Thread: Flying with firearms & ammo tomorrow - advice please

Hi All,

New to the forum and also a new licence holder. I am flying from Auckland to Christchurch tomorrow with 3 rifles and ammo. I've read the requirements and have called AirNZ to advise them of my plans so no issue there. I have a 3 bag allowance so 2 rifles will be in the first gun case, a second gun case will have the 3rd rifle, and my ammo & bolts will be in the 3rd bag.

I have a steel ammo box that I was going to use to transport my ammo inside my bag, but am aware that the ammo box itself weighs 2.7kgs. My question is whether some bureaucrat will decide that this 2.7kgs will count towards the total ammo weight.
I plan to carry just under 5kg of ammo in the original cardboard packaging, but was going to place it all inside the ammo box - inside my bag - to ensure it doesn't all move around too much.

Has anyone done this before with no issue? or am I better to just put the ammo and original packaging into something like a plastic kitchen container and save myself the hassle of them potentially seizing it for being over the 5kg allowance due to the weight of the ammo box? I had originally planned to lock the ammo box but sounds like that is also problematic if they decide they want to open and inspect/weigh it.

Keen for advice - can/should I use the ammo box and if so, should I lock it?