A friend and I will be traveling to Africa in a little less than a month. We both intend to take two rifles. With all the concerns being expressed and experienced over lost and stolen luggage, we had considered the possibility of him carrying one of my rifles in his Tuff Pak and me carrying one of his rifles in my Tuff Pak. Same on ammo (unfortunately all four rifles are different calibers) we would split the ammo between our two check in bags. This way unless everything is lost, we should each end up with at least one of our rifles and some ammo. Sounds prudent to me but it affects forms that need to be filled out, ammo does not necessarily match with rifles, etc. Any one done this and experience any problems?

nope - you have to have your 4457 forms etc. with you that show your ownership. you can probably get by splitting some ammo up, just because they very seldomly check it, but it would be better to keep yours in your own luggage and split it up in your bags. However the idea is very sound with the rest of your gear and clothes

My dad and I shared my shotgun on our hunt in Namibia and it traveled in his luggage. As long as the paperwork is in order (so that the guns you're carrying are the ones you fill out paperwork for), it should work. It did for us.

I would say your plan is a very good one-Maybe I'm missing something but you should be able to do this quite easily, you just fill out all the proper form(4457 etc) for one of your rifles and one of his, he then does the same thing for one of his rifles and one of yours, nobody except for him and you really knows who owns what, if the forms say it is yours - then it is yours. (If you are a stickler for legalities, sell him your gun for $1, and buy it back for $1 when you get home )
How is the customs zombie going to know who hunts with what gun, indeed I would expect that if both of your guns broke during the safari, you would use his anyways! I'm also sure more than one borrowed gun has had all the forms filled out out and accompanied someone other than the owner on a safari.

Edited to add; I am assuming you are both hunting with the same outfitter.

We had no problem with having one case with two rifles (his & mine) and a second case with two shotguns (his & mine) getting into RSA two years ago. Just make sure that both of you and all the forms and all the guns go to the SAPS office together and show them what's where. No big deal.

We had no problem with two rifles (mine and his) in one case getting into Zim last year; we did have them on separate forms.

We routinely put 3 guns on a form going into Canada and claim common ownership for all 3 because their stupid $ 35 fee is PER FORM

There's nothing that stops you from putting both your names on a Form 4457, or for that matter having two 4457's for each gun, one in each name. Whatever the situation calls for. Did I say that out loud?

Definitely split ammo, even with non-hunting companions (11 pounds EACH).

I have done what you are describing several times, in both Zim and RSA. Never had a problem. Just make sure both of you are there together to get the firearms permit, and it is no big deal. It is a sound strategy to reduce the risk of being on safari without some of your gear.

Bill

FWIW, I had assumed you were going to do this automatically Mike. It's what I would do and in fact, will be doing next time when I am in a similar scenario.