Seems to me an awful lot of guys are using 375's and 416's to shoot EVERYTHING. I mean I don't think I've seen light rifle in use yet. It all seems like 375....375....375 LOL!
There's a lot of sense in doing so. If you have multiple rifles along on your safari, you run the risk of being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong rifle. There are plenty of true stories of folks out for a stroll for small antelope with a little .243 or so who ran into a cranky buffalo or lion and ended up dead. Ruark told a tale or two along those lines, IIRC, and Captstick's books are full of such yarns.
As my PH said, "If you simply plan to shoot everything with your 375 and 300 gr Swifts, you'll never have to worry about that sort of misadventure happening to
you."
And it makes sense. I've killed everything from Texas coyotes, hogs and whitetails to Cape buffalo and kudu with my 375's and 300 gr A-frames. I read Jack O'Connor, and took his dictum to heart: the 375 H&H's 300 gr bullet exterior ballistics are almost identical to those of the .30-06 with 200 gr bullets. That means a 375 H&H is truly a 275-yard deer rifle that happens to be capable of killing truly big game like 2000-pound eland or moose at 200+ yards, yet also capable of anchoring dangerous game at close range. No switching out of rifles or ammo, just use the same rifle and same bullets for everything. How can you not love that?
Getting ready for my safari last summer I shot over 700 rounds of 375 H&H ammunition over a 2 month period, which gave me a sense of really solid familiarity with my rifle. There is no substitute for that sense of confidence when you're in the thick stuff with buffalo bulls and lions less than a 2-second charge away. I submit that you won't get that same sense of familiar ease if you've got to divide your range preparation among 3 or 4 different rifles. And then when you're in the bush with the "wrong" rifle in your hands, then what?
Just take your 375 and be done with the overthinking.
