9.3x62 question

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Mr_Flintstone

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OK, somebody give me the skinny on 9.3x62 as a hunting round. What's it most useful for? How does it compare to 30-06 or 8x57? Is it too much for deer? What about elk?

The reason I asked, is I happened across a good looking rifle chambered in this cartridge for a good price, and I was thinking about buying it. I'm not too worried about ammo availability since I reload, and the components are available. Just looking for comments or personal experiences.
 
OK, somebody give me the skinny on 9.3x62 as a hunting round. What's it most useful for? How does it compare to 30-06 or 8x57? Is it too much for deer? What about elk?

The reason I asked, is I happened across a good looking rifle chambered in this cartridge for a good price, and I was thinking about buying it. I'm not too worried about ammo availability since I reload, and the components are available. Just looking for comments or personal experiences.

Hot 45-70 power with a better ballistic coefficient. And ~$20/box ammo is pretty readily available. One of the few sub 375 caliber cartridges that is frequently allowed for Dangerous Game in Africa while also being suitable for deer hunting and will cause less blood-shot meat than say, a 270 Win.

Buy it.
 
Its essentially a 30-06 necked up to a .366" bore diameter. Very similar to its American cousin, the 35 whelen. Suitable for all north american game. Recoil will be stout if loaded to its potential.
 
Thanks guys, I may just buy it. It's a little more powerful than what I was looking for, but I'd rather have too much gun than not enough.
 
I shoot deer and goats with a .375 Ruger and have not found it "too much" where as the fast 30s can blow the crap out of stuff from time to time.
the normal 9.3 and .375 bullets are a bit harder than your average small bore bullets.
a well fitted stock and soft recoil pad can make a huge difference.
 
It is the minimum for elephant in many African countries. Where it differs from 35 Whelen is that it will handle much heavier bullets. The standard bullet weight is 286 gr. Most guys shooting 35 Whelen shoot 200-225 gr loads which are actually a step down in performance from what you can do with 200-220 gr bullets in 30-06. The 9.3 CAN be used for anything in this country if you're willing to deal with the recoil and limited range. But you CAN also buy a Peterbilt for picking up groceries and dropping the kids off at school. Honestly if I were considering anything over 30-06 I'd skip everything else and go straight to 375 mag. The 375 recoil is stout, but not that much more than 35 Whelen or the 9.3, but you get a lot more performance on big stuff and with lighter bullets flat enough trajectory for long range shots on elk size game.

Since were talking 9.3X62, here are some pics of one in action. I don't know the names or many details. I was told this was a guide on a photo safari who had to shoot an elephant that charged. The elephant went down and partially landed dead on the shooter who suffered minor injuries. And presumably dirty underwear. In the 2nd photo you can see a puff of dust where the bullet has impacted the head.

normaElephantHeadOn.jpg
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It is the minimum for elephant in many African countries. Where it differs from 35 Whelen is that it will handle much heavier bullets. The standard bullet weight is 286 gr. Most guys shooting 35 Whelen shoot 200-225 gr loads which are actually a step down in performance from what you can do with 200-220 gr bullets in 30-06. The 9.3 CAN be used for anything in this country if you're willing to deal with the recoil and limited range. But you CAN also buy a Peterbilt for picking up groceries and dropping the kids off at school. Honestly if I were considering anything over 30-06 I'd skip everything else and go straight to 375 mag. The 375 recoil is stout, but not that much more than 35 Whelen or the 9.3, but you get a lot more performance on big stuff and with lighter bullets flat enough trajectory for long range shots on elk size game.

Since were talking 9.3X62, here are some pics of one in action. I don't know the names or many details. I was told this was a guide on a photo safari who had to shoot an elephant that charged. The elephant went down and partially landed dead on the shooter who suffered minor injuries. And presumably dirty underwear. In the 2nd photo you can see a puff of dust where the bullet has impacted the head.

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wow, what a photo!
 
I,m sure he is a member of the brown shorts club

If he's not, he sure missed a good opportunity to be! I probably would be too, in that situation. Closest I ever came was one very angry Brangus cow with a broken leg that Dad sent me to dispatch. She put me on top of the truck before I could even get the safety off the rifle!

As far as the 9.3x62 goes, I can't contribute to the discussion other than to say that I sure would like to own one someday. Seems like it'd be a crackerjack elk/large game caliber, especially out west. For now though, looks like I'll stick with 220's in the old '06.

Mac
 
I've only shot a few rounds through one. I'm not a masochist that enjoys pain and not a big guy so I had a bit apprehension before I shot it. Don't know what the bullet weight was but I was surprised how well I handled the recoil. I did some research on the round later as it was an odd caliber. The information I read was that the round was developed to be fired in the Mauser 98 action as an affordable rifle for African game hunting. The double rifles in use at that time were quite expensive and hard to come by so this round filled the need for a caliber effective enough to down dangerous African game at a price hunters of modest means could afford. I don't hunt so I can't offer any advice on it as a hunting round.
 
Historically, it's a very significant cartridge in that it could be fit into a mass-produced, military, bolt-action repeater (the Mauser 98 action), while still being suitable for large African game, particuarly dangerous game. Prior to Mausers chambered in 9.3x62, the rifle preferred wherever there was dangerous game was a double rifle. Understandably, nobody wanted to load loose rounds into a rifle under duress. They appreciated the total redundancy of a double, but the cost of a British-made double was untenable for many. The military, bolt-action repeater of Mauser's design promised reliable extraction and feeding from a magazine, but the popular military cartridges like 7x57 or 8x57 or 6.5x55 were not up to the task of the largest or dangerous game. The 9.3x62 came to be trusted for those purposes and because of the much lower cost, it was wildly popular in Africa.

Of course, the British double rifle makers didn't stay idle. Most significantly, they produced the 375 H&H for bolt-action rifles, though it required a "Magnum" length action (and therefore still expensive custom rifles, though not as expensive as doubles). The H&H Magnum did offer superior ballistics to the 9.3x62, but it's not clear to me that it enhanced performance enough that one could do something with a 375 that they couldn't do with a 9.3x62.

The comparison to a 35 Whelen is a good one. They are very much alike in that both enabled large game performance from a standard military length bolt-action -- what we would call today a "long-action." The 35 Whelen is like the American 9.3x62, and very much a good substitute for a costlier 375 H&H on a magnum-length action. Similarly, the 375 Ruger accomplishes something similar, but without any decrease in ballistic performance numbers.

Here is the most enduring thing about the 9.3x62. It ushered in the bolt-action rifle as the hunting rifle of choice, even where game hunting does not meaningfully require a "dangerous game rifle." The adoption of the bolt-action rifle by hunters cemented it as the most popular rifle action in the world. And it was all percipitated by the 9.3x62.

Had this cartridge not come about, the bolt-action would have remained primarily of interest to the military and would have eventually been replaced by semi-automatic rifles. European and American deer hunters would not have seen the point of a magazine-fed repeater. But it's popularity in Africa and its low cost cemented its acceptance.

Personally, I find the bolt-action rifle ill-suited to hunting large and medium sized non-dangerous game, and I blame the 9.3x62 and the Mauser for why most hunting rifles are based on this military repeater or derivatives thereof inspite of their illsuitedness.

But the cartridge does have its place and I would not say it is illsuited for its purpose at all. I do not have any personal experience with the 9.3 or similar cartridges on game but I am interested in them. I am unlikely to hunt the large or dangerous game they are normally recognized for. I could use such a cartridge but only for Mule Deer and Black Bear (300 pound bears, and probably not much larger ones that occur rarely). Many people would think they are too much cartridge for that size game, but I frequently hear from users of such cartridges that the lower bullet velocities result in less meat damage. So the cartridge may be even more versatile than its commonly accepted purpose. But the rifle, the bolt-action, I still decry as poorly-adapted for hunting the game most people hunt.
 
How so? and what action types do you find preferable?

I was ready to punch the like button until I got to the part about bolt actions not being well suited to hunting medium game....:alien:

On topic, I had a 9.3x62, the rifle, a Ruger Africa, was a lot of rifle for the money, but I didn't really care for the cartridge. Loaded up to its full potential in an 8 lb rifle, it hit me harder than I like to be hit. Loaded down for comfortable shooting (or when using Privi factory ammo), it wasn't really anything special ballistically. Maybe if I were shooting a certain type of game it would have made sense, but at the time I was only hunting deer and hogs, and liked my .243 and. 30-06 more for that. Now that elk, muleys and antelope are on the menu, it still doesn't appeal to me, the trajectory could be a liability and I just don't see what it would do better than my '06 or 6.5 (or any of a number of more standard, less punishing cartridges). I also felt the same way about my .35 Whelen, they can be loaded very similarly.

I can see how the 9.3 would be better than other smaller options if I was in the same line of work as that stud staring down the elephant a few posts up, at that point thought, I think I might want a bit more....

If you just like the cartridge or the rose tinted imagery of the time and place it evokes, I don't see a reason not to get one. We all have guns that don't necessarily make sense, but we just like them and there's nothing wrong with that.
 
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I'm not saying there is a rifle action that's better for hunting medium game. That's the problem. Nearly the whole market is focused on the bolt-action repeater. The alternatives are antiquated or at least as ill suited. I can't recommend any of them more. But that doesn't justify the near universal adoption of a magazine-fed repeater for hunting medium game. Why would you need a magazine to shoot a deer? How many deer are you going to shoot? Who shoots a deer more than once without giving the first shot time to take effect? A repeater isn't useful, and its features introduce a number of drawbacks to the rifle's design. No, I am not advocating any extant single-shot designs because their development has been neglected as a result of the market overwhelmingly adopting the magazine-fed bolt-action repeater derived from a military repeater. There's not much difference in that from hunting deer with an AR-15 -- not something I'm opposed to, but hardly an ideally suited weapon for the task. Do hunt with a bolt-action. Do hunt with a AR-15. Because there's nothing better. But that's a pity.
 
Why would you need a magazine to shoot a deer? How many deer are you going to shoot? Who shoots a deer more than once without giving the first shot time to take effect?
I would, and do, for one. It's a different style, and reason for hunting tho.

I also don't like to track, or allow animals to suffer longer than needed, so I'll continue to shoot till they stay down.

This is definitely a discussion for another thread, but there are a number of single shots and doubles, from cheap to chic. Many different action types as well. Let's start a thread on that later....gotta go to work now.
 
well bolt action rifles can handle higher pressure than lever,s-pumps-semi auto,s-double barrels, with much better extraction and controlled feeding. I have used bolt action rifles in shooting 68 African animal,s on six hunting trip,s and never once did I want one of the listed alternet action types. not only that but most of the rifles I saw while there hunting were bolt actions(80-90 precent) with a few double barrels thrown in. my own personal African rifle is a tuned CZ 550 in .375 H&H.
 

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Yes, exactly. Even though a magazine-fed repeater is poorly suited to most hunting, there is no better action type available and it is accordingly popular. That was my point.
 
Yes, exactly. Even though a magazine-fed repeater is poorly suited to most hunting, there is no better action type available and it is accordingly popular. That was my point.

I’m not sure I follow. Are you suggesting that the perfect hunting rifle action does not exist, as in it was not invented because of the popularity of bolt actions? I think a bolt action or semi auto is about as close to the perfect hunting rifle action as could be imagined. Both actions are accurate and allow for fast follow up shots when multiple targets are presented or when a second shot is required on a wounded animal.
 
i have seen many sidearms carried by PH,s and farm owners and one black trusted employee had a rossi .44 magnum. i know as I looked at it and handled it, a four inch non adjustable sights. the people I stayed with in several towns also had firearms in there houses. as things are getting pretty bad in some area,s, more and more will arm them selfs. LOOK IN THE UPPER LEFT SIDE OF THE PICTURE.
 

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then please tell me what your unicorn would look like and how it would work better than a bolt action of today.

That’s kind of where I’m at with this argument. I’m going to have to at least see some drawings of this action that is stronger, more accurate, more intuitive and overall better than the bolt action.
 
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