I plan to start reloading this caliber and was wondering what dies and brass are good choices.

It appears that Redding and RCBS dies are currently available and Hornady dies might be by the end of the year. Any experience pro or con with those die brands?

Is the Hornady or PRVI brass worthwhile or should I just grit my teeth and buy the Lapua?

Thanks for sharing your experience in loading this caliber.

Graf & sons has brass cheaper than anywhere. Works fine. They also have cheap ammo for practice and then brass to reload.

Sir, not nearly as much experience as others on here but I have loaded a fair amount of 9.3 x 62, it's my favorite rifle for hunting hogs in the evening when I don't feel like having to track them. Also hoping to take it to Alaska for brown bear next spring. I like the Redding dies and use them almost exclusively, but I'm sure RCBS and Hornady would do just as well.

I use the Lapua brass because several years ago when I bought it, it was the only kind I could find. These cases are like miniature works of art and you certainly couldn't go wrong there, other than your wallet will be sad for a while. I certainly wouldn't be afraid to buy Hornady brass either. Based on my experience with the one lot of PRVI brass I have tried, I will never use it again. The case rims seemed to be oversized and most cases would not move in and out of the shellholders (I tried several brands). Some could only be levered in and out of the shellholder with difficulty and some wouldn't fit in at all. Threw the whole lot into the scrap bucket.

This cartridge has the reputation of being a very forgiving one to load and I have found that to be true. Your loads should shoot pretty well whatever one you choose. Do a web search for John Barsness' pressure-tested loads for this caliber and you will have some very good loads. I have a CZ 550 FS and a 550 American that I bought from Bill/Oregon on this site. The Barsness loads shoot like lasers in them.

Hope this helps, have fun and good luck with it!

Actually, its PRVI that has the correct sizes; all other producers use the same basic brass as for 30-06.

For the PRVI-bass, use same shellholder as for 6,5x55.

Perhaps that was the problem. The major American manufacturers do use the same shellholders for .30-06 and 9.3 x 62. All I knew was, it didn't work, and was a pain. I did consider selling the PRVI brass, or giving it away, but I didn't want someone else to have the same problem so I tossed it. It was only 60 or so cases.

Good discussions. Thank you all.
Cliff

Started with Lapua brass, tried the Hornady and Privi along the way. Hornady was okay, Privi, same problem mentioned with the shellholder. Did,nt feel like messing with it at the time, sent it back to Graf. Have had good luck with other Privi brass since then, but at the time was fairly new to reloading, made me a little nervous. Since the Lapua was working well for me, did,nt see much reason to fix something that was,nt broken. Other than a desire to save a few bucks..

That being said, I,ve gotten a lot of reloads out of the first 100 pieces of Lapua, still have some of the Hornady in rotation, next time I buy brass for the 9.3, I,ll spend the extra bit and get more Lapua..

First set of rifle dies were for this caliber, set of RCBS, they have served me well.

Pretty much started using Redding for most everything else since then. When I,m feeling a bit lazy, I use the Lee crimp die. If I want a nicer ( in the eye of the beholder..) looking crimp, I back off the seater plug, and use the seater die. Probably get around to picking up another RCBS seating die and using that strictly for crimping sooner or later..

Pretty easy caliber to reload for, not terribly fussy.. Fooled around with RL 15 and Bg Game off and on, keep going back to Varget for powder. Privi bullets are probably still about the best deal for plinkers, Accubonds seem to be about the most accurate in the two that I have. 286 A-Frames do pretty well also.

My Lapua brass and my Norma brass (prefer the Lapua) both slide in and out of my standard RCBS 30.06/270/308 etc shell holder without any problems. I would have thought the euro manufacturers would manufacture to the correct specs.

I've read of one fellow who thought the PVRI brass was being oversized by the RCBS die in the web area as evidenced by a small step on the exterior of the brass. He sent the die in to RCBS to be opened up.

Has anyone else had similar issues along the way?

Get the Lapua brass and a jug of Ramshot BigGame and be Happy-Happy-Happy.

Hornady brass are coming fron czech republic and the same size as other euro cases ...

Just sit down with an assortment of cases and some measuring equipment; you will find that the PRVI casehead measures 12,06mm, and "all" other makes 11,9something. The CIP-spec for the cartridge says 12,10mm.
I have measuered PRIVI, Norma, Lapua, Winchester, RWS.

RWS had the smallest diameter.

Sorry for all the metric:-)

quote:

Originally posted by medved:
Hornady brass are coming fron czech republic and the same size as other euro cases ...

Possibly but I know for a fact that "Hornady" brass is made in Grand Island Nebraska.....they might possibly import some and their Frontier brand is made by Winchester.....

Can you tell us on what knowlege you state that Hornady brass comes from the Czech republic?

Possibly you bought a box of it and it says on the box where it was made?

I haven't had a problem with RWS and Lapua brass in a standard .30-06/.308 shellholder and with Redding dies. Once you use Lapua you won't go back other brands.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:

quote:

Originally posted by medved:
Hornady brass are coming fron czech republic and the same size as other euro cases ...

Possibly but I know for a fact that "Hornady" brass is made in Grand Island Nebraska.....they might possibly import some and their Frontier brand is made by Winchester.....

Can you tell us on what knowlege you state that Hornady brass comes from the Czech republic?

Possibly you bought a box of it and it says on the box where it was made?

Vapodog,

the brass when they cross the northern border need to indicate the origin and this where we found where the brass are made ... sellier and bellot is the maker for hornady ...

Thanks again for all the information.
Since I had the proper size shell holder I decided to give the PRVI brass a try.

Today I received 100 pieces of brass and 100 of the PRVI 286 grain bullets. Brass and bullet quality looks very good. The brass looks much better than the Winchester brass I've recently purchased in other calibers. I'll have to wait a few months to see how it shoots as AHR is building a new 9.3 x 62 on a Model 70 action for me.

This looks like it is going to be a really fun caliber to shoot!

I've had good results using RCBS dies, Lapua brass, 286 grain Nosler Partitions over a stout load of Ram Shot Big Game. I've also used 286 grain SPP Blems from Midway that provide good accuracy and nearly the same POA as the Nosler's. I would use them on deer and hogs but probably not elk although, they may work fine even for elk...just don't want to take a chance.