I thought I would give a brief report of a late season deer hunt we had this season using a little 9.3x57 carbine. I have a little truck gun in 9.3x57. It is a Husqvarna model 46 that I cut the barrel down to 17.5”, remounting the front sight and the sling swivel farther back. It is my favorite stalking rifle for hunting a large canyon in West Texas that I frequent. I settled on a load that shoots both the old type semi round point and newer type copper tipped H-mantels into the same group. I get right at 2200 FPS with the 258 gr bullets using H4895. I filed my sights in to that load to hit dead on at 30 yards and back to dead on at 125 yards. The open-sighted carbine is a real joy to carry at only 6lbs 10oz, loaded with 5 rounds from a stripper clip.

Anyway, my 10 yo son shot his first deer, stand hunting, with the custom Mauser in 6.5x55 I built for him. He was sure ready for his chance this year! A perfect double lung shot at 60 yards with a 125 grain nosler partition at 2600 FPS brought down his doe after a 30yard dead run. He was cool as a cucumber at the shot but he got the nerves settled in as we approached his downed deer! I’m sure proud of him! I told him the next deer we saw, we would stalk hunt up close and I would take a shot with my little open sighted carbine. The next afternoon we saw a pair of does in a clearing and snuck up to within 40 yards of them, keeping a brush line between us. I made a snap shot through a juniper shrub. The bullet went low through the middle of the heart at a semi quartering angle. She faltered hard but ran straight away. I cycled another shell in and made a shot on the run, hitting her at the rear of the spine. The second shot wasn’t necessary but it obviated the need for any tracking.

That first copper pointed H-mantel bullet cleaved the heart in two, totally destroying its function. The bullet went through a humerus, heart, and exited. The entrance was about 1” diameter and the exit was around 2.5” in diameter. Lots of blood spoor. The second shot hit the center of the spine and took a 5” diameter chunk out of the spine and left back strap near its rear terminus. No real harm done to the meat but she didn’t run any more. I am very pleased with the performance of the H-mantel bullet. I had sectioned one when I bought them from Singleshot03 on the classifieds forum. It functions as a nosler partition but uses a thin jacket and soft lead in the nose and a double thick jacket and hard lead in the back half. I think they open easier than a partition but penetrate just as deep. That is a good thing for low velocity and heavy bullets! They are very accurate for a hunting purpose, multi-core and multi-jacket bullet. I’m glad I have enough to last me the rest of my life if I use them only for sight checks and hunting.

I can recommend the h-mantel bullets for mid-sized game and for short range hunting. I will try them a bit faster and a bit farther with my 9.3x74 at some point.

RC

Great report Wildcatter. Be Well, Packy.

I shot a smallish blackbear with a 9.3x57 last fall.
It was a Turk 98 that DPCD made into an octagon receiver, and fit an octagon barrel to. The action was re-heat treated, so I had no worries of working up a heavy load. I was surprised that I could reach 2316 FPS with IMR 4895 and the 286 Norma with the steel jacket and plastic point with no problems.
As expected, the bullet punched through the ribs, and the bear died after a couple flops on the ground.

About 30-30 balistics and no shame on that, Ive shot elk and deer with the 30-30, its a great cartridge, and has proved itself a million and one times..

Great write up. I can’t wait to hear how the 9.3x74 R performs.

I be the jerk and ask for photos.

https://www.amazon.com/photos/...kv5OdQBiEtgUuby7jwr2

https://www.amazon.com/photos/...c7fYjbtRQATIfKifD_nN

https://www.amazon.com/photos/...AJpUWhxidldfl65oyD90

https://www.amazon.com/photos/...ZWSY9GhbR3GQ-A4TREJ7

https://www.amazon.com/photos/...FO1bK4kj08LPE0qc1Pdp

I have a hard time posting pics but here are a few. We don’t typically take photos of ourselves with animals but here is what I took of rifle and ammunition and my son washing down his first deer before quartering.

Cheers!

RC

Hey Ray,

How have you been? Have you gotten any hunting in this year?

The 9.3 load I hunted with this year makes about 45% more energy with 50% more bullet than a 170gr 30-30 load. The bigger bullet definitely causes more damage from what I’ve seen so far.

RC

quote:

Originally posted by theback40:
I shot a smallish blackbear with a 9.3x57 last fall.
It was a Turk 98 that DPCD made into an octagon receiver, and fit an octagon barrel to. The action was re-heat treated, so I had no worries of working up a heavy load. I was surprised that I could reach 2316 FPS with IMR 4895 and the 286 Norma with the steel jacket and plastic point with no problems.
As expected, the bullet punched through the ribs, and the bear died after a couple flops on the ground.

Man, your load is a hammer! That is about the same ballistics I am shooting for in a 20” barreled 9.3x74! I am certain a 98 action will take it easily. So far with the 286 grain bullets in my M46 rifles, I am getting 2050fps out of a 24” barrel and 1925fps out of the 17.5”. I may try some IMR4895 and work up a load or I may just leave the heavier bullets for the bigger x74 case.

Thanks,

RC

quote:

Originally posted by Wildcatter:
https://www.amazon.com/photos/...kv5OdQBiEtgUuby7jwr2

https://www.amazon.com/photos/...c7fYjbtRQATIfKifD_nN

https://www.amazon.com/photos/...AJpUWhxidldfl65oyD90

https://www.amazon.com/photos/...ZWSY9GhbR3GQ-A4TREJ7

https://www.amazon.com/photos/...FO1bK4kj08LPE0qc1Pdp

I have a hard time posting pics but here are a few. We don’t typically take photos of ourselves with animals but here is what I took of rifle and ammunition and my son washing down his first deer before quartering.

Cheers!

RC

Thank you. My favorite is of your son cleaning the carcass. Beautiful rifle.

I have found load data on the 57 case all over the map. Some is the lower pressure loads for the 46. But it also seems there is a good deal of differences in bores and chambers.
My reamer was towards the tighter end of specs, and of course a new .366 barrel. I have seen the load I use, and even a grain or two more reported, but with a little less vel. I may have a fast barrel, or longer (24") one. But I have yet to throw away a case yet, some are on their 8th loading, and still have tight primer pockets.
I can seat the 286 to the base of the neck, and chamber fine. A long throat, and an 8x57 mag box helps.

The groove diameter on my barrels are 0.368” and 0.369”. They both shoot a bit slow, from what I can tell. My original European bullets measure between 0.365” and 0.367”. The difference would undoubtably cause velocity variations.

One of my German friends gave me some 7mm lead and copper tipped H-Mantel projectiles years ago. They were heavier than the Sierra 160gr bullets I was using in my 7x61 at the time so I never got to try them out. I eventually gave them to someone who had made up a Mauser 7x57 stalking rifle and wanted to use heavier bullets.

I did section one out of curiosity to see what they looked like inside. They are always compared with Nosler Partition but they are not a full partition bullet, more like a Hornady Interlock possibly better.
I don't think the early H-Mantles had a dual core as the later version does, the sectioned bullet in the image below doesn't seem to show any difference in the lead core.

All in all they were a good development in their day and certainly were and are, a premium cup and core.

It is more like a corlokt as the “partition” does not full encase the rear core.

Hello,

I have used for big red deer and wild boar both this old time pointed and the newer semi round nose.
Both worked GREAT!!! I NEVER recovered ANY of these bullets, so the penetration was more than enough, but the damage inside the animals was impressive! Indicating, to me, the front part of the bullets literally explodes but not superficially, and the rest keep penetrating and exit.
To me, they are more like the Nosler Partition than other so called locked core bullets.

PH

Thanks for the sectioned photo. They sure are neat looking bullets!

H-Mantle is the preferred bullet amongst my German boar hunting friends. They are real killers imparting huge damage. They like them because even on a large boar - and they get them well over 300kg - a shot in the vitals kills them very quickly, and even if slightly misplaced they still are fatal.

Wildboar can be very dangerous to both dogs and hunters, and if you have first irritated them by putting a bullet into them they tend to go for whatever and whoever is closest and the cause of the irritation.

Agree with your German friends, Heym SR20.
I have the same experience useing my 7x57 with the 173 grs H-Mantle bullet, both old and new designs.
The % of quick kills I had in Red Deer and European wild boars were very high!

Wildcatter,
Hello good buddy, and I suspect the way your loading it with the lighter bullets its a dandy for Hill country whitetail does and bucks..With the heavy bullets its a killer also 7x57 necked up to a 9.3....Maybe in my haste I underated the old girl.

I hunted texas this year like always,Floresville and on the great Pitchfork ranch in the Panhandle almost..Got a doe on permit on the pitchfork and hunted quail, and did some awesome sightseeing and saw a lot of big Mule deer..I shot spike at Floresville, we saw one really big whitetail but my partner missed, they saw some big whitetail bucks at night hunting hogs and coming in after dark...So it was a meat hunt this year, problem was a full moon and the big boys holed up until after dark...We were supposed to hunt a big low fenced ranch out of Laredo, but Covid closed shop on us..told to come back next year..I never hunt the high fenced ranches, Don't know any high fenced ranchers, I would hunt a high fenced ranch if it were one of the larger ones and I got invited..why not?