Flying With Ammo

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

Anyone know off hand how many pounds of ammo Delta allows on International flights?
My South African buddy wants me to bring a couple of hundred rounds of shotgun ammo for us to have some fun with.
Thanks!

 

[Moosie]

Delta limits you to 2 boxes of Ammo. Or at least thats what we were told.

 

[Bambistew]

I believe on their web site it says 5kg, but the guys/girls behind the counter get confused, and mix up pounds and kg, usually in your favor. It says 5kg, they think oh thats about 10 pounds, then the next thing you know they'll ask if you have less than 10kg. I'm not aware of any limit on total rounds or boxes. I usually take two boxes for each rifle, but have also flown with a box that held 175, 308 size cartridges.

I typically use slip top plastic 20rd boxes, or factory boxes for my ammo. Make sure it doesn't rattle or come open and you should be fine. I've seen guys with 50rd flip top boxes... put foam in the lid and tape them shut.

I would recomend getting a cheapo lock box (cash box) or plasic ammo box that you can lock up. I got hassled about not having my bag locked on the flight from Atlanta to Jburg. Everything got there fine. On my SAA flight from Durban to Jburg, they pulled my lock box out of my bag, put it in a plastic shopping bag and put it on the plane... other wise they said my luggage wasn't going to fly. Just be patient, most of them don't know the rules, and dont' want to get in trouble, but were helpful.

You might have problems getting ammo into the country with no weapon to go along with it. I don't know for sure, look on the import permit directions...

When I got my import permit in Jburg, they didn't ask to see my ammo, and I didn't offer.

You know they sell shotgun shells in RSA... save you hassle.

 

[IDHunters]

When we flew out last July I locked 5 boxes of rifle ammo in the rifle case with the gun. It is acceptable to do that now. No one ever asked how much it weighed. maybe different without a weapon?

 

[Bambistew]

When we flew out last July I locked 5 boxes of rifle ammo in the rifle case with the gun. It is acceptable to do that now. No one ever asked how much it weighed. maybe different without a weapon?

I would not recomend putting ammo in your rifle case... If you get a locked box and put it in your luggage everyone will be happy. It seems like there is no problems at all when doing this.

What happens when you get tot he counter and they say sorry you can't have that in there?

BTW South African Air will not allow you to put ammo in your rifle case.

 

[IDHunters]

Well, we flew Delta, and it was the Delta agent that told us it was o.k. to lock the ammo in the rifle case (hard sided locked). We also had the TSA agents look at it and give us the thumbs up. The ticket agent didn't have anything to do with looking at the weapon, they just escorted us to the TSA folks.

It is a change as previously it was not allowed. It worked great for us but do whatever you think is best.

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

SAPS regs will not allow ammo for firearms different from the ones you are temporarily importing but I am taking a shotgun and rifle.
If Delta allows ammo in rifle case, that is a change.
I know I have flown to CN with 200 rds of shotgun ammo but that was before airlines got "picky".
And those that said ticket agents don't know the rules are absolutely correct! Some TSA folks don't either.
One of the funniest incidents I had was flying to MT with my O/U shotgun, broken down completely in two pieces. Ticket Agent asked to look at firearm, did, and then asked if it was unloaded!

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

Finally found the answer on Delta's website, then also looked at Northwurst and KLM. All have same limit---5kg! Guess they don't want shotgunners taking their own ammo---four boxes of high brass 3-inch shells break the reg! Two of us shot more than that in a couple of hours on Rock Pigeons a couple of years ago and six of us shot way more than that on Egyptian and Spur Wing geese last year one morning. Guess we will buy overpriced under powered South African 2 3/4-inchers that have about a five per cent fail to fire rate based on my past experience!