So I am parting with my CZ500 FS in 9.3x62. I love the round but I want something a synthetic stock and for the amount it would cost to restock the CZ I might as well start over with a new rifle. And since I cannot find the kevlar stocked version ........

Anyway I found a rifle that is exactly the configuration I want (A Tikka, a cabelas limited run with Iron sites and a 20" barrel) but it can only be had in 30.06/300WM/338WM.

So my understanding (limited) is both the 338 and the 9.3 should be able to use the same action length but is this something that has been done before (I sure someone has) and any idea of cost.

And can it be done without rebarreling the 338?

Even if I cannot do it I may still pick up the rifle in 30.06 but having it in 9.3 would be perfect.

If you want to convert one to 9,3x62 then buy the 30-06 as it has the correct bolt face and action length
And it could be done without rebarreling if you found someone to rebore the barrel to .366 as that is the diameter of the 9,3.

x2 with Snowwolfe

You can kind of view the 9.3x62 as the Continental 35Whelen.

You could sent the 30-06 off to JES for a re-bore, since you mentioned the attraction of the factory barrel length and open sights.
JES Reboring

Other than the bolt face, you'd probably have feeding issues as well with the 9.3. Getting an 06 and having it rebored is probably the easiest way. My M70 06 feeds 9.3 (at least out of the mag) slick as snot already. a 270 should work too, so long as the contour is not too thin. My 270 and 30 06 M70s' have the same .600 contour

As has already been stated, if your end result is a 9.3x62, then the 30-06 is the correct donor action. All of the cartridges you mentioned use a standard length action, but the .300 & .338 are based on the belted H&H case. You could open up the bolt face and rails on an '06 to make a .338, but you can't add material to shrink a bolt face and go the other way. Provided the barrel contour is big enough to go from .308 to.366, a simple re-bore should get you there!

great...thanks guys

Hope they still have one in stock!!

To use the same bolt and reduce cost just neck the 338 up to 375. It will not be far behind the 375H&H. Know bloke that have done this with a 300WM, good results, cheap.

Yes either way works 30/06 to 9.3 or a .338 to .375 or maybe .358 Norma Mag (ooh I always wanted one of those!).
But frankly if you buy the .338 you may not need a 9.3......
(what am I talking about I have a .338, 9.3 and a couple .375's).

Sometimes you have to open the bolt face on a 30-06 as the 9.3x62 is a tad larger, but sometimes factory 06s get sloppy and the bolt face works fine and that's a plus so you just have to rebore and rechamber the barrel and that's a 50% savings over a new barrel installation. (from the 06, 270 280 etc.)

Its very expensive to convert a 338 Win mag to a 9.3x62 and a morbid practice. you have tig up and reweld the bolt face and recut it, probably change the bolt stop, and tig up and rebuild the rails then then make them feed 9.3/s and rebarrel and rechamber a new barre in 9.3 caliber, so now you have a high dollar gun that may or may not feed, not a good conversion practice, most Gunsmith would laugh at that suggestion I fear..

Besides the 338 Win mag is a much better round than the 9.3x62 in most ways! That said I am a great fan of both calibers and have been shooting both for a decade or two. You won't go wrong with either. The 9.3x62 has the edge on DG at bush range, but the .338 will leave it in the dirt past 200 yards, that is the criteria you should be using. Some will swear and be damed the 9.3x62 shoots as flat or flatter than a .338 Win, but they are delusional to say the least, and nostalgia is a great convincer.

quote:

Originally posted by Snellstrom:
Yes either way works 30/06 to 9.3 or a .338 to .375 or maybe .358 Norma Mag (ooh I always wanted one of those!).
But frankly if you buy the .338 you may not need a 9.3......
(what am I talking about I have a .338, 9.3 and a couple .375's).

If I do that I might as well just buy a Ruger Guide gun :-)

Maybe I am letting the fact I have 500 rnds for the 9,3 sitting around cloud my judgement.

quote:

.358 Norma Mag (ooh I always wanted one of those!)

Me too.

If someone wants a .338 WM so they can shoot 185 to 225gr bullets for medium big game or varmints, that's their business, but they'd be better off using a 300 magnum in my view, and I've owned a few of each.

Using lighter bullets, there's no question that the .338 WM shoots a bit "flatter" than a 250 or 286gr from a 9.3 X 62, but the 9.3 is no slouch in that department either when a 250 AccuBond is fired at 2700 or the 286 NP at 2600. Trajectory is equal to a .30-06 shooting a 180 at 2700 or a 200 at 2600, but the impact energy at 400 yards is on the order of 145% in favor of the 9.3.

In the heaviest bullets, for the heaviest game, the balance swings in favor of the 9.3 over the .338, as Atkinson points out.

For me, the 9.3 X 62 isn't a deer rifle or coyote gun, so I see little reason for comparing it with a .338 for such purposes.

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

quote:

Originally posted by .458 Only:
If someone wants a .338 WM so they can shoot 185 to 225gr bullets for medium big game or varmints, that's their business, but they'd be better off using a 300 magnum in my view, and I've owned a few of each.

Using lighter bullets, there's no question that the .338 WM shoots a bit "flatter" than a 250 or 286gr from a 9.3 X 62, but the 9.3 is no slouch in that department either when a 250 AccuBond is fired at 2700 or the 286 NP at 2600. Trajectory is equal to a .30-06 shooting a 180 at 2700 or a 200 at 2600, but the impact energy at 400 yards is on the order of 145% in favor of the 9.3.

In the heaviest bullets, for the heaviest game, the balance swings in favor of the 9.3 over the .338, as Atkinson points out.

For me, the 9.3 X 62 isn't a deer rifle or coyote gun, so I see little reason for comparing it with a .338 for such purposes.

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

Not arguing with your ballistics- but you do realize you just compared apples to oranges to pears don't you?

Several observations here may help.

First, if the Original Poster wants a Tikka, the Tikka has been offered in 9.3x62. Look around til one is found. TikkaPerformance might be able to order one through Beretta, if need be. They recently were organizing a group order.

Secondly, a 20" barrel with irons is indeed special for the Tikkas. Given the choice of 30-06, 300WM, and 338WM, the obvious choice is the 338WM. The shorter barrel and iron sights is a gun that will be carried through thicker stuff and the calibre that stands out among the three is the 338.

3) Only the 30-06 provides the correct bolt face for a rebore. But a rebore costs money and the extra money, time, and hassle, would seem to practically undermine the whole purpose of buying the "wrong" calibre. Just pass on the "deal" and pay a little more for the calibre of choice.

4) If a 338WinMag is purchased with a 20" barrel for woods hunting, then go ahead and use some 300grain bullets. They have a fantastic sectional density and as lead core bullets they follow old-school parameters for evaluation, and score very very high.

I've hunted with the old Barnes original 300grains in 338WM. Bang flop. They do a job but I never recovered a bullet. Today's equivalent would be the 300grain Woodleigh though the 300grain Sierra might also work (it is technically a longrange target bullet with a ridiculously high BC of .768). I would plan on a load achieving 2450fps with some of the newer powders (R17 IMR4451) even in the short barrel. However, if muzzleflash or decibels were a problem, a faster powder like H4895 or IMR4166 or Leverevolution could be tried and might only give up 50-100fps. For longer range in the short barrel I would expect something like 2700-2750fps to be achieved with the 225TTSX bullet and its .514BC. The TTSX would provide guaranteed bullet integrity and penetration up close that the Sierra 'might' match but the Sierra match bullet could not be relied upon up close, neither from stability nor from integrity factors.

So if it were me, I would either change my sights to the 338WinMag of the special deal Tikka, or else pass on the special deal and pay an extra $100-200 for a new, non-sale Tikka in 9.3. It's win-win. The Tikka uses a single stack clip so its feeding is quite reliable. I prefer controlled-feed actions for larger bore rifles but 338 and 9.3 are medium-bore light rifles in my perspective and the Tikka push-feed will work fine. If it is a bread and butter elk/moose rifle, it will also do a job on a big bear, and they can certainly do a job on cape buffalo where legal to use.

PS to the above post:
a left version Tikka 9.3x62:
http://www.eurooptic.com/tikka...3x62-with-rings.aspx
a righty:
http://www.eurooptic.com/tikka...st-mpn-jrte354a.aspx
However, this may be an ad for something that they do not actually have in stock.

The Cabela's deal might be:
http://www.cabelas.com/product...BSearch-All+Products
The rifle has a 21.3" barrel and sights, which is probably better for the 338WM than 20".

Last time I checked Tikka 9.3 x 62's were back-ordered by Eurooptic. I eventually found a NIB LH Tikka 9.3 x 62 Hunter from Michael Murphy & Co. in Kansas. A quick check on Gunsinternational shows that Michael Murphy & Co. has a NIB Tikka 9.3 x 62 Forest -w- a 22" barrel in stock. See:

http://www.gunsinternational.c...cfm?gun_id=100503090

quote:

Originally posted by Sean Russell:

quote:

Originally posted by .458 Only:
If someone wants a .338 WM so they can shoot 185 to 225gr bullets for medium big game or varmints, that's their business, but they'd be better off using a 300 magnum in my view, and I've owned a few of each.

Using lighter bullets, there's no question that the .338 WM shoots a bit "flatter" than a 250 or 286gr from a 9.3 X 62, but the 9.3 is no slouch in that department either when a 250 AccuBond is fired at 2700 or the 286 NP at 2600. Trajectory is equal to a .30-06 shooting a 180 at 2700 or a 200 at 2600, but the impact energy at 400 yards is on the order of 145% in favor of the 9.3.

In the heaviest bullets, for the heaviest game, the balance swings in favor of the 9.3 over the .338, as Atkinson points out.

For me, the 9.3 X 62 isn't a deer rifle or coyote gun, so I see little reason for comparing it with a .338 for such purposes.

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

Not arguing with your ballistics- but you do realize you just compared apples to oranges to pears don't you?

My response was to Atkinson's on the .338 leaving the 9.3 "in the dust" as to MV and trajectory. I've had this discussion with him previously. He's referring of course to the light bullets in .338 compared to the heavyweights in 9.3. Hence my comparisons.

I don't see where your comment is relevant to mine.

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

Comparing a 338WM to a 9.3x62
is like
comparing a 270Weatherby or 7mmRM to a 30-06.
Each pair has a smaller calibre by one step that has about 12 grains of powder capacity advantage.

Each side of both comparison has its small advantages.

Bullet selection for both the 7mm and 30 calibres are quite wide. However, while the .338" selection is significantly broader than the .366", it only takes one bullet to make a happy camper.

I happen to like the 338 with a 225gnTTSX at a modest 2835fps and its .514BC. It does it all out to 400+ yards and I wouldn't worry about penetration even with a buffalo (son did a finishing shot on one two years ago, full penetration).

The Tikka 338 might have enough metal to re-cut a .366" barrel, but the bolt wouldn't work.

Using the same bolt, a person could either re-cut or re-barrel the 338 into a 375Ruger on the standard action Tikka. Now that would have some knockdown power in a light rifle.

But a new 375 Ruger would still be cheaper and would provide controlled-feed.

quote:

Originally posted by 416Tanzan:
PS to the above post:
a left version Tikka 9.3x62:
http://www.eurooptic.com/tikka...3x62-with-rings.aspx
a righty:
http://www.eurooptic.com/tikka...st-mpn-jrte354a.aspx
However, this may be an ad for something that they do not actually have in stock.

The Cabela's deal might be:
http://www.cabelas.com/product...BSearch-All+Products
The rifle has a 21.3" barrel and sights, which is probably better for the 338WM than 20".

Thank you last one is exactly the model I am looking at and what you wrote about the 338WM makes a great deal of sense.

And yes I am coming around to the idea of new Ruger....but then why not just go full bore to the 416