Traveling with Firearms to SA from the USA

[bandryc]

I have ONE question regarding bringing firearms to SA from the USA.

Can I bring two rifles, One mine and the other my Son's, in the same locked rifle case? Does TSA, the airlines, and SA allow this?

Please advise.

BAndryc

 

[saeng101]

It is no problem but you are limited to 5kg of ammo. I put 5 kg each in two separate suitcases when taking my sons gun over. As an aside you can save yourself some grief on two counts. Get your PH to send you the license forms for SA and fill them in before you go. You will breeze through the cop shop without having to deal with all of the porters with their hands out. The second is to take your guns to Customs in the US before you leave. They will give you a form 4457 that makes getting them back into the US a snap.

 

[Cliffy]

bandryc welcome to AH forum
It's mandatory to get a US Customs 4457 for each firearm BEFORE you leave the country and take it with you for the return. Just take them to any Customs office for the forms. They keep no records at customs of this transaction. Secondly you can down load all the South African gun forms from any number of websites to fill out before you get there. Black ink only and do not sign your name until you get there. How to fill them out is also available on the web. 2 guns are no problem at all. BTW, there are several gun handling agents mentioned here on the forum that do all the work for you for a reasonable fee. I use one and it works great. You can do it yourself (I have) but I now use the help.

 

[libertarian]

We did this recently, a couple tips:

Pay for the meet & greet and gun clearance services. It's not that much money (I think ours was $200 or so for two of us) and it will save you quite a bit of time and trouble. You can DIY but after all you've spent on the safari, this is a tiny amount that was SO worth it for us.

When you go to get your customs 4457 done in the US, LEAVE THE GUNS IN THE CAR UNTIL THEY TELL YOU. Carrying rifles into a federal building can result in lots of less-than-fun scenarios. The office we went to sent officers out to our car to check the serial numbers because they didn't want us carrying them in, no matter what. They were very nice and friendly though.

Ammo limits are set by the inbound country (SA) as well as your airline, so check with everyone before deciding what to bring. In our case, SA limited us to 200 rounds, and the airline limited us to 11lbs per person - it turned out we brought WAY more ammo than we needed (like 10x as much) but we figured we didn't want to get stuck having to bash a gemsbok on the head with the butt of our rifle on account of running out of bullets

Good luck, you'll have a blast!