I am taking my 9.3x64 with 286gr Noslers along with a 300 H&H to Namibia next month for plains game. Has anyone used the 9.3 with the 300-320gr bullets for DG, specifically Buff? Results? Thanks, Bob

Hello VFR.

I never hunted in Africa but I did read somewhere in this forum that people did indeed kill Buffalo with that Caliber. Just use what is legal in the country you are hunting that game.

P.S. I don't think a buffalo will notice the difference between your 286gr bullet or a 300gr from a .375... that is my two cents.!!! What I learned from all the past posts in this forum is: faster bullets for one caliber = more expansion and less penetration. Ask Saeed about his 375/404. If I recall, he decreased the velocity to get better penetration and overall performance from that caliber.

Take that for what it is worth... The biggest game I shot is a moose. I guess one has to use his brains once in a while. It is just like talking about bullet performance... People only talk about premium bullet these days... and I understand all that hype about these bullets. If you shoot a Bull moose with a 270 Winchester you might want premium bullet compared to using a 375 H&H using standard bullets that will lose some weight on impact...but 50% of 300gr is still 150gr and will be less of a problem compared to losing 50% of the weight on a 270 Winch bullet!!! Its an endless topic!!!

Enigma

Use the search option on Ray Atkinson name, You will find his answers about 9.3 on buffalo argument. He did it using Woodleigh 320grsbullets

This is what I load, 286 gr Rhino monometal solids out of the RSA. A 300 or 320 gr version is very long and has to be seated very deep to allow for the dimensions of my BRNO ZG47 mag box.

I have not used the 9.3 much for a number of largely historical reasons.

Mainly due to lack of suitable ammo and or components which of late has improved.

For years the only ammo available to us in Africa was RWS 9.3x64 and both the FMJ's and softs were very "hot" loaded to the extent where I found the 9.3x64 was blowing away to much good meat.

The FMJ was the typical RWS nickel plated bullet that was also loaded in the 404. At the velocities RWS had them running at they were acting like softs in game and meat damage was huge! They would tumle, bend and I simply did not trust them in the 9.3. I have shot wildebeest and kudu with huge exit wounds using the old RWS FMJ's. You shoot something smaller and it would turn the animal inside out, especially the nickel plated FMJ's

GS custom only started producing bullets around 1993? and it was only some years after that that they made their solids so really I can say it has for me the last 5 years has been the only time that real good options became available to us. It was only at the Big Shot Show at Kyalami of 1998 or 1999 as I recall that they started selling their FN solids. ( so anyone claiming "years" of experience with them is exaggerating a little)

Woodleighs have only become available in the RSA from after 1995.

PMP made 9.3's in softs but they are only good at low end 9.3x62 velocities. Goodnel made monometal bullets but they were crude and did not really work all that well.

Rhino's new solid is only about 2 years old, if i'm not mistaken but given it's construction simply on paper it will outpenetrate a 375.

The 9.3 at speed has been touted as the ultimate penetrator and ballsitics experts have found in tactical weaponry at least a 300 gr 9.3 caliber would be the ideal antimaterial caliber for taking out select targets behind windscreen glass etc. ( hence the success of the slightly smaller diameter 338 lapua)

The Rhino soft point which is basically the same type of thing as the Speer bear claw is also relatively new on the market, (some 5 years) and they hold up in the fast 9.3.

Some of the Rhino lineup out of the RSA:



1= 300 gr rhino 9.3 SP
2= 286 gr rhino solid
3= 350 gr rhino 375 SP
4= 400 gr rhino 404 SP
5= 535 gr rhino 500 jeff RN solid
6= 530 gr rhino 500 jeff SP
6= 540 gr rhino 500 jeff solid

Alf, Thanks for your observations as they are both factual ans susinct.

Alf,
Your dissertation is much appreciated. I may have the same problem with limited mag length as my 9.3x64 is built on a pre-64 M70 action. Looking forward to seeing how the Noslers perform on the larger plains game. Bob

While I have not used the 320 gr. Woodleigh bullet in the 9.3x64 on Buffalo as best as I recall and I may have used it at one time.. I have, however, used the 320 gr. bullet in the 9.3x62 with a hot load in my 26 inch barrel on several ocassions, and I'm within a 100 FPS of the 9.3x64..The Woodleigh soft will almost surely come to rest on the off side fully expanded and the solids will pass through from about any angle short of lengthwise..I get about 200 or so FPS more than most with my 9.3x62 with that long barrel, and a shorter barrel could be a negative factor, I don't know..

I have used the 300 gr. Swift on bulls in the 9.3x64 and it worked about like a 375 as for as I could tell, the bulls usually run about 100 yards and go down, requiring a finisher...typical buffalo kill with a light caliber and not unusual with the bigger bores.......

With any light caliber like a 338, 375 or 9.3, I would recommend solids on buffalo..Maybe the new monolithics will work, they seem to penitrate and kill very well..but for a frontal or going away shot I would only recommend solids in the lighter guns..I have seen more than several failures with conventional softs at 2400 to 2500 FPS on frontal and going away shots.

Up that velocity with a monolithic HP to 2700 or better, and they kill very well under about any condition..Although I once doubted this velocity requirment, Saeed has proven me wrong in that..I have observed his killing of probably 25 buffalo with the 375/404 and its spectacular at that velocity with that type of bullet..

I am a great fan of the 9.3s and the 375 H&H and I consider them excellent dangerous game calibers, but they must be shot well with a proper bullet IMO, and that means a solid if you intend to take the shots as they come...For broadside, the softs work great as far as I can tell...

Ray,
I'm always afraid to be misunderstood (or to misunderstand), being the Italian my mother tongue, but luckily I wrote about a generic use of 9.3 caliber on DG and for this reason I feel myself less guilty for your involvement.

I do not think that there are problems in using heavy bullets in 9.3x64, except the necessity (maybe) to develop the right load.