line ASAP.
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<br>JJH, 5kg for my Ackley aint that much ammo!