Gentlemen:
After reading all of this. I think some are missing the point. The purpose of having two rifles is to cover all of the game species for the intended hunt. If this is indeed the case, then, two rifles are redundet. If you are only after plains game, then a smaller caliber might be in order. This depends on the size of the antelope of course. If eland, sable, zebra, oryx types of game are the main course and the smaller things are on the menu then the .375 might be the better choice. However,
if the prepondace of the antelopes are less than 300 pounds a 7mag or .300 mag would do it all. Now, through in a buffalo or two then you are back to the two gun battery again. These are the considerations that I would make to a client when I make reccomendation for any safari that I book and I know the animals and country we would be hunting. The only reason I could see for taking two rifles for the same caliber, would be on some special kind of hunt where you might be out in the bush for two months or so and doing a lot of shooting where if you had a rifle failure you could still carry on. More of a Prof. Hunters situation
though, rather than a normal client scenario.
George

George,

I have only ever hunt in Africa the once so please bare with me.....In most situations, would the PH not have a suitable spare rifle in camp if the clients broke?? Is this not something that is discussed before the trip?

Peter

Pete E,
That would depend on the situation. The companies always had a spare or two that could be had in a pinck. I did not carry a spare rifle in the 25 years I played in Africa. I guess I was lucky as accidents can and do happen. I only had two guns with me. One was an m870 rem pump 3" mag I used for snakes, birds and wounded leopards. The other was a .416 that I used for everything else. The odds are very long on your rifle going awry. If something happened on the air baggage as it did for me one time you could be out all of you firearms. But that is a risk we all have to face. I find that most of the "spare" rifles that one can get is not the best in most cases, and it may not work very well. If you are hunting in a country like Zimbabwe, nearly all of those local hunters have extra rifles and you can come up with a rather useable firearm.
George